Fluorapatite

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They say a picture paints a thousand words, but If there was ever a specimen where 2-dimensional photography does not do it justice then this is it. That is not to say that the photographs are bad - they are not - but what is lost is the sheer scale of this magnificent crystal grouping. This is why videos are so important these days - just take a look and you will see what I mean. Not only the scale, but the dappled dark brown-green colours and highly reflective crystal surfaces simple cannot be portrayed with traditional photography alone. This really is a staggeringly fine Fluorapatite specimen with the largest crystal reaching 5.3 cm in length, but being broad too (a similar 5 cm dimension). At least one of the crystals displays attractive bevelled edges to the corners of its termination and with the group rising up from a white Albite matrix they really stand out well. In the early 2000s the famous pegmatites at Conselheiro Pena in the Doce Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil produced some remarkably fine gemmy Fluorapatite crystals on matrix, notably from the Sapo mine. The crystals rarely reached more than a couple of cm in size which makes this stunning specimen from the Zé Pinto Prospect near Aldeia an absolute treasure.