Calcite (Cobalt-bearing)

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The Mashamba West Mine has produced some of the most alluring and elegant Cobalt-bearing Calcites we have ever had the pleasure of seeing, from the 1980s. This pair of lustrous, scalenohedral crystals exhibit a lovely magenta-pink hue through much of them with more of a pinkish white color at their bases. The largest crystal measures 6.5 cm from base to tip and the crossing crystal, which is doubly terminated is 5 cm from tip to tip! The smaller crystal is gemmy and colorful at the ends, one more so than the other. The big crystal is more transparent at the termination and is pale pink there grading to a more magenta-pink in the central portion. Overall, it is a gorgeous neon color that stands out from all other minerals in a case. The composition of the two crystals is exquisite and they both sit on thin sandwiches of gossany brown to tan-pink silicified matrix. These are rare, beautiful, and unique and were recovered over 30 years ago now and came through a European collection recently.