Description
Detailed Description
This is a gorgeous twinned calcite with great transparency – this one just glows under the lights. Sharp and as lustrous as they come, this crystal is champagne-hued, with a slightly more golden tint towards the terminations. The twinning on this crystal is great, with prominent re-entrant faces. In excellent condition – upon very close inspection you can make out tiny rubs at each tip, and there’s a chip in a back-facing edge and some contacts behind/underneath. The ligher-coloured area to the right of centre is crystalline dolomite that is entirely included within the calcite crystal. Stands perfectly for display as photgraphed. A super twinned calcite.
About These Elmwood Calcites
First opened in the 1970s, the Elmwood Mine (the Elmwood-Gordonsville-Cumberland mining complex) has produced some of the world’s finest calcite crystals, many of which are twinned. Over the years, the miners referred to the large orange Elmwood calcite crystals as “footballs”, and they referred to the clear gemmy calcites in this update as “jewels”. These are from a pocket found in late 2014. Most specimens were damaged and these are exceptional – the handful of high-quality specimens in this update are the result of a quest through about 50 flats of specimens.
Highly dependent upon global metal prices and given the low price of zinc, the Elmwood Mine was unfortunately closed in December, 2015. Metal price fluctuations are cyclical and this is not the first time this has happened – the Elmwood Mine has closed and reopened under new ownership in the past. For now, the mine has been placed on care and maintenance with an uncertain future ahead. Hopefully at some point in the future it may be profitable for someone to reopen it.
