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Posted: Nov 03, 2023 05:02 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
Thank you, Carles, I'm glad that I found a nice sample of these unique quartzes for my collection.
Here's another new addition, a nice fluorite specimen from Naica:
NaicFLUO.jpg
Mineral:
Fluorite, Sphalerite
Locality:
Naica Mine, Naica, Municipio Saucillo, Chihuahua, Mexico
Posted: Nov 19, 2023 09:05 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi (additional photo)
Tobi wrote:
Here's another new addition, a nice fluorite specimen from Naica:
I got that piece from Rudi Watzl but I found out that another Austrian dealer once had it in his stock, so there's another photo of this piece. And not just another one but a perfect addition to the photo above made by Saphira Minerals: Depending on the light, the fluorites appear sometimes pale lilac or pale green. The photo above shows the lilac while the other photo I found perfectly presents the greenish hue of the fluorite:
NaicaFLUO2.jpg
Mineral:
Fluorite, Sphalerite
Locality:
Naica Mine, Naica, Municipio Saucillo, Chihuahua, Mexico
Posted: Nov 19, 2023 09:32 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
It is interesting as one finds photos of specimens one owns over the years. From that you can learn more about their history. I recently found one from a dealer who sold to the collector who sold it to another dealer who sold it to me!
Posted: Nov 24, 2023 11:18 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
A Bulgarian landscape of different sulfide minerals:
The piece is really hard to capture on a photo because the different lustrous surfaces of the galena, the pyrite and the nearly black sphalerite are a challenge for every ordinary camera. My own photos were bad so I take the one from the dealer. But even that photo does not do the specimen justice. There's no damage, only some weird growth structures/patterns that are typical for Madan. The matrix with some tiny quartzes is overgrown by dark sphalerite and on top of it, small pyrites and galenas up to 2 cm have crystallized.
The galena is so shiny that you could use it as a mirror. I think not many localities produce that mineral in so highly lustrous crystals. I've heard this is due to the amount of silver that is included in many galenas from Madan, can anyone confirm that?
However, that great luster makes the piece hard to photograph, but easy to enjoy :-)
Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 1531
Location: Catalonia
Posted: Nov 24, 2023 11:54 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
Tobi wrote:
Here's another new addition, a nice fluorite specimen from Naica:
About that extraordinary fluorite and its interesting crystallography, I guess the upper crystal is a combination of rombododecahedron {110} and cube {100}, so the entire crystal must have 18 faces. But the one on the left looks like a simple cube to me. Am I right?
Posted: Nov 25, 2023 04:56 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
Thank you, Philippe and Volkmar, I love that galena piece too and I consider it one of my best pieces of this wonderful mineral.
Carles Millan wrote:
Tobi wrote:
Here's another new addition, a nice fluorite specimen from Naica:
About that extraordinary fluorite and its interesting crystallography, I guess the upper crystal is a combination of rhombododecahedron {110} and cube {100}, so the entire crystal must have 18 faces. But the one on the left looks like a simple cube to me. Am I right?
Hi Carles, there's no cube, they all have the same modfied cuboctahedral (?) habit, or, like you said, combination of rhombododecahedron {110} and cube {100}? Don't know, I'm not good at crystallography. And yes, 18 faces.
Maybe the video from Saphira Minerals will help to understand the form:
Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 1531
Location: Catalonia
Posted: Nov 25, 2023 06:52 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
Sorry Tobi, I already watched the video, but this is a bit confusing to me. It's like a 90º angle.
In any case, it's an excellent specimen of fluorite.
Posted: Nov 25, 2023 09:52 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
Carles Millan wrote:
Sorry Tobi, I already watched the video, but this is a bit confusing to me. It's like a 90º angle.
Some of the angles you marked red are indeed 90°. On this photo I marked some faces yellow, all of them are rectangular and thus each angle inside is 90°. You can only see three rectangular faces marked yellow but each of them has an identical counterpart on the opposite side. 6 of these rectangular faces on each crystal which suggests that a simple cube is part of the crystal form ...
Unfortunately, I'm the wrong person to talk in detail about Miller indices and crystallography, sorry :-(
Carles Millan wrote:
In any case, it's an excellent specimen of fluorite.
But I'm glad that you like the aesthetics of the piece. When it matches your personal taste, dear Carles, I know it's a very good specimen!
Posted: Nov 26, 2023 00:12 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
Tobi wrote:
Hi Carles, there's no cube, they all have the same modfied cuboctahedral (?) habit, or, like you said, combination of rhombododecahedron {110} and cube {100}? Don't know, I'm not good at crystallography. And yes, 18 faces.
As far as I learned here in this forum for one of my Chinese pieces, these faces are related to a combination of cube and dodecahedron (because of the six-sided faces, as far as I remember). So, it would be a cubododecahedron.
Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 1531
Location: Catalonia
Posted: Nov 26, 2023 04:19 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
Volkmar Stingl wrote:
As far as I learned here in this forum for one of my Chinese pieces, these faces are related to a combination of cube and dodecahedron (because of the six-sided faces, as far as I remember). So, it would be a cubododecahedron. Volkmar
Posted: Mar 29, 2024 08:09 Post subject: Re: Collection of Tobi
My first specimen 2024, it was love at first sight:
After not finding something new for my collection for a while, one of my favourite dealers released a new update yesterday. And while scrolling through it, I immediately fell in love with this wonderful fluorite specimen from Yaogangxian. A good fluorite from that legendary locality was on my list for long, but the specimens I found were just not that good or insanely expensive (or both). Though this is a smaller piece, it has everything I desire in a Yaogangxian fluorite: Very well-developed crystals, lustrous and transparent and of good purple colour on a contrasting matrix.
So it was good that I had to wait a while for the next specimen - this fluorite was worth the wait :-)
YaogFLUO.jpg
Mineral:
Fluorite, Chlorite Group
Locality:
Yaogangxian Mine, Yizhang, Chenzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province, China
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