Lollingite on Arsenopyrite with Sphalerite and Quartz - image 1

Lollingite on Arsenopyrite with Sphalerite and Quartz - image 3

Lollingite on Arsenopyrite with Sphalerite and Quartz

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These glistening specimens of lollingite crystals perched on leaves of arsenopyrite, really set the mineral world abuzz when they first showed up circa 2005-2010. They are spectacularly bright in LED cases, or sunlight, in particular. This is an unusually aesthetic example, shaped like a flower. It has wonderful associations with quartz and a small crystal that at first looks like an amber-colored calcite but up close, you realize is a gemmy, amber-yellow sphalerite perched right on one of the flower tips. This is an old specimen from the best finds of this material, long in the important Chinese mineral subcollection of Dr. Steve Smale of Berkeley. For the size, it is simply one of the finest we have seen. It is tremendously aesthetic, complete all around, and without damage. The association with yellow sphalerite is an extra bonus.