Fluorite with Quartz "casts" after Calcite

Item Description

Fluorite specimens are terribly plentiful from Arizona, and this is a rarely seen piece from the La Fluorita Dulcita Claim in south-central Arizona. Primarily, this locality is best known for it's beautiful purple "ochsenaugen" (ox eye) habit crystals, but this piece is different and harder to find on the market in my experience. The piece is rather sculptural and three-dimensional due to the fact that it started as a group of scalenohedral Calcite crystals which were coated by Quartz and later dissolved away leaving hollow "casts" (some people call these either epimorphs or perimorphs), but the most attractive aspect of the piece is that a later generation of gemmy purple octahedral Fluorite crystals came in later. The piece is crystallized on all sides, and the only roughness can be see where it was detached from the pocket wall when it was collected. A must have specimen for any fan of worldwide Fluorites, unusual "casts" / pseudomorphs or minerals from Arizona.