Fluorite with Marcasite & Sphalerite

Item Description

The striking, bright matte-luster fluorite cubes on this impressive large elongated specimen of densely intergrown crystals appear to be black or extremely dark purple under normal light. Periphery wear shows rich grape-purple color in their interiors. The stepped-growth cubes reach 3.3 cm on edge. Contrasting clusters and isolated tiny metallic marcasite crystals peppered around the piece are a nice accent. The thin matrix wedge and elsewhere host clusters of tiny, gemmy, rubyjack sphalerite crystals. Backlighting reveals rich purple translucence to some of the cubes. Scattered minimal cube bruising for all the crystal density and periphery are noted, but have modest impact to the overall sculptural quality and richness of this piece. Ex Chad Dalrymple collection of Ardmore, Oklahoma who passed away in 1995. We recently obtained a portion of his collection. He acquired this rich, excellent and showy large fluorite from a classic locale in the 1990s. It has unusual sphalerite, and we guess it is from Denton Mine but cannot be 100 percent sure.