Realgar

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The Shimen As-(Au) Deposit in Shimen Co., Changde Prefecture, Hunan Province, China has produced arguably the world's finest crystals of Realgar, most of which were found during the 1980s and 1990s. The scale of these crystals is spectacular in comparison to other world occurrences and when found their colour is extremely intense. Unfortunately, Realgar is known to be a light sensitive species, but this magnificent matrix-less cluster of very large (individually to about 5 cm across) bladed crystals has clearly been well cared for - usually by keeping it in the dark - and so retains its stunning colour. Crystals of this quality have not been produced for over a decade, perhaps longer, and so only when older collections get recycled do we find such beauties. Their sharpness in form is superb and there is no obvious damage. Ex Hettrich Collection.