Fluorite on Dolomite (ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection)

Item Description

The Shangbao Mine is famous for its beautiful Fluorites, which are a staple of any Fluorite collection or Chinese mineral collection. The Fluorites from this locality are some of the most distinctive, eye-catching and highest quality examples from anywhere in China. This wonderful cabinet display specimen features a crystallized "ridge" of beautiful, sharp, lustrous, GEMMY, purple crystals measuring up to 1.9 cm that are aesthetically perched atop a matrix comprising cream colored pearly "saddle"-shaped Dolomite groups and tiny pale golden Calcite crystals. The Fluorites feature predominantly cubic faces, but have stepped dodecahedral modifications on the edges. With the naked eye, the Fluorites are damage free and so elegantly set atop the matrix. A slight amount of "phantom" color zoning can be seen inside some of the Fluorite crystals, which are nearly WATER CLEAR in areas. Indoors, the color of the Fluorites is a purple hue, but when you take the piece in the sun, the color shifts to a beautiful blue tone with slight green hues on edges. Overall, it's very difficult to obtain pieces of this quality with such excellent aesthetics and balance. The piece displays wonderfully on its own without the aid of a base or clay, and really stands out as a fine example from this famous mine. Valued at $4,000 in the inventory. Ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection. Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=671&page=1 ) or on Wikipedia.