Muscovite

$12,500.00

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This beautiful arrangement of contrastingly coloured and textured minerals comes from one of the famous pegmatite occurrences in the mountains of northern Pakistan. Remarkable in its aesthetic balance and completeness, it should be remarked that although fine individual orange-pink Fluorapatite, black terminated prismatic Schorl and sharp stacked groups of Muscovite crystals are well-known from Shengus, the combination of all together is as rare as the proverbial 'hen's teeth'. Famous since the 1970s for the rare beryllium manganese phosphate species Väyrynenite, the precarious exposed riverside cliffs have been mined for gem minerals ever since but there have been no major discoveries for a decade or more. The distinctive orange-pink gemmy Fluorapatite was largely found in the earliest years of the 21st century. The larger of the two terminated glossy black Schorl crystals reaches 2.5 cm in length and the other 1.1 cm. There appears to be the slightest of nicks to the edge of the Schorl termination, but this does not overly detract from its stunning appearance. The flattened hexagonal Fluorapatite crystal reaches almost 4 cm across with what appears to be a smaller, paler pink crystal stacked on top. Quite rounded and well-balanced in its overall shape, this specimen is really pretty, and certainly one of the finest Fluorapatite display specimens to have been recovered there.