Fluorite (gemmy)

Item Description

An attractive and certainly distinct Fluorite specimen dating back to the mid 2010s. This small cabinet is filled yellow-orange color cubes, that show amazing gemminess when backlit. The piece is essentially a solid slab of tightly intergrown crystals measuring up to 1.7 cm on edge, free of matrix, but please note that it has been sawn on the back. The internal color is captivating, and really makes one think of something other than a mineral when you hold it up to the light. Unusual for sure, and a worthwhile piece to add to a Fluorite suite. The surface of the crystals is a bit frosted and seems to have a slight coating of some sort, so the piece is best viewed when backlit. Please note that a few of the cubes are nicked, so it's not damage free, but the gemminess and color are what count here. China never seems to run out of interesting and unusual specimens, even when it comes to common species like Fluorite.
From the collection of Armon McPherson, a retired physicist, now living in New Mexico. Armon received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1985, and worked at the laser laboratory at the University of Illinois at Circle Center. In the summer of 1997, Armon moved to the Argonne National Laboratory where he worked at the Advanced Photon Source, then the world’s largest synchrotron facility dedicated as an x-ray source. In 2001, he was asked to join a team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to conduct laser research for DARPA. Finally, staying within Sandia, he transferred to the Z Facility, the world’s most powerful x-ray facility. He retired in the spring of 2017. Armon's introduction to mineral collecting came in the 1980s during graduate school when he attended his first mineral show. He took up the hobby of faceting gems, and focused his early collection on gem crystals, and later transitioned into collecting non-gem species. We are proud to offer specimens from his worldwide mineral collection here for you.