Realgar in Colemanite (rare find!)

Item Description

Remarkable, RARE and colorful large combination from the Kirka Mine, Eskisehir, Turkey, that shocked us with surprise when this material turned up in an old collection. The country is known for containing the world's largest colemanite and ulexite deposits (borates) (MINDAT) but specimens, especially these days, are uncommonly preserved by miners and operators there. This large, beautiful specimen is literally a true surprise, even to our jaded eyes, having not even seen a sample in the past... And now a cabinet piece, essentially a half of a pocket preserved for us to see, with the interior threaded by realgar! Stunning sprays of highly lustrous cherry-red to orange-red realgar crystals, to about 2.2 cm, are aesthetically set in a sculptural and dramatic 11.0 cm vug lined with very glassy and lustrous colemanite plates. Crusts of orange orpiment on the right side of the vug are a super complement and accessory. A few bruised realgar crystals have minimal impact to the overall very high quality and rarity of this large and impressive combination. This is from a private collection of a longtime Turkish mine geologist, and he self-collected this and held it for decades. It is not common, nor contemporary. It is impossible to value by comparable as there simply are not any.