Image: Fluorite-cflo06x

Description: Fluorite Locality: Yaogangxian Mine, Yizhang County, Chenzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province, China (Locality at mindat.org) Size: small cabinet, 8.8 x 7.3 x 5.8 cm Fluorite From the same pocket as the piece above, this is one of a very few such example I have seen perfectly extracted and with such aesthetics. This fluorite cluster is 5.8 cm across and looks like a floating city, perched atop the quartz like some mythical image of shangri-la on the mountains. The freestanding fluorite is complete all around the top, sides, and the back, only contacted on a tiny portion of the bottom/rear of the specimen. It is translucent, and pristine on all the faces. The sharp steppes are highlighted by a thin, intense purple phantom at all edges....mesmerizing in person! The fluorite "city" is standing upon a massive fluorite base which adheres to and extends between the two quartzes - which are also totally pristine and perfect. A sprinkling of sharp brown, translucent scheelite octohedra sparkles on the backside of the quartz. Scheelite, of course, is quite rare for this mine. In perfection and aesthetics, and color, and overall visual impact...this pocket just stands in a league of its own, I think. Nothing like it from anywhere in the world I can think of. Found in 2006
Title: Fluorite-cflo06x
Credit: Image: http://www.irocks.com/db_pics/new09/cflo06x.jpg, Description: http://www.irocks.com/render.html?species=Fluorite&page=1
Author: Robert M. Lavinsky
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Attribution Required?: Yes