Calcite var. Cobaltoan

Unknown Owner

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Of all the minerals out there, one of the few things that has stunned me since childhood remains these NEON PINK calcites, with the color due to small amounts of cobalt in the parts per million, included in the crystal structure as it formed. How that gives this seemingly fake-looking color, is a mystery that pulled me into calcite collecting as a younger collector. This is from the BEST color pocket(s) of the mid 1980s and very early 1990s, which produced just a handful of such saturated specimens of any quality. It is impossible to convey the true color in photos, somehow - as saturated as it looks on the screen, the human eye sees it as even a deeper color. This elegant vertical cluster is large, showy, and can be seen from across the room like a torchlight. Jack bought it from the amazing Belgian gentleman dealer, Gilbert Gauthier, the best source for Congo minerals who surely had the best of them at the time. No repairs, no restorations, just gorgeous and natural - this is a stunning object that will leap out of any collection display. If you have seen "pink calcites" from a few later finds, or even the best of the new Morocco pink calcites, they still do not compare to this thing - it is fundamentally on a different level of color. Featured in the book Addicted to Beauty: The Legacy of Jack Halpern (Mineralogical Record, March 2025) on page 52, fig. 33.