Parisite

Snowbird Mine, Fish Creek, Alberton, Mineral County, Montana
Miniature, 3.6 x 1.7 x 1.2 cm
Start Time: 02/26/2015 6:45:00 pm (CST)
End Time: 03/05/2015 6:45:00 pm (CST)
Auction Closed

Item Description

Parisite is an uncommon rare earth carbonate, and I think the best examples in the United States are those from the Snowbird Mine. This is a nice quality group of slender, deep reddish-brown prismatic Parisite-(Ce) crystals forming a small miniature sized display specimen from this lesser known mine in NW Montana (between Missoula and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho). The mine was worked for Fluorite for a short time during the 1950s, but arguably it's best known for its Parisite specimens. To find such well-defined crystals of Parisite is most unusual. This locality produces distinct crysatls compared to those from Colombia and Malawi which are more widely seen on the market today.

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