Purple Apatite and Schorl (Lockhart Coll.)

Item Description

Purple apatite of any intense color, and this is very fine in that regard, is rare from Pakistan and seldom seen. This is a 2.5 cm long crystal cluster of stacked hexagonal apatites, sprawling on albite-coated muscovite blades. The muscovites are a beige-silvery color, and look like Stegosaurus plates that leap up and out from a core of albite matrix. A single (broken) schorl is in association. Overall the piece is dramatically 3-dimensional and looks like a flower in person. This interesting combination piece is a lot better in person than the photo conveys, due to the difficulty of focus on such a 3-dimensional piece, with muscovites spraying out above and the purple apatite cluster more frontally located. It was purchased in 2007, shortly after it was mined, by collector Brent Lockhart of Houston. Comes with a custom-made and labeled lucite base for free. Valued at $2000 in a liquidation trade to us, as you see it was purchased from another dealer.