Gem Fluorite with Calcite (floater) ex Smale Coll

Item Description

This specimen is part of the 2021 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium benefit auction, with proceeds benefiting Mineralogical Record, Rocks & Minerals, Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and mindat.org. Thanks to all of our participants!

Billing for this auction will occur on Monday, August 23, for payment using PayPal or a credit card. Shipping will be billed at cost.

This totally gem transparent cluster of stacked fluorite cubes is unique among so many hundreds of old specimens of the similar style we had seen, back in the 1990s and early 2000s, from this prolific fluorite mining district. It is a floater, complete all around and with no point of contact. It has been in the noted Chinese minerals subcollection of Dr. Steve Smale for over 2 decades. After it formed in the pocket, it broke off the wall plate it was attached to, and solution in the pocket sealed the side that had attached, and then small calcites formed over that edge and the entire backside, like a drapery of crystalline sugar on top of the fluorite. The piece is nearly perfect and pristine (as you'd expect from Steve's collection), with only a few tiny dings that are hard to see. It is really just different than all the others and looks like a cubist sculpture more than a mineral specimen. The crystals, totally gem-like ice cubes, reach 3.2 cm on edge. We could not decide whether this is more dramatic horizontally or vertically! As a Chinese mineral collector myself, I value this highly. It is a truly special specimen. Steve acquired this in Hong Kong over 20 years ago, and it has remained in his collection until now. Donation to the Symposium Auction.