Heart-twinned Calcites from Egremont are one of the most famous and desirable of English classics, and date from the mid 1800s (perhaps as early as 1840); they are known from textbooks and were once said to be worth their weight in gold. Specimens today turn up only out of very old collections and museum stashes, and are highly sought after. This particular piece has an old Ward's Natural Science Establishment label with a $5 price on it! That was a huge amount of money for the turn of the 1900s era, for a calcite or for any mineral - you could buy a much more useful thing like a horse for the same! The twin is big and extraordinarily bright, lustrous, and clear in color with a touch of pink from included Hematite in places to give it wonderful character. This is a terrific twin from the world's finest and most classic heart-twin Calcite locality and each twin component measures nearly three inches in length so it is very balanced and robust! This gemmy Calcite has very attractive striations along some of the faces with glistening internal reflections, especially in the middle and largely water-clear on each side. Though complete on the front and back, one side is admittedly contacted where it was attached to the Goethite-Hematite matrix (contact, not damage, and you can tilt it a little to minimize that angle). A large and gorgeous twin from the classic locale, circa mid-1800s. I collected calcites from 1984 until 2002, and this was one of my treasures, long stashed away until now.