Fluorapatite (ex Alex Venzke Collection)

Item Description

A classic example of the famous Fluorapatite crystals from the Yates mine in Canada. A pair of sharp, lustrous, well-formed, hexagonal prisms with the classic brownish-green hue are sitting on the classic contrasting orange-colored massive Calcite matrix. A few dark greenish-black crystals of the Diopside-Hedenbergite Series are frozen into the Calcite as well. The Fluorapatite crystals are complete all the way around, although there is a contact on one end of the termination of the main crystal. The largest Fluorapatite measures 5.0 cm long. This locality is now completely defunct, as it was recently bulldozed and buried. This specimen comes from the collection of our own Alex Venzke (#39.18), member of the leadership team of the Young Mineral Collectors group, a member of the mindat.org management team, a board member for the national Friends of Mineralogy organization, a board member for the Mineralogical Society of the District of Columbia, and co-founder and current Vice President of the Friends of Mineralogy Virginia Chapter.