“10.0 x 9.3 x 6.8 cm. This specimen is actually from a find in the early 2000s featuring an intergrown/stacked group of sharp, lustrous, beautiful blue color cubic crystals of fluorite with superb internal gemminess when backlit. There are many sections on the piece that are virtually water clear, but it's hard to illustrate in the photos. Overall, the piece is mostly fluorite, but you can see a small "pagoda"-like group of compressed rhombic calcite crystals, along with bright golden metallic crystals of chalcopyrite and a very gemmy, colorless quartz prism with minor muscovite. For reference, the color of this pieces shifts depending upon the light under which it's viewed. The photos show a greenish-blue, but it's more of a soft true blue color under halogen lighting and definitely bluer in sunlight. Ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection. Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website (https://mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=671&page=1) or on Wikipedia.
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Robert Lavinsky - 26th October 2019