SAPAP-12
Apatite
Sapo mine, Conselheiro Pena, Doce valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Large Cabinet, 18.4 x 13.5 x 9.9 cm
SOLD
This is a huge plate:no repairs and no damage! It has DOZENS of the highest-quality apatite crystals to 2.25 cm in size, perched dramatically on matrix of weathered albite. They are olive green with dark cores, and most are translucent. The overall flash and luster of the piece is very high, with reflections shooting off at all angles from the many crystals. All are sharply hexagonal, and are translucent to varying degrees depending on thickness. I have seen tables of this material from the large finds of 2007-2008 but this is one of the very best I have seen, and it is at a very competitive price compared to what these were going for when they first came out - particularly such a large specimen as this. It is very 3-dimensional, about the size of a football. The photos DO NOT DO JUSTICE to the combination of geometry and luster, so the piece looks flat here when in person it really leaps out.