Fluorite on Quartz

Unknown Owner

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This lovely Peruvian Fluorite is from the remote Pasto Bueno area in Pallasca Province, Ancash Department. The mines at Pasto Bueno have been operating for many, many decades, but the first western mineral collectors and dealers ventured there in the mid-1970s. Fluorite crystals in many colours have been found, but high quality aesthetic specimens are few and far between. This specimen is nice because of the balance between a bed of prismatic Quartz crystals and Fluorite, and the colour of the Fluorite is unusual on a world scale - a mid teal-blue/green. There is damage, notably to the tips of both main Quartz crystals and to the end of the Fluorite aggregate. However, the nature of the Fluorite - forming a complex, somewhat octahedral mass, built of a myriad of tiny rounded cubes means that the surface already has a mottled appearance, with the deeper teal-green coming from within, with paler glassy crystals on the outer surface. As the specimen is moved around in the light hundreds of surface reflections reveal the complexity of the crystal surface. A fine Peruvian Fluorite from this classic, and remote, South American locale.