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Mineral Specimens with Calcite
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A very showy and pristine specimen of two intergrown radial clusters of lustrous and bladed hematite-included red calcite crystals from Tsumeb. SUPER attractive piece! 6.0 x 4.1 x 2.5 cm
17.9 x 13.2 x 9.7 cm. From the well-known collection of Dr. Ed David, President Nixon's former science advisor and a longtime mineral collector, this is a huge, bowling-ball-sized single twinned crystal from this classic East Coast locale. I have not seen a larger one, in good condition. The piece glows with intense burnt-orange color when backlit even a little bit, very translucent. It is complete-all-around, and just shocking in size compared to the usual 2-3 inch crystals from this quarry. A superb, rare, American classic. I recently found out from Pennsylvania expert Bryon Brookmyer that it was collected on January 26-27 of 1974 by Ira Smith, an East Coast collector specializing in calcite. Apparently this was the only pocket of such large crystals, in this style, ever found there. Brookmyer and dealer Neal Pfaff acquired the Ira Smith collection in 1986. Bryon kept this piece in his Pennsylvania collection awhile, and then sold it through Neal to Gerald Kloc, a well-known collector specializing in Calcite twins. From there, it eventually ended up in the Ed David collection when the Kloc collection was broken up in 2003. I acquired Ed's collection in 2005. The mass is over 2 kilograms for this single crystal.
14.2 x 10.0 x 8.0 cm. A very attractive cabinet calcite specimen from recent finds at Santa Eulalia, Mexico. Sharp, lustrous, and translucent calcite rhombs are included with hematite on a mounded matrix covered with an earlier generation of smaller crystals. Crystals reach 3.8 cm on this piece. Complete-all-around.
12.5 x 10.2 x 7.4 cm. Glassy, transparent and colorless, octahedral and cuboctahedral fluorite crystals are clustered on this fine cabinet combination specimen from the 2nd Sovietskii Mine at Dal’negorsk. The striking complete-all-around and pristine cluster at the top of the piece is 5.3 cm (over 2 inches) across and fluorite crystals reach 3.7 cm. Flesh-colored calcite disks cover the matrix and are a nice compliment. Classic material from Dal’negorsk. Probably from the 1990s.
13.7 x 13.0 x 8.8 cm. Cabinet Sicilian sulphur and calcite after aragonite stalactites of this striking, old-time quality are seldom available. Two large, to 7.0 cm, glassy, bright, canary-yellow sulphur crystals are dramatically inset amongst a jackstraw cluster of sparkly calcite pseudomorphing sharp, flat-terminated aragonite crystals from Sicily. Accompanied by an old, faded label in German. I would assume that this is pre-World War I material.
A pristine and unusually shaped specimen of a pagoda-shaped stack of flattened, honey-brown nailhead calcite crystals resting on lustrous and translucent colorless calcite scalenohedrons. VERY INTERESTING and mesmerizing specimen! 3.0 x 2.4 x 2.2 cm
4.8 x 1.7 x 0.8 cm. An aesthetic and beautiful combination specimen of a highly lustrous, flattened, amber, calcite rhomb pleasingly attached to the side of a lustrous, metallic, sharply terminated, stibnite crystal. The trivial bit of calcite edge-wear is noted, where there are tiny stibnite needles. A highly representative, two-sided combination piece from this recent find at the well-known Xikuangshan Mine of Hunan Province.
5.5 x 4.7 x 3.4 cm. Sharp, brilliant metallic, spinel-twinned galena crystals to 9 mm are very attractively clustered along the crest of this sculptural specimen from the Naica Mine of Mexico. Lustrous, tiny, dogtooth calcite crystals nicely compliment the galena crystals on the drusy quartz matrix peppered with tiny pyrites. The calcite displays a vivid pink fluorescence. Excellent combination material from this famous locale.
2.3 x 2.3 x 1.5 cm. A fine, pointed, twinned, doubly terminated, golden amber, thumbnail calcite crystal from the Irving Materials Quarry of Indiana. The gemmy and lustrous crystal is complete-all-around and the shard of limestone is a nice accent. Ex. George Feist Collection # 3109. Classic material from this well-known locale.
7.4 x 3.8 x 2.3 cm. Purple fluorite cubes with some glassy faces and some stepped-growth, frosted faces nicely complimented with parallel clusters of calcite disks make for a fine and interesting elongate specimen from the Yaogangxian Mine. A single quartz crystal is partially wrapped by the calcite crystals. A highly representative combination piece from this noted locale.
7.4 x 5.4 x 2.4 cm. A beautiful and aesthetic V-shaped specimen of two lustrous, translucent, very steep calcite scalenohedrons from Irai, Brazil. Classic material from this famous locale.
6.9 x 6.0 x 4.4 cm. This is an aesthetic floater cluster of stacked, modified cubes of galena, up to 2.0 cm across. The battleship gray color and very good luster are supplemented by several, gemmy, golden calcite crystals, to .7 cm across, on the back side of the specimen. Complete-all-around.
13.4 x 12.2 x 5.8 cm. A classic and rarely seen Manganoan Calcite specimen from the Yukon mine in the famous Silverton Mining District. The piece is filled with tiny, sparkling, pale pink crystalline Manganoan Calcite. When the piece is backlit, it shows a gorgeous pink hue, and the reverse side of the piece shows the typical "San Juan Quartz" that is so characteristic of the region. One of the few specimens of this material that I have ever seen. The piece was mined in the 1960s. Ex. Kosnar Collection.
6.2 x 6.2 x 3.2 cm. It has been next to impossible to obtain fine quality Spinel specimens from Burma these days it seems. Matrix specimens of Spinel are uncommon, but to find gem quality crystals on matrix is extremely difficult. This piece hosts a classic Burmese "Ruby Spinel" crystal with very sharp, defined, lustrous, octahedral faces and a gemmy rich purplish-red color. The crystal sits atop a matrix of massive white/grey Calcite as is typical for this locality. This piece was mined around 2000, and is one of the finest Spinels from the Rich Kosnar collection. Ex. Richard Kosnar Collection.
13.3 x 6.0 x 5.5 cm. An urban mineral specimen from a very fully developed suburb of Southern San Diego, south of the airport. For what it is, a souvenir of times past before the concrete came, it’s pretty interesting. Ex. Chuck Houser Collection.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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