Fluorite on Calcite var. Manganoan - image 1
Fluorite on Calcite var. Manganoan - image 2
specimen video
Fluorite on Calcite var. Manganoan - image 4
Fluorite on Calcite var. Manganoan - image 5
Fluorite on Calcite var. Manganoan - image 6
Fluorite on Calcite var. Manganoan - image 7

Fluorite on Calcite var. Manganoan

T

The ArkenstoneFeatured
3,384 for sale·Member since 2026
A gorgeous, totally transparent, stepped growth, purple-blue fluorite with dark purple phantom rims from this famous mine. And, to set it off, it rises up dramatically from a natural pedestal of crystallized calcite - a floating and curvaceous plate of small, pink calcites! This incredible fluorite is comprised of numerous, completely transparent cubes in very distinct, staggered and stepped growth that measures 4.3 cm across and almost 5 cm tall. There is only one, partial, 1.8 cm cube on one side that is intergrown at an angle, otherwise they all aim out the same way, and so looking in from the front view is like looking in through a dozen simultaneous TV frames. The fluorite has a pale blue interior with a purple outer zone that has a rich purple, 1 mm zone just below the surface (that is very apparent when looking edge-on). So, the color is purpley-blue or bluey-purple, depending on the angle of display and of the light going in. It sits on and is juxtaposed to that soft-looking, floating, complete plate of crystallized pale pink-peach calcite. providing perfect contrast and composition. Perfect display face with no damage nor restoration. Contacted on the back where it must have grown against matrix or a quartz crystal (which is good, as it allows more light in, in this case). An old style of YGX fluorite from the early 2000s era here (evident from both fluorite and calcite habits); and we have not had these for many years. We found this fine small cabinet piece 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 2 decades in a collection.

Product details

Species
Calcite, FluoriteAbout Calcite →
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions8.0 x 6.0 x 4.5 cm
Added on11/14/2025
Locality
China, Hunan, Yaogangxian MineRegional guide →

Learn more

Calcite
Mineral guide
Learn about Calcite
diverse shapes, colors, and optical quirks; widely available yet scarce elite pieces from Elmwood and Charcas drive collecting value and display.
Calcite
Regional guide
Calcite from Yaogangxian Mine, China
from the Yaogangxian Mine is not merely an accessory carbonate on famous Chinese fluorites; at its best it is one of the visual signatures of the locality. Collectors most often encounter it as crisp white to pale pink “poker-chip” aggregates, bladed rosettes, stacked pagoda-like sprays, steep scalenohedra, or flattened rhombohedral groups perched on fluorite, quartz, ferberite, scheelite, muscovite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and other Yaogangxian species. The appeal lies in contrast: delicate, pearly calcite set against glassy purple or blue-green fluorite; pink manganese-bearing calcite on sparkling quartz; or a single water-clear calcite twin rising from metallic black ferberite.