Description

This plate of tiny quartz crystals hosts a number of fine purple fluorite crystals to 1 cm, nicely isolated on the quartz background.  To me, what really stands out about this (in addition to the aesthetics and great contrast) is that these crystals are comprised of a myriad of stacked dodecahedra, each in an overall “stepped” dodecahedral form. Of course this is a common mode of crystallization for fluorite when the stepped crystals are comprised of cubes, but really neat to see with dodecahedra. In excellent condition – no damage. This specimen has been trimmed from the back with a saw, and two edges were partially saw-trimmed, although the preparator did a great job leaving the rough matrix visible from the front, so you don’t see this from the display angle. Great specimen!