Fluorite with Baryte

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China has, during the start of the 21st century produced many worldclass Fluorite specimens from a significant number of individual mines, but very few of these localities show the combination of Fluorite with Baryte. That is exactly what this lovely cabinet-sized plate from Qinglong mine does. This epithermal gold-antimony deposit in Dachang Sb ore field, Qianxinan, Guizhou, China first came to the attention of collectors of Fluorite in about 2009 and more recently, in 2021, with the discovery of exceptional, purple Fluorite-coated Calcite crystals. This fine display specimen from Arvid Pasto's famous Fluorite collection shows a wonderful balance between purple, colour-zoned cubes of Fluorite, and cream coloured rosettes of clustered bladed Baryte crystals both upon a bed of white massive Quartz. The Baryte crystals have the additional benefit of being very glossy and the Fluorite cubes display interesting complex growth patterns with their normally sharp edges comprised of many stepped individual cubes. No obvious damage.