SM20-307
Fluorite on Arsenopyrite
Piaotang Mine, Dayu, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China
Small Cabinet, 6.5 x 5.0 x 3.0 cm
$1,400.00 $1,050.00
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A large, sharp Fluorite cube on a cluster of Arsenopyrite crystals from the Piaotang Mine, China. This locality isn't as notable among collectors as is Yaogangxian, but has similar mineralogy and has produced some great specimens, like this one. The glassy, completely transparent Fluorite is actually composed of two, possibly three, crystals in tight arrangement with the main crystal measuring 3.5cm across. A smaller crystal protruding from the left side has grown askew to the main crystal and there is another on the right that is barely discernible by a couple of its edges that are almost in parallel growth. All of them are completely transparent and the large crystal hosts a darker sea-green phantom that is adorned with tiny, white Calcite crystals in places. The big Fluorite is razor sharp with only a very tiny part of a corner compromised on the front and a corner missing on the back where it and the back of the piece are contacted. It sits on a nest of bright, metallic, tin-white, 1cm Arsenopyrite crystals and a small rosette of silvery Muscovite that set the entire piece off quite nicely! Great composition! VERY interesting in the small details, inside the crystal, and from this more rare locality. It's likely, in the past, many Piaotang minerals drifted to the Hunan merchants and were simply sold as Yaogangxian material).