Updated 3d ago

Fluorapatite

$400.00

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The high temperature tin-tungsten deposit at Panasqueira in Portugal is one of the great 'modern' mineral specimen producing mines of Europe. It is not only the ore minerals, such as Ferberite (aka Wolframite) that are magnificently crystallized, but associated species too, such as Fluorapatite. This very fine small cabinet-sized specimen from the Hettrich Collection in Germany features a very rich aggregate of well-formed thick hexagonal prisms of classic greyish-green Fluorapatite, the largest reaching to 1.8 cm across. These crystals present a fine silky to glassy surface lustre, are translucent and some show pronounced colour-zoning as slightly darker bands. One discrete crystals is fractured in half and one of the larger crystals at one end of the specimen has part of its rear missing, in part due to contact damage, but also where it was intergrown with another mineral. Other than that, the Fluorapatite crystals are really great for the locality and are nicely accompanied by cream coloured, opaque, hexagonal plates of Siderite and finely crystallized Muscovite mica, with a layer of grey-white finely crystallized Calcite coating most of the back of the specimen. A fine European Fluorapatite probably dating to the 1980s.