Huge Ferberite crystal, w/ Fluorapatite (Trimingham Coll.)

Item Description

A dramatic and sculptural large cluster of lustrous, charcoal-gray, parallel-growth and stepped-growth, tabular ferberite prisms from this famous mine. The form of the sharply terminated crystals is striking and the row of balls of sphalerite with a nifty lightly iridescent chalcopyrite coating along the right edge adds form and contrast. The back and one edge are festooned with tiny, glassy, colorless, hexagonal fluorapatite crystals, a common but unexpected out-of-sight accessory. An exceptional large and aesthetic ferberite from the Bob Trimingham Collection. Valued at $2000-2500. Although the mine is back in operation and modern specimens are coming out, I have not seen any of such size as this, from the heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s..