Fluorite

Sold Without Reserve

Fluorite

Xianghualing Mine, Chenzhou Prefecture, China

Overall size 34.5 x 22.3 x 10.5 cm. Impressive example of highly translucent octahedral fluorite with an even light green coloration, the base of the specimen partially overgrown with a secondary botryoidal white coating. With custom lucite base.

Certainly one of the most popular collectible minerals, calcium fluoride (CaF2) occurs in numerous important deposits spanning the globe. The nearly infinite array of available colors, often occurring in multi-color zoned “phantom” growth, have long delighted mineral collectors and lapidaries alike. Valuable as a smelting agent and for use in certain types of glass and optics, it has been mined in great quantities for industrial purposes. Vividly colored specimens with aesthetic crystal growth are best known from classic North American deposits in Illinois and Tennessee, European localities in Spain and England, and more recently from several exciting Chinese discoveries.