An eye-catching, sharp, lustrous, gemmy, cherry-red, prismatic Realgar crystal sits isolated on a large crystal portion of Calcite - you can see the contrast and color from far away. The gem Realgar is super lustrous, perfectly formed and may actually consist of two tightly intergrown crystals. The crystal faces and edges of the Realgar are razor sharp and it is perched at the lower end of a large, lustrous, crystal portion of off-white Calcite that has dove-gray highlights around the edges. The contrast between the two is ideal producing a well-composed specimen! I have not seen many Realgar specimens with superb, isolated crystals like this one. Funny how this brings BAC23k memories - this specimen was something i purchased from the sale of the F John Barlow collection (his #4880 - which seems like a big number until you read further...) in 1999 (for $400!), for my calcite collection at the time. I got a larger one shortly after and I sold this to my old friends and mentors, Bill and Anne Cook, at a Tucson show sometime between 2001-2003 (as their number 12143). It has been with them until now. It would be an older Chinese piece as we saw things come to market from that vast country, from the early 1990s. Note: Realgar must be kept out of light, and it preserves this gemmy, cherry red color just fine (as you see here, this is about 30 years old).
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