MIX18D-31

Celestine on Sphalerite after Calcite with Calcite and Fluorite

$2,000.00

Cabinet, 10.2 x 8.2 x 6.5 cm

Cumberland Mine, Smith Co., Tennessee, USA

This highly unusual specimen features a bifurcated mound of yellowish white, barium-rich celestine, measuring 8 cm across. It looks more biological, than mineral! This mound is perched aesthetically on casts of what once was scalenohedral calcite, to 3.3 cm in length, but it is now sphalerite on a dolomite shell. The back side of the specimen exhibits minor calcite and possibly fluorite. This was a very rare, one-time find at this mine, and this is one of the more elegant examples of this unusual formation. Ex. Martin Jensen collection, from the early 2000s project here.