Calcite (Cuprian and Manganoan)

This is a unique find of calcite from China from the late 1990s, and we see very few today in any condition or size (let alone a cabinet piece!). This large display specimen comes out of Dr. Steve Smale's core China collection, built to over 2000 specimens at its peak and spanning the glory years of the 1990s-early 2000s in mineral production. Such example is this green calcite were treasured at the time. Today they are mostly forgotten, simply because they are so rare (I have one in my own China collection, larger yet, purchased at absurdly high cost from the original Chinese owner — but these are among the few even I have seen in decades). The piece is very pretty, and it is hard to capture the color in photos. Interestingly, although green (cuprian) it also fluoresces pink, which means it assuredly has manganese as well. So we have the two chromophores present in small concentrations, also highly unusual. Crystals to 4 cm.