PERU22-27
Fluorite (spinel twinned) on Muscovite
Consuzo, Pasto Bueno, Pallasca Prov., Ancash, Peru
Small Cabinet, 7.4 x 5.8 x 5.5 cm
Ex. Tim Sherburn
$1,450.00 Payment Plan Available
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This is a colorful combination specimen of bicolored Fluorite on Muscovite from an unusual locality in the Pasto Bueno district, and an unusual association as well. MINDAT shows only these two species from this mine and this specimen is quite good compared to the other three photos posted there. The matrix is subhedral Fluorite and Muscovite which is blanketed on the display surface with a dense coverage of rolling, mounded spherical aggregates of Muscovite. The surface coloration of the Muscovite is a yellowish-cream whereas the contacted sides reveal a pale lavender color to the flaky mica that more resembles Lepidolite than Muscovite! The Fluorite is interesting to in that it is bicolored seafoam-green and light purple, and translucent to locally transparent. One of the Fluorites is a cluster of crystals showing cubes modified by dodecahedrons to 2.5 cm across. The other is a large complex crystal consisting of at least three crystals showing the same habit in crystals to 3.5 cm across. One of the labels (Harvey Gordon's) indicates Spinel Law twinning for the Fluorite - which it is not. It is complex enough to fool, the eye, however. This is a nicely composed and colorful piece that looks more like it came from a pegmatite rather than a polymetallic mineral district, and is a true aberration for a Peruvian mineral specimen! From the Tim Sherburn collection, obtained from Harvey Gordon in 1998. Harvey dealt heavily in Peru material at the time, as he was close friends with Art Soregaroli who helped him source down there. If you showed this to me without a label, we admit here that we would have trouble saying where it could be from, it is so bizarre. Which, of course, is why it is collectible!