unusual Calcite included by Hematite phantoms (Santa Barbara Museum Coll.)

Item Description

A fantastic looking and colorful calcite from the famous mines at Santa Eulalia. The striking, sculptural doubly terminated, very glassy and lustrous, richly hematite tinted crystal looks like a rocket ship with jets of flame coming out of the multiple exhausts! Portions of the "nose" of the translucent crystal (viewports?) are nearly transparent, which adds character to this surreal and uncommon style calcite from here. The second generation colorless calcites attached to the rocket add sparkle and pizzazz. Nearly pristine, it's hard to tell, that one of the basal terminations is cleaved and that a mostly out-of-sight attachment on one side of the base of the "nose" of the rocket is noted. Probably older material from the 1960s-70s heyday of Mexican mineral production. Ex Ed Harrison and Santa Barbara Musuem fo Natural History Collections.