Fluorite with Calcite and Chalcopyrite

Item Description

Illinois fluorites are so diverse, and we love them all in all shapes and colors; but yellows have always been among the most hard to find in quality specimens - even in the days they were coming out in the 1980s-90s. Here is a large, intensely yellow Fluorite cube with a thin purple rim is graced by clusters of small, ivory colored Calcite crystals from the Minerva No. 1 Mine in southern Illinois. The sharp Fluorite measures up to 5.5 cm on one edge and has a sharply formed corner at the apex of the crystal. Much of the interior is a rich yellow and it's highlighted by a thin, 2.5 to 3 mm thick rim of rich translucent to transparent purple. This rim is also host to 2 to 3 mm, brassy Chalcopyrite crystals, some of which protrude to the surface. The specimen is actually a large shard of a crystal that is not contacted on the bottom but it was separated from the matrix at some point in its history and subsequently etched on the bottom. The later Calcite decorates lower portion of the Fluorite as spiky, 3 to 5 mm, scalenohedral crystals in ivory to white groups of crystals for great contrast. A very nice combination piece from the Illinois Fluorspar District! NO REPAIR OR RESTORATION, remarkable on a crystal of this size coming out of old collections, these days. Ex Chet Lemanski Fluorite Collection. Valued $4000-plus.