Updated 2d ago
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Fluorite with Calcite on Quartz$7,000.00
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An old specimen from the late 1990s, this is literally a vintage piece from the heyday of the mine, with a unique style as it is perched on a cluster of such beautiful freestanding quartz. The plate of quartz is complete all around, so the piece is a floater. The larger crystal, 3 cm across, is dark, with a grape juice purple color unlike most Shangbao specimens which tend to the lighter shades of purple or pastel. When backlit, this positively glows with color (it needs some backlighting, though not much, because the crystal is also complete all around and very translucent). The larger crystal is 3 cm. It has, as does the smaller, sharply defined edge features of a cube face within an enclosing, complex stepped cuboctahedral crystal. The piece is simply special - not terribly valuable compared to some larger ones, but unique in aesthetics and with a special and sentimental provenance. It was considered, in China, to be so aesthetic and special at the time, that it went quickly into the collection of Wang YaDong. Wang is a very wise collector and well known in Chinese mineral culture as the godfather of modern mineral aesthetics there, for his fine taste in smaller specimens (especially compared to the Chinese norm), from the 90s. He retired as head of a Provincial-level Border Patrol Army division, and opened a rock shop in Xi'An in his retirement. He had an ability to import easily from Burma, and specialized in selling gorgeous petrified wood, but loved the minerals most. He is not only my own Chinese "godfather" of minerals, but through his shop and collection educated a generation of collectors in China. This specimen was his WeChat logo piece for at least a decade, and only recently parted with. I bought it from him in 2023, and sold it to Wayne Thompson for his refined fluorite collection immediately upon my return to the USA at the end of '23 (if you hold it in person, and can play with the lighting, you would see immediately why it appeals even to somebody who had several Shangbao's already), only to buy it back when he sold me this collection in early 2024. Essentially, his name and collection is validating in the local market that knows the most about these things. Among many Shangbao fluorites, it stands out.
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