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[Carles Millan]

Fluorapatite, siderite

Zoned purple and colorless fluorapatite crystal group, showing parallel tabular growth, with siderite. Size: 38 mm x 24 mm x 20 mm. Weight: 20.2 g.

This specimen is illustrated in the softcover book Apatite: The Great Pretender, vol. 17, ExtraLapis English series, year 2013, included in the article The Panasqueira Mines: One Hundred Years of Fluorapatite, page 70, by Carles Curto and Jordi Fabre, in the magazine Mineral Up, 2013/1, page 46, and in The Mineralogical Record, 45/1, page 38.

Panasqueira, Covilhã, Castelo Branco District, Portugal.

My Personal Site

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2012-10-0064.jpg
Description:	Fluorapatite, siderite Panasqueira, Covilhã, Castelo Branco District, Portugal 38 mm x 24 mm x 20 mm. Photo by Jeff Scovil
Viewed:	46536 Time(s)

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P2141765.JPG
Description:	Fluorapatite, siderite Panasqueira, Covilhã, Castelo Branco Distric, Portugal 38 mm x 24 mm x 20 mm. As exposed at the 2013 Tucson Show
Viewed:	45833 Time(s)

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[Carles Curto]

A charming piece I know only by the photo (I hope "to meet" it directly soon at Carles Millán home).

With this article we intent to be really exhaustive about the fluorapatite of Panasqueira (we had literally watched hundreds of samples, observing colors, associations, sizes, shapes and crystalline forms)
At the same time we are very grateful to Lithographie for the excellent edition and translation from Spanish.

[Benj]

Very beautiful fluorapatite Carles ;)

[Michael Shaw]

Absolutely wonderful fluorapatite Carles. I love the darker purple zones in the crystals. Thanks for showing it.

[Tracy]

Super specimen!

- Tracy

[Carles Millan]

Carles Curto, Benj, crosstimber, Tracy:

Many thanks for your kind comments. I'm very glad you like it.

[John S. White]

Beyond a doubt this is the loveliest fluorapatite I have ever seen!

( https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=29584#29584 )

[Carles Millan]

And a special acknowledgement to the article's authors, Carles Curto and Jordi Fabre, who did a great work. It is highly recommendable for apatite and Panasqueira minerals lovers.

Apatite: The Great Pretender, vol. 17, ExtraLapis English series, by Lithographie Ltd., year 2013, page 70, The Panasqueira Mines: One Hundred Years of Fluorapatite, available at https://www.mineralogicalrecord.com/bookdetail.asp?id=103

[Carles Millan]

[Roger Warin]

Achingly beautiful.
Moreover it must be fluorescent.
Thank you for sharing.
Roger.

[Tobi]

Carles,

for sure i haven't seen as many fluorapatites as John in my life - but this one is really among the finest! A truly superb piece of art created by mother nature :-)

Congratulations!
Tobi

[Carles Millan]

Roger and Tobi,

Very grateful too for your nice but (IMHO) exaggerated comments. The photo was shot by Scovil, not by me, and as everybody knows he is a master of perfection.



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Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.

[Roger Warin]

Of course, Jeff Scovil’s photo of is excellent, as usual. This is especially the exceptional character of this specimen I said.
Roger.

[Carles Millan]

Helvite, genthelvite, calcite, quartz, magnetite

From the vendor's description: Group of very sharp tetrahedral helvite crystals with a superficial layer of genthelvite. It is on matrix, with white calcite rhombohedrons, dodecahedral magnetite and parallel growths of quartz. Very aesthetic because of the contrast between the salmon helvite-genthelvite and the calcite and quartz matrix. Specimen size: 75 mm × 52 mm × 37 mm. Main crystal size: 15 mm × 13 mm. Collected in 2012.

Huanggang Mine, Kèshíkèténg Qí, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia A.R., China.

Fabre Minerals photos (trimmed).

[Mark Ost]

Tres Bien, fantastique helvite