Fluorite With Dolomite

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This specimen is an oddball for the pocket, with a 5-cm-across GEMMY, transparent, complex cuboctahedral crystal just beautifully displayed on a pedestal of more translucent, rough fluorite. The smooth, glass-like surfaces of the dominant crystal are amazing, about the best polished look you can ask for in a fluorite specimen. Minor dolomite and pyrites accentuate the fluorite, giving it a needed accent. This is a very unique, and sparkling, specimen. Purple or lavender-colored crystals in this pocket were few and far between, it seems. The Chinese asked a huge premium for them, I am told. I have seen only a few amidst the green-blue colors more common in the pocket. This is from a new pocket found at the end of 2008, and quietly trickled into Tucson in 2009. It should be remembered as a very distinct style, something different from any we have seen before for the mine or a fluorite combination.