Name: Fluorite on Smoky Quartz
Brand: Crystal Classics
Price: 4000 USD
Availability: InStock

Updated 3d ago

Fluorite on Smoky Quartz

This is a rare locality piece from the extremely remote Pasto Bueno area in the high Andes mountains in Pampas District, Pallasca Province, Ancash Department, Peru. The late great American mineral collector/dealer, Rock Currier, famously described the route he took to Pasto Bueno in 1976, as not measured in kilometres, but hours: the roads being equal to the worst he had ever seen. Pasto Bueno was in fact a remote mining camp, serving several mines, and specimens were often vaguely provenanced. By 1997 the mining camp was said to have been abandoned. This cabinet-sized display specimen comes from the comprehensive Fluorite collection of Arvid Pasto (no. AEP1176), author of the book "Collector's Guide to Fluorite", and this exact specimen is figured on the Front Cover and on page 59 (fig. 92). Unusually, it is from a very precise locality - Cantera Haurita, or Haurita quarry. The contrast between brown Smoky Quartz and pale lilac Fluorite is lovely. The Fluorite crystal is an octahedron, with stepped faces, and reaches 4.5 cm across. Darker flashes of purple around the tips of the crystal provide additional character. This is an extremely fine Pasto Bueno Fluorite and one of the few known from Haurita quarry.

$4,000.00