Topaz with Fluorite

Item Description

A beautiful, distinctive and hard to find combo from the high mountains of Pakistan featuring a stout, thick, lustrous, gemmy, rich sherry colored Topaz crystal which plays host to a beautifully contrasting mint green modified cubic crystal of Fluorite measuring 3.2 cm on edge, dramatically flaring off the side. Minor white Albite can be seen on the reverse side of the specimen. The Topaz has pronounced and eye-catching etching lines all over, creating a one-of-a-kind appearance on the surface, giving the piece dramatic visual appeal, while the Fluorite is not etched at all, and actually has a bit of white coloring on one edge, possibly due to inclusions of pocket clay(?). No damage that I can find anywhere, and even the base of the where it was detached from the pocket wall, is largely re-crystallized ("re-healed"), so the piece is close to being a "floater". Big, showy, impressive and this is the only locality in Pakistan that I know of where green Fluorite is found with sherry colored Topaz. This is older material, probably close to 15 years at this point, and these particular specimens are MUCH harder to find on the market than they were in the early 2000s. Please note that these sherry colored crystals can fade to colorless when exposed to light, so it's best to keep the piece in a dark closed box as much as possible to preserve the color.
Ex Herb Obodda Private Collection (#3727), not dealer stock, and valued $6,000-$7,500.