Apatite - image 1

Apatite

T

The ArkenstoneFeatured
3,384 for sale·Member since 2026
A significant apatite from the most important European locale: Apatite from the Panasqueira Mine is justly famous as among the best examples of the species. Crystals like this one, showing the phantom inside a green core and the textbook shape of the crystal, have long been considered among the top European classics. This crystal is HUGE for the locality, and for this style, with a mass of 286 grams. It is largely complete all around. It is complete on the sides and back of the termination, with only small contact on the rear-left edge and at the bottom where it grew. It has muscovite coating a part of the bottom backside, and was almost a floater. Few single crystals of this size and mass have been on the market, at least with any quality to them. This old specimen would date to the 1960s or 1970s heyday here, and was long in the Dr. Ed David collection, and then the collection of Robert Nowakowski. Both of them had a love for unusually rare and large single crystals, as do I. Joe Budd photo. Comes with custom lucite base.

Product details

Species
ApatiteAbout Apatite →
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions7.8 x 7.1 x 3.6 cm
Added on10/23/2024
Locality
Portugal, Panasqueira MinesRegional guide →

Learn more

Apatite
Mineral guide
Learn about Apatite
hexagonal crystals with vivid greens, blues, and violets; forms range from pegmatites to alpine pockets, valued for color, form, and affordability.
Apatite
Regional guide
Apatite from Panasqueira Mines, Portugal
from the Panasqueira Mines is one of the signature mineral classics of Europe: glassy, hexagonal fluorapatite, most often in green, blue-green, colorless, pale yellow, violet, or purple crystals, set against the unmistakable Panasqueira palette of silvery arsenopyrite, ribbed black ferberite, sparkling muscovite, siderite, quartz, pyrite, sphalerite, fluorite, calcite, and other vein minerals. In serious collections the label is usually shortened to “apatite,” but the collector-specimen species from Panasqueira is fluorapatite, Ca5(PO4)3F.