Fluorapatite

$500.00

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Not only does this specimen come with an original handwritten [later Sir] Arthur Russell label, but it was self-collected by him too, at Maen quarry in 1923. Sir Arthur Russell is of course Britain's most successful mineral collector, assembling without question the finest suite of British mineral specimens ever put together, through fieldwork, but more importantly through acquiring historic collections - and many of them! His collection was bequeathed by him to the British Museum (Natural History), which is now the Natural History Museum, London, but during his lifetime he exchanged and sold specimens and this is one he sold to the dealers Rayners - marked by the code "R294". It is miniature in size, but is a nice example of crystallized Cornish pegmatite mineralization. Dominated by a well-formed pale pink Orthoclase crystal and a somewhat frosted terminated prismatic Quartz crystal, the rarity factor comes from the small well-formed glassy Fluorapatite crystals, the largest reaching 3 mm in length. Ex Malcolm Southwood collection, no. MS 2001.022.