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Mineral Specimens with Calcite
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20 x 14 x 8.2 cm. A beautiful, large-sized specimen. These intricate calcites turned up at the Tucson show. The slight pink color (from manganese) ranges from just a bare hint of pink to a glowing pastel hue in some specimens.
11.5 x 10 x 4 cm
13.0 x 7.4 x 5.2 cm. A surreal stalactitic growth of calcite, culminating in a crystallized knob atop, and with a bizarre and very eye-catching satellite system of "rings" rotating around it like hula hoops. Never seen a calcite quite like this.
11.0 x 5.9 x 4.5 cm. A bizarre and asymmetrical stalactite with secondary growth in a halo or hoop pattern around the main stalk. It looks like a spinning dancer with arms up around the chest.
10.9 x 10.6 x 9.9 cm. An intricate, animal-like "sculpture" of calcite that is not a stalactite as these are fully crystallized and not formed by drip action, though you may think at first glance they are. Each of the major upright crystals is 4 cm or so. This is complete and pristine all-around.
Better in person - an aesthetically stunning Peruvian combo piece, with sharp, super-lustrous, large striated crystals of sphalerite accented with balls of snowy calcite along the bottom and a bit of pyrite. Contact around the periphery where removed from matrix. 5.1 x 4.0 x 2.3 cm
11.5 x 9 x 7 cm. Elmwood is now closed, apparently for good, and the lucky flood of calcites from the mine will be remembered forever. However, even in its heyday, specimens such as this were never common. This is a perfectly situated gem calcite with the most intense amber color possible for the locality, perched upon crystallized sphalerite matrix (a much nicer contrast than the usual perch upon gray limestone). It is good from either side (both are shown). The crystal is literally perched atop the shard of sphalerite-coated matrix, and measures 11.6 x 6 x 5 cm in size. The intensely amber crystals tend not to get so gemmy, and so this is a very rare specimen in that regard...you can actually look through all but the very center of the crystal, and see through to the other side or to the underlying matrix. On one side, the specimen presents the largest calcite faces front and center, showing a very equant twinned scalenohedron, perched on the sphalerite. But on this side th sphalerite is very unusual, occurring as flattened crystals overlying the limestone in a thin, sparkling coating. On the other side of the specimen, the calcite presents more elegantly, showing more of the sharp corners and edges than the broad lateral faces, and the sphalerite is more robustly crystallized as is typical for the mine.
9.2 x 9 x 6 cm. This is one of the most dramatic, fine examples of the material that has come my way. I have long known of the piece, sold to collector Tom Hall after a particularly fine discovery here in 1999, by the dealer who collected it. Tom regarded it as the best in his size range, at the time (and I agreed). The piece features a single golden-amber-colored crystal, approximately 3.5 x 5/6”, set starkly upon gorgeous contrasting, calcite-coated matrix. The piece also has a crystal with high lustre and color throughout, and a superb termination with lustre (many large crystals show etching and poor terminations from this locality). The specimen was exhibited at the 2008 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in the American Gem & Mineral Treasures exhibition, and is pictured as the lead specimen to the chapter on page 249 of the book published in conjunction with the show: American Mineral Treasures. It is also pictured on page 212 of the Mineralogical Record, Volume 39, No. 3 (May June). From the Tom Hall collection and he purchased it from the collector directly in 1999. Tom is a longtime collector, recently retired from working, who since the 1960s has specialized in colorful miniatures and small cabinet pieces of high quality, trying to obtain the best he could in this size range from major, classic finds. His collection was always small but filled with choice beauties such as this.
15 x 10 x 8 cm. Large specimens from this remote and little-yielding baryte deposit are most uncommon. This is in fact one of the few cabinet pieces of high quality that I have seen. While it does not have giant crystals, it does have 3 very fine medium-sized crystals of extremely high quality. The largest measures 5.5 cm and the widest is over 2 cm thick. All have perfect terminations, steep and pristine. Remarkably, as these form in tight concretions and are almost impossible to gently extract, this piece is not repaired in the matrix or larger crystal. Only the smallest, leftmost crystal is repaired (and that, done cleanly). The specimen was exhibited at the 2008 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in the American Gem & Mineral Treasures exhibition, and is pictured in the book published in conjunction with the show: American Mineral Treasures. It is also pictured in the recap of the exhibition in the Mineralogical Record, May-June 2008. This was long in a private collection, surfacing just before the exhibition. Photo by Jeff Scovil and also appearing in the above mentioned book.
11 x 10 x 4.5 cm. I think this is the most dramatic such example I have seen from this classic locality, of primary malachite. Here it has formed a stack of sharp 3-dimensional crystals stacked one upon another like a green tidal wave cresting over the atoll of amber-colored calcites. All is complete, even around the edges of the malachite. The crystals have a true and vibrant chatoyance, vibrating and shimmering - not just the normal matte or velvety green color. The horizons on the edges are good, in other words, not just broken off chunks. It is an exceptional piece for the locality, and for primary malachite in general (that is, malachite in large crystals that forms on its own, rather than as a replacement of azurite). I just traded this from the well-known Jack Halpern collection, in San Francisco. Jack is pushing 90 and still going strong, with 2500 specimens to think about and keep him healthy.
7.4 x 4.0 x 2.0 cm. Scintillating, very gemmy, emerald-green dioptase crystals richly cover both sides of the sculptural, triangular matrix covered with starkly contrasting white calcite rhombs. Dioptase on calcite is a highly desirable combination from this mine. This is a highly representative example of the species and renowned locale, and the dioptase crystals are really far above average, in gemminess and color, for the locale.
12.9 x 9.3 x 7.8 cm. A dramatic cabinet, combination specimen from the famed basalt flows of Rio Grande do Sul and the Duncan Elliott Collection. Four large calcite rhombs to 3.7 x 3.5 cm are set on glassy, vivid purple amethyst crystals. The calcite rhombs have an interesting overcoat of sparkly, cream-colored, drusy quartz. Another generation of smaller, colorless calcite rhombs is attractively sprinkled on the amethyst and the larger calcite rhombs. Choice material from this noted locale.
10.1 x 7.8 x 4.4 cm. An extremely aesthetic and unique cabinet specimen of a gem, yellow fluorite corner enclosed in lustrous, colorless calcite rhombs from the Minerva #1 Mine of Illinois. The water-clear, rich yellow fluorite corner has hints of purple as an interesting accent. Outstanding material from the Duncan Elliott Collection.
12.0 x 8.5 x 3.3 cm. Tobermorite and ellestadite are both very rare silicates. This fine cabinet specimen is very richly covered on both side by snow-white grains of tobermorite and sparse grains of tan-beige ellestadite in beautiful blue calcite. There are even a few vesuvianite crystals scattered about. Seldom available, in this size and in very rich and attractive material, this is from the Crestmore quarries of California. Compare to the specimen in the Natural History Museum, London, here: http://www.mindat.org/photo-38006.html. This is a superb piece for both species, you will see.
13.2 x 8.7 x 4.5 cm. This trap-rock locality is one of the most impressive Zeolite localities in the world. This quarry has produced some amazing specimens in the last 100 years. This piece is an attractive specimen consisting of a vug lined with translucent, water-green spheres of Prehnite which are associated with a modified grey-white Calcite rhombohedron at the top most part of the specimen. The largest Prehnite sphere measures 9 mm across, and the large Calcite crystal, though cleaved on the end, measures 3.7 cm across. A fine cabinet specimen from this historic locality.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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share specimen![Calcite (Var: Manganoan Calcite) from Shizhuyuan Mine, Dongpo ore field, Yizhang Co., Chenzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province, China [db_pics/mdpics/MD-270459a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-270459a.jpg)
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