Name: Fluorite on Dolomite
Brand: The Arkenstone
Price: 45000 USD
Availability: InStock

Fluorite on Dolomite

Collected in early 2000s, these incredibly transparent and vibrant green fluorites are now an old Chinese classic find. The crystals are a very saturated, bright, almost neon-green and the number of fluorites on the piece makes this so impactful. This particular pocket from the famous Yaogangxian Mine really stood out at the time, from other finds at this locality, for the contrast on dolomite. If memory serves, this was the very early 2000's, as I know I had one (of same style) in my collection by 2005. The color on these is striking as they just glow on display with that bright vibrant green color that is enhanced by their incredible transparency! You do not need backlighting at all: The color is just so intense that the piece is visible from across the room! There are nine good size, razor-sharp cubes on this piece varying in size from 1 to 3.6 cm on edge and all of them have perfect corners except on at the rear on the bottom side that is contacted and out of sight. No repairs and only the smallest of restorations are present, not surprising considering how freestanding this is and that it was found in the early days of mineral exports here. Other than restoration of a few tiny dings (1-2mm or less) that are hard to see even with a UV light, only one secondary minor crystal has a tiny sliver of restoration epoxy on one rear edge, the rest being pristine. These crystals are so limpid that you can look through every one of them to the depths of the crystalline dolomite underneath! The pale pink-white dolomite accentuates the green fluorites all the more so they just pop! A gorgeous cabinet piece from old discoveries. We got lucky and found this, still uncleaned after nearly 20 years, in a large group of unprepared old Chinese material that had been stored in a closet since the early 2000s. Steve Smale was one of the earliest and biggest buyers of Chinese material, before it was in vogue, from his perch at the University of Hong Kong at the time. He accumulated these as they came out. As his own interested shifted to smaller specimens, some of these larger pieces simply stayed around for years but never made it into his displays (nor did he send much to cleaning labs until recently). So, this is an old find, but fresh to market.

$45,000.00