Fluorite on Quartz

Unknown Owner

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Fluorite from the William Wise Mine provided fluorspar for early American industry, as well as for collectors who loved beautiful green Fluorite. However, most of the significant amount of material mined from here was massive, broken, or very rough. Truly good specimens like this were and are always rare, from just a few pockets over the life of the mine before it closed in the mid 1900s. Fluorite is currently mined this location for cutting rough (for faceting, and selling as a the "new" green USA gemstone!). This particular crystal is one that was found and dug out in a rare open pocket and it is a sharp, undamaged, very fine, single octahedral crystal set on a coarse druse of iron stained Quartz crystals. It is old - no telling how old - but we purchased it from the Dick Hauck collection, and he was active mostly in the 1960s-1980s. We believe this to have been collected by intrepid field collectors going down old shafts in that era. There is also a sprinkling of secondary, colorless, 2 mm Fluorite cubes on the octahedral faces, some faces more than others. The composition as well as the color and textural contrasts are sublime! The texture is unique to this location. This is a significant piece for the locality in terms of color, condition, and display aesthetics. You simply do NOT see these for sale in quality.