Fluorapatite

Item Description

A fine classic crystal of the famous Fluorapatit from Cerro de Mercado, Mexico. These specimens have a distinctive hue and form that makes them easily identifiable. This piece features a wonderfully sharp, lustrous, gemmy, euhedral, prismatic, hexagonal crystal of Apatite with the well known slightly greenish yellow color and classic pyramidal termination, free of matrix. The termination on the Apatite has some rough spots, including a decent size bruise on one corner, but the piece is largely in good shape. These specimens are not nearly as common on the market as they were about 30 years ago, and are certainly some of the most particular crystals of Apatite from any locality in the world.
This piece comes to us from the legendary Ron Romanella (February 28, 1932 - October 24, 2022), a well-known gem and mineral dealer from New York City. He stuided mineralogy at Columbia School of Mines, and he was mentored by Dr. Frederick Pough of the American Museum of Natural History, and learned about the business side from well-known mineral dealers Hugh Ford and Maurice Hammoneau. Ron himself was a mentor to other successful East Coast mineral dealers such as Larry Conklin, Herb Obodda and even employed Dave Wilber for a time. He largely transitioned out of selling minerals as his business focused more on gems for the last few decades, and his sons Michael and Jerry have been running the family business in Scottsdale for many years now. With that said, Ron was one of the great powerhouse mineral dealers in the US for many years, offering fine quality specimens and gem crystals from classic and contemporary localities. Among his top achievements, is that Ron is credited with importing the first known crystals of Tanzanite into the US in the 1960s.