Ilvaite on Calcite

$1,450.00

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The ArkenstoneFeatured

3,403 for sale·Member since 2026

Russian ilvaite once set the world standard, and the fact is that very few of quality ever came out. Although we now have many very large to ridiculously large crystals from China, these Russian examples still remain a special piece of mineral history, with special aesthetics and style that make them look different. Here is a 4 cm tall ilvaite, perched against a rhombohedral calcite, uniquely Russian in aspect. These came out in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and never again in quality. As a bonus, the calcite is manganoan, highly fluorescent orange-red. If you want a big ilvaite, buy a Chinese one. If you want a fine aesthetic matrix specimen, the few great Russian pieces like this are still, to my eye, the best. Dr. Erika Pohl-Ströher - 46366