Fluorite on Muscovite

Unknown Owner

This superb Fluorite miniature from the Yaogangxian Mine in China displays both blue and vivid purple colors with an incredibly glassy luster. It features a single, sharply formed, 2.5 cm, complex cube that is mostly transparent and has a slightly turbid center. Much of the interior is a medium purple phantom with a diffuse center that displays a dark purple, 2 mm rim; and that is in turn surrounded by a beautiful blue rim for remarkable effect of phantom-within-phantom. Even casual inspection shows the crystal to be composed of complex, tightly intergrown cubes with slight offset. This remarkable crystal is attractively set on an almost bubbly matrix of translucent, yellowish muscovite for excellent composition and aesthetics. There is also a minor amount of arsenopyrite on one side and an incomplete quartz crystal on the bottom. An impressive and showy miniature.