TUC17A-45
Fluorite (phantoms) on Calcite
Shangbao Mine, Leiyang County, Hunan Province, China
Small Cabinet, 7.1 x 4.3 x 3.2 cm
SOLD

One buys these first and foremost for the colorful and complexly modified fluorite crystals. Perched on a stalk of crystallized calcite crystals, this is overall a superb small cabinet specimen with excellent aesthetics, complete all around! It has crystals on all sides. The elegant phantoms of multiple colors in fluorite from Shangbao is one of the most classic and desired of modern Chinese minerals. Most of the good ones came out years ago, and each slightly different color and texture variety has a vintage, like wine, from a particular year. This pocket was found sometime after the industrial "closure" of the mine as an economic entity, when the miners were working reachable areas and pillar-robbing circa 2010-2013. For more on the mine, see our article here: http://www.chinacrystallinetreasures.com/e-book-shangbao-visit. I purchased this in China last year.