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Mineral Specimens with Calcite
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A fossil whelk shell, with a druse of calcite crystals on one side – fossilized in the same shell pit as the clams you have seen in our auctions. However, these specimens are not from new mining, as are the preceding pages of clam shells. Rather, these are from the personal collection of a quarry geologist who self-collected them during the early 1980''s at a nearby but different location. These are among the best there were of the rarer replacements of the Busycon shells. 11 x 6 x 6 cm
A beautiful combination of a transparent, light golden calcite crystal measuring 4 cm perched dramatically on a plate of shimmering, iridescent marcasite crystals, flashing gold and red! BETTER IN PERSON and really striking and unusual for the locality! 6.5 x 4.5 x 2.8 cm
A very aesthetic specimen of what I believe represents one of the most exciting Chinese finds of the past decade; the late 1990s anyhow. These twins show exquisite gemminess and beautiful symmetrical, pyramidal terminations. This specimen is unique in that the twin (2.3 cm) is perfectly centered in a vug of spiky calcite crystals, some of them colored with hematite inclusions. This piece came out of the collection of Paul Jung, dispersed at the Denver Show this year. 7 x 5 x 5.5 cm
Uncommon on the market, this is a cluster of pyramidal calcite crystals from the Jim Fisk Mine, an old gold mine with an interesting history that goes back to the 1800''s. The crystals are translucent up to the termination, with the terminations themselves being a snowy white. 4.0 x 2.0 x 3.2cm
Much gemmier in person, this is a calcite with the clarity of a fine quartz crystal, with a tiered, reverse sceptered termination! From the same find that turned out all sorts of bizarre calcite crystals. 3.9 x 0.7 x 0.6cm
Yet another wonderful calcite from Dalnegorsk - we got an amazing variety from our Russian connection whom we met up with before the Tucson show. This crystal is wonderfully sharp and gemmy, and stands up off a natural base of smaller crystals. Very difficult to photograph, and thus much finer and prettier in person! 7.2 x 5.8 x 4.7cm
Irai was known for these superb, gorgeous calcites, and then the supply seemed to dry up. There were hardly any available at the last year''s Tucson show, and they were overpriced, so we bought none. Then, to our surprise, we found a cache of new specimens with one dealer at the small Spring Denver Show last year, and cherry-picked all the best ones, and sold them. Then they disappeared again - until finally, a contact brought us the only specimens we saw at this year''s Tucson Show, and we bought the entire lot - the good, the bad and the ugly - in order to get the good ones - like this one! This is a VERY unusual doubly-terminated "spike) with a bit of matrix and an attached crystal that serve as a perfect natural base should you wish to display it at the preferred angle (45 degrees, with the "base" at the bottom - sorry it was not photographed that way!). 11.9 x 4.31.9cm
Gemmy, pastel pink crystals accented by pyrite and quartz. 3.8 x 3.8 x 2.2cm
This is an old and LARGE calcite specimen from the classic Egremont locality - a "hedgehog"-style cluster of fine scalenohedral crystals. The crystals are gemmier in person, and wonderfully terminated. The radial spray is classic! A recent label that came with this specimen says "rep" on it, so it is presumably repaired somewhere, but we cannot detect where, so it does not detract. Look slike a crack on the back was merely stabilised, to my eye. 10.9 x 9.5 x 5.3cm
This fascinating specimen formed when gemmy calcite crystals grew in the natural pocket formed by a buried fossil clamshell. The interior of the shell is now completely covered with these fine, golden crystals. This one has a really! 4.6 x 4.4 x 3.6cm
A rich plate of amazing "stacked"-looking calcite crystals, piled up in towers everywhere - a large and arresting calcite specimen! 18.1 x 10.1 x 8.9cm
Big, fat pyramidal crystals of calcite, with fine sharpness and luster, each containing a phantom crystal from an earlier generation of growth. The mining of these at Leiping is now FINISHED, and you do not see them on the market anymore. 9.5 x 8.3 x 5.9cm
A very weird and interesting Eastern European specimen of calcite crystals intermixed with quartz, with both pseudomorphing occurring and the calcite being etched away on many crystals to form hollow casts. You can really study this one for a long time without getting bored! 9.9 x 6.4 x 6.1cm
Lustrous, stepped crystals with a light pink blush from the manganese content, in a pleasing arrangement atop the matrix. 6.4 x 6.2 x 4.4cm
REMARKABLE!! This is a gemmy calcite crystal, doubly-terminated, with BOTH ENDS having grown around a smaller calcite crystal - one sideways, the other down into the middle of the larger crystal. We bought a few examples of this type of oddity from a pocket recently encountered at the Bor Pit. Each one is unique, and why this happened in this particular pocket is a mystery. 6.2 x 2.3 x 1.3cm
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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