Scheelite (rare color for the locality!) (ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection)

Item Description

There are a few localities in China that have produced some impressive Scheelite crystals. The Yaogangxian Mine is best known for it's rich golden-brown Scheelites, but there was a single pocket in 2002 that produced some fine quality, rarely seen WHITE Scheelite crystals. This piece hosts a handful of very sharp, well-formed, lustrous, pseudo-octahedral, silvery-white colored Scheelite crystals measuring up to 1.8 cm on matrix. There is a bit of purple Fluorite and unknown gray mineral (possibly something like Boulangerite or Bismuthinite?). The Scheelites are undamaged on the display side, but their growth is incomplete on the back where the piece grew against the pocket wall. Excellent blue-white fluorescence under SW UV light. We have this one valued at $1,250 for the rare color and fine quality of the crystals. 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.