CCHB-19
Fluorite (fluorescent) on Dolomite
Shangbao Mine, Leiyang Co., Hengyang, Hunan Province, China
Cabinet, 10.2 x 6.4 x 2.1 cm
Ex. Dr. Stephen Smale
SOLD

Shangbao is renowned for its beautiful and elegant Fluorites, which are most often in cubes or modified octahedrons. Here we have gemmy, light-purple cubes, up to 2.7 cm on edge, perfectly placed along snowballs of white Dolomite crystals. The Fluorites have sharp, purple edge phantoms, and they fluoresce a rich, purplish-blue. The individual aesthetics of each mineral are themselves outstanding, and together they create and absolutely top-tier specimen. In fact, the arrangement of the Fluorites across the Dolomites is so good that you could legitimately display this great cabinet specimen in different ways! This is a totally unique piece, the likes of which I have not seen before. It was in the Steve Smale collection for 15-20 years, and I only just bought and cleaned it up, after it sat uncleaned in a closet for nearly 2 decades. It is a product of old mining here, in the early days of specimen collecting.

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