Quartz with Fluorite (fantastic aesthetic specimen!) (ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection)

Item Description

What a gorgeous, eye-catching, highly aesthetic, three-dimensional display specimen from the Yaogangxian Mine! This cabinet sized display specimen features fine quality, VERY GEMMY, slightly smoky colored prismatic Quartz crystals which are associated with WATER CLEAR cubic crystals of Fluorite showing soft blue exteriors and rich purple "cores". What makes the piece so special is that the Quartz crystals grew in a manner by which some of them were deposited on top of one another, allowing them to fully crystallized to the point where there are doubly-terminated crystals sitting on top of additional Quartz crystals. As a matter of fact, at the central point of the specimen there is a doubly-terminated flattened / compressed crystal of Quartz sitting on top of a stout doubly-terminated Quartz crystal propped up on additional single prisms of Quartz! The piece is a lesson in Quartz morphology showing a wide range of habits. Not only is the piece incredibly showy, but it's superb quality to boot with no major damage that I can find with the naked eye. Without question, this is one of my favorite esoteric specimens that I've seen from this mine, but it's also a high quality display piece as well. Priced in the inventory at $2,500. Ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection. Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=671&page=1 ) or on Wikipedia.