Fluorite on Sphalerite

Item Description

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A fist-sized combination specimen from the zinc mines in Elmwood, Tennessee with four prominent, light purple Fluorite cubes on a substrate of crystalline, brown-red Sphalerite. The Fluorites are perfect cubes with translucent cores and essentially transparent rims that are pale purple in the center and they have medium purple, well demarcated rims. The sizes of the Fluorite crystals range from 2.5 cm across for the largest to 0.5 cm for the smallest one and all are well isolated on the Sphalerite. The Sphalerite is a large aggregate of numerous, intergrown, brown-red crystals that that are highly lustrous, translucent on the edges and reflect any incident light. As with most larger examples from here, a few barely discernible bruises on the Sphalerite and the Fluorites have two, barely nicked corners. This cabinet piece sits well on its own.