Arsenopyrite with Calcite - image 1
Arsenopyrite with Calcite - image 2

Arsenopyrite with Calcite

Unknown Owner
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A remarkable Arsenopyrite from the Yaogangxian Mine that continues to surprise with a variety of great mineral specimens such as this one! This cluster of Arsenopyrite consists of several complex crystals in parallel or subparallel growth that display a metallic peacock colored, iridescent tarnish and are associated with contrasting small Calcite crystals and a single, small Quartz crystal on the backside. From a small pocket with this insane natural iridescence, that came out in June or July of 2019.

Product details

SpeciesCalcite, Arsenopyrite
SizeMiniature
Dimensions4.7 x 3.0 x 2.9 cm
Added on10/23/2024
LocalityChina, Hunan, Yaogangxian Mine

Known provenance

DateCollectorAcquisition price
08/2024Unknown OwnerNot disclosed
—The ArkenstoneNot disclosed

Learn more

Calcite
Mineral guide
Learn about Calcite
diverse shapes, colors, and optical quirks; widely available yet scarce elite pieces from Elmwood and Charcas drive collecting value and display.
Calcite
Regional guide
Calcite from Yaogangxian Mine, China
from the Yaogangxian Mine is not merely an accessory carbonate on famous Chinese fluorites; at its best it is one of the visual signatures of the locality. Collectors most often encounter it as crisp white to pale pink “poker-chip” aggregates, bladed rosettes, stacked pagoda-like sprays, steep scalenohedra, or flattened rhombohedral groups perched on fluorite, quartz, ferberite, scheelite, muscovite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and other Yaogangxian species. The appeal lies in contrast: delicate, pearly calcite set against glassy purple or blue-green fluorite; pink manganese-bearing calcite on sparkling quartz; or a single water-clear calcite twin rising from metallic black ferberite.