Hydroxylapatite on Microcline

Item Description

This Apatite Group mineral from the Sapo has been correctly identified as Hydroxylapatite which is much less common than Fluorapatite, or as initially reported as Carbonate-Fluorapatite from this locality. Scientific classification aside, these are bizarre and unusual Apatites from a single large pocket of the early 2000s from this locality. They are immediately recognizable by their lively green color, sometimes with off-white cores and their flattened dipyramid habit with essentially no prism faces, a habit not often seen in the Apatite Group. This attractive small cabinet piece shows off several a large, semi-lustrous crystals from 2 mm to 2 cm on a matrix of white to cream Microcline. All of the Hydroxylapatite crystals on this piece are not quite pristine (please note - minor edge chatter on close examination) and contrast well with the lighter colored Microcline. This is an important old find of circa 2003, however, and so few ever turn up for sale now.