Fluorite on Calcite with Gypsum

Item Description

Sparkly dark purple fluorite richly, dramatically and preferentially covers this sculptural large calcite specimen of translucent, tan crystals from recent finds at the Qinglong Mine. The impressive, dominating and pristine large calcite scalenohedron is 6.1 cm tall and the secondary calcite is 4.8 cm long. Patches of glassy, colorless, tabular Gypsum crystals are a fine accessory and contrast. Complete all-around and in good shape. The cleaved calcites on one side are mostly out-of-sight in the in the preferred display views and are certainly a modest detraction. The purple fluorite we see on these, in the past, was both identified (in China and USA) and was sold originally by us and many others as Yttrofluorite, but analyses have shown that there is no measurable Yttrium in at least some of the specimens checked to date recently, and so we include this note here and will simply label these as Fluorite from here on out. See: https://www.mindat.org/mesg-609540.html. Some may have yttrium, but it seems we can no longer conclude they all do, if that matters to you as a collector. This recent find over the last couple of years makes for beautiful and highly sculptural Chinese combination specimens from this well-known location for a huge variety of mineral species and styles. It is an epithermal antimony-gold deposit, and so has a mix of unusual species together, including some that surprise us!