RLIL14A-40
Fluorite With Calcite
Bethel Level, North Green Mine, Ozark-Mahoning Company, Cave-in-Rock District, Hardin Co., Illinois, USA
Small Cabinet, 9.0 x 7.7 x 3.8 cm
Ex. Ross Lillie
SOLD
With vivid colors and sharp crystals, this combination piece has a lot going for it. The Fluorites are lustrous, gemmy to translucent, and have excellent color zones. The core is yellow, and the outer zone is a GEMMY light blue, with a narrow purple layer sandwiched in between (unusual). The saturated, rich yellow cores are more uncommonly seen in gemmy, bright quality like this. There are very sharp, slender, accenting Calcite crystals in clusters around the piece. The largest Fluorite is 3.9 cm on edge, and the largest Calcite is 1.9 cm. Some of the Calcites are even doubly-terminated! Overall, a very fine, highly representative piece from this famous area, from its heyday. This specimen has only a few very minor corner cleaves to secondary crystals down in the mass, which prohibit it from being a five-figure price tag. But they are hard to notice, visually, and the specimen has exceptional color and aesthetics which, at this price, I think make it a bargain today. RCL-1719 and was found in Pillar-robbing early 1980. Collected by Ross Lillie, mine geologist.