Lazulite with Fluorapatite

Item Description

Some of the most well-known specimens of crystallized Lazulite in the world are the fine examples found in the area around Rapid Creek in the Yukon of Canada. It has been said that this area produced the finest Lazulite crystals the world in terms of color and quality. Lazulite is a magnesium aluminum phosphate, and crystals can range in color from a seafoam-green, to a sky blue to an intense midnight blue shade. The dark blue crystals are synonymous with Rapid Creek, about as rich as it gets for the species. This area is only accessible for a few months in the summer for collecting (it's under snow and ice the rest of the year), and is some of the most treacherous terrain in the world for collecting specimens with steep talus slopes and unstable ground. Here we have a lovely display piece featuring excellent quality, sharp, lustrous, very well formed, monoclinic, deep inky blue color crystals of Lazulite measuring up to a full 6 mm associated with brown Siderite and small gem Quartz crystals on matrix. Minor pale pink colored hexagonal crystals of Fluorapatite measuring up to about 3 mm are also present on the piece. No major damage I can see, though there are a few minor rough spots, and the rare Apatite association makes it all the more desirable.
From the collection of John Dagenais #JD-636.