Fluorite on Ferberite (ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection)

Item Description

The prolific Yaogangxian Mine in China is one of the premier localities in the entire country for the sheer quantity and quality of crystallized mineral specimens it has produced over the years. The beautiful display quality pieces and wonderful associations seen in Yaogangxian specimens is truly remarkable. This piece is a showy and fine quality display specimen host many well-formed, gemmy, rich purple colored crystals of Fluorite measuring up to 2.9 cm on edge, which show a combination of cubic and dodecahedral faces, associated excellent, bladed, striated, jet-black crystals of Ferberite. The big group of Ferberite crystals on the side of the specimen measures 4.5 cm at it widest dimension. A few scattered tan Siderite crystals can be seen here and there, and the back side of the specimen hosts small brilliant metallic silvery colored crystals of Arsenopyrite along with mossy-green colored Chamosite (a member of the Chlorite Group) "sprays" and even a lone Quartz crystal. If you look closely inside some of the larger Fluorite crystals, there are acicular crystals of an unknown mineral (possibly something like Bismuthinite or Berthierite?) included inside, and the larger Fluorite when backlit actually shows a dark reddish-brown hue in the center. There's more going on here than meets the eye, and this is a piece is not only beautiful aesthetics and associations, but levels of paragenesis / deposition, creating an intriguing and eye-catching piece that would make a great addition to any suite of Chinese minerals, worldwide Fluorites or association specimens. Priced at $2,800 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/biographies_labels/smalestephen/ ) or on Wikipedia.