Fluorapatite

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A truly fine textbook Fluorapatite crystal from the tungsten-tin mines of Panasqueira, Portugal. This happens to be a transparent to translucent, two-toned pale lavender and purple, doubly terminated single crystal of the species that has lustrous, striated prism faces and a very lustrous flat pinacoid terminations that provides a very clear view down into the mostly transparent crystal on both ends. The bottom third of this nearly one-inch crystal is a pale lavender transitioning into a translucent, distinctly medium purple that transitions to a gemmy lighter lavender near the top termination. It is in excellent condition with two contacts on the back of the crystals at the top and bottom only on the rear crystal face. Prismatic Fluorapatite crystals such as this from Panasqueira aren't as common as the more tabular habit and this is certainly a gem of (largeish) thumbnail. It has a mass of 12.03 grams.