Fluorite on Magnetite and Calcite - image 1

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Fluorite on Magnetite and Calcite

$12,500.00

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T

The ArkenstoneFeatured

3,403 for sale·Member since 2026

A stunning, large, colorless and transparent single, modified fluorite octahedron is set on a mottled dark and light contrasting magnetite matrix - the whole large piece without repairs nor restoration despite from being found in the early days of Huanggang Mines exports. The large, glassy fluorite octahedron is modified by the cube (corners) and dodecahedron (edges) and so transparent you can see the subtle. But distinct octahedral phantom at the center! The crystal is lustrous, essentially colorless, very sharply formed and shows off its perfect textbook forms, especially on the contrasting dark colored matrix. Not since similar fluorites from Dalnegorsk were available in the 1980s have we seen such ice-clear fluorites, and those were mostly cubes while this is a sharp, modified octahedron! The matrix consists of knobby, black magnetite with white, elliptical crusts of calcite and then some larger pale tan colored calcite rhombs from 3 mm to 1.5 cm scattered and in small groups on the magnetite. Complete all around and well-balanced! From finds around 2008-2010 at this locality. We have not had these for many years, for sale; and found a final old stash of pieces in a closet of well-known collector Steve Smale in Berkeley, which we obtained. Steve specialized in Chinese minerals from the 1990s to now, and had accumulated a huge collection while he was based in Hong Kong over some of those years. And so, these are now fresh to market, from the original find, after over a decade in a collection.