Fluorite with Calcite (ex Paul Zerfass Collection)

Item Description

The Yaogangxian Mine has produced some of the most iconic minerals from any Chinese locality, and this piece is a great example of said material. This piece is from early mining at Yaogangxian dating back now nearly 20 years. It features a VERY gemmy, sharp, beautiful purple colored cubic crystal group of Fluorite measuring 3.5 cm with associated tabular Calcite crystals on matrix. The Fluorites are so transparent, that you can see straight through to the underlying matrix when the piece is backlit. Very good quality and the crystals are undamaged, save a contact on the back. The piece was not easy to photograph, but you can see that it displays beautifully and it's better in person. The Fluorite is actually a soft blue color internally, but has a rich purple zoning on the exterior. Valued at $900. From the collection of the long time, beloved, well-known French field collector, Paul Zerfass. Zerfass built his worldwide collection over nearly 50 years, many of which were personally collected. A biography featuring specimens from his collection (along with his face on the cover) is in the May - June 2017 issue of French mineral magazine, Le Regne Mineral. We have a .pdf copy of the article for anybody interested in reading it (though it's mostly in French). Just drop us a line and know that you'd like to have a copy.