Scheelite

This piece exemplifies the most saturated and excellent fiery orange of classic Scheelites from the world's best of species locality near the Panda Preserve in the Sichuan Province of China. Mt. Xuebaoding is by far the most important Scheelite locality, then and now, and has been so since it first produced specimens that got to the West in the early 1990s, although the quality of Scheelite has never been as good since around 2005. These crystals show off the best of what Mt. Xuebaoding Scheelites have to offer: rich color, great luster, good translucency with gemmy edges and tips and intense cream colored fluorescence. The largest of these pseudo-octahedral crystals is an impressive 3 cm on edge and they are attractively stacked creating a virtual temple to the species. There is but one tiny bruise on one of the upper, smaller crystals that is barely perceptible and it is otherwise complete 360 degrees. This is one of the more impressive small cabinet pieces for color, shape, and overall impact from the heyday of the mine. Long in the personal collection of Ken Roberts. Ken was an early scout to China working for himself and other dealers before retiring. A good number of the top Chinese specimens of the late 1990s-2010 came out through Ken and his extensive travels there (even before I started going in 2005 or so) and he kept a secret personal collection of small cabinet specimens, including this piece. This is from that long hoarded collection of choice pieces all of which are chosen for beauty, completeness, and quality.

Unknown Owner

Product details

Species

Scheelite

SizeSmall Cabinet

Dimensions5.3 x 4.3 x 4.2 cm

Locality

China, Sichuan, Pingwu Co.

Added on11/01/2024

Comments

Known provenance

2025/06