Fluorite with Calcite

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This classic, gemmy, colour-zoned Fluorite is instantly seen to be from the Illinois - Kentucky Fluorspar District and more specifically from Cave-in-Rock. It is not a perfect crystal, but has many pretty special features in its favour. Firstly, it is over 10 cm on edge, making it a really great size for display, but like most from that mining district it is a cleaved front of a crystal with the rear and part of its sides missing. That said, this allows backlighting to really pick out its amazing internal colour zoning with a deep amber core and thin intense deep purple lines around its outer edge. This purple colour is also prevalent in one triangular area of one corner where a cleavage plane appears to influence the way colour is projected. The crystal is pretty much perfect in one corner (so three sides), with crisp, sharp edges. The main front face of the crystal also presents a series of stepped surfaces, each with discrete colour zonation, adding to its detail. Small white to colourless scalenohedral Calcite crystals are scattered across two of the Fluorite faces in an association which is classicly Cave-in Rock. Ex Arvid Pasto Collection.