Fluorite on Quartz

Item Description

Here is an unusual and aesthetic Fluorite-Quartz combination specimen from the Orange River area of South Africa. Clusters of lavender Fluorite botryoids add color and contrast to several internally Hematite-included, Smoky Quartz crystals. A wealth of 2 to 3 mm, satin lustered, opaque to translucent spheres of rich lavender colored Fluorite are mounded up on the front and one side of the piece. These lavender spheres represent a later stage of Fluorite that was preceded by an earlier phase of white, botryoidal Fluorite and this lovely contrasting relationship can be seen around the edges of the Fluorite. Much of the matrix portion of the Quartz is milky, yet the well-formed crystals are distinctly smoky hued at their interior with inclusions of fine Hematite near their exteriors imparting both distinctly smoky and subtle red colors to the crystals, especially at the exterior. A showy and unique Orange River small cabinet piece. It is one of few fluorites we have seen, a weird color for sure, from here. The old label with it notes "Kugeliger Lila Fluorit auf Quartz" which seems to call it "bullet shaped , lilac fluorite" - as good a way to describe this bizarre specimen, as any!