Indian Minerals
An assortment of relatively inexpensive Indian minerals, with an emphasis on
fluorite from southwestern Madhya Pradesh State. I first saw these fluorites in India
about 3-4 years ago; they should not be confused with the specimens from the
Mahodari Quarry that have been known for a couple decades (Mahodari is
approximately 200 miles south west, in neighboring Maharashtra State.) I was somewhat surprised by
the extra three dimensionality of the fluorites from the area, as those from
Mahodari are usually more flattened hemispheres. There are two main
fluorite localities in the area-- one is a quarry outside Buranpur, and the
other is a grassy hill near Mandu, both are located about 100 miles apart, in
southwestern Madhya Pradesh.
Judging from the surfaces on these pieces, most seem to be in their
natural state. I have washed them a couple times to remove oil (there still might be a bit left, mostly on the matrixes) but
as these are in particularly condition, I can't see why they would have
needed it in the first place.
Given the good condition of the surfaces, I suspect that these
come from Buranpur. Those from the grassy hill outside Mandu are typically
more upright/ elongated, and usually have obvious work done. There
is a reason for that work--they often have a weathered outer layer that is first
scraped off, then they are
oiled. I was told that this weathering is a result of water seeping
through soil, acidifying, and attacking the surfaces-- another contrast to the
quarry specimens, particularly from
Mahodari, that are found (relatively protected) in water-filled pockets in basalt. As
a side note, I suspect that this pocket water is what sustains/ preserves the
opal component present in some of the Mahodari pieces-- you may have noticed
that some of those dry out after being out of the ground for some time.
So there you have it... a quick, summary of Deccan fluorite.
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CIM1 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya
Pradesh State, India
6.1x
5.6x 5.7 cm
$165
A
fairly upright (certainy more than at Mahodari) and decently sized glob
of fluorite on a quartz matrix. No oil, but the tradeoff is that
the color is lighter (oil makes them look more transparent). Still
a very good example for the price.
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CIM2 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
7.6x
5.2x 2.2 cm
$135
A
pair of connected yellow fluorite hemispheres on a nicely contrasting
amethystine matrix. No oil, and the fluorite has good color.
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CIM3 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
7.2x
5.6x 3.6 cm
$150
A
pastel colored fluorite hemisphere on a well crystallized quartz matrix.
This one has some oil.
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CIM4 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
6.4x
4.3x 3.1 cm
$140
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on a quartz matrix..
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CIM5 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
8.1x
7.7x 3.5 cm
$135
A
pastel colored fluorite hemisphere on a well crystallized quartz
matrix. Not much color contrast here, but good overall form, and
still very good for the price.
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CIM6 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
7.7x
5.3x 2.8 cm
$135
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on a well crystallized quartz matrix.
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CIM7 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
8.5x
6.0x 2.8 cm
$130
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on a well quartz matrix.
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CIM8 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
5.7x
4.0x 3.6 cm
$125
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on a bit of quartz matrix.
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CIM9 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
6.5x
5.4x 3.1 cm
$85
A
yellow fluorite glob on a nicely contrasting amethystine matrix.
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CIM10 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
9.4x
5.2x 3.2 cm
$135
An
unusually upright fluorite ball (almost) on a quartz matrix.
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CIM11 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
8.2x
5.7x 4.1 cm
$120
A
yellow fluorite glob on a quartz matrix. Some internal fractures
to the fluorite, but it's still a pretty good size.
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CIM12 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
7.3x
5.4x 4.5 cm
$95
A yellow fluorite glob on a quartz matrix |
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CIM13 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
4.5x
4.4x 3.1 cm
$135
A
lightly colored fluorite glob on a scrap quartz matrix
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CIM14 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
6.0x
3.8x 3.2 cm
$115
A
yellow fluorite glob on a nicely contrasting amethystine matrix.
Good color.
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CIM15 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
6.8x
5.8x 4.3 cm
$85
A
fluorite hemisphere on a quartz matrix. There is not much color
contrast between the fluorite and the matrix. The quartz matrix
seems to be a partial stalactite; you can see the holes where fluids at
one point coursed through.
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CIM16 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
8.0x
5.5x 4.8 cm
$63
A
pair of fluorite hemispheres on a quartz matrix. There is not much
color contrast between the fluorite and the matrix.
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CIM17 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
5.1x
3.6x 2.8 cm
$75
A
yellowish purple fluorite glob on a nicely contrasting amethystine
matrix
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CIM18 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
6.5x
4.7x 3.7 cm
$115
An
orangish-brown fluorite glob on a nicely contrasting amethystine
matrix. The level of translucency grades across the length
fluorite.
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CIM19 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
5.6x
4.5x 2.8 cm
$98
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on a bit of quartz matrix.
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CIM20 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
5.9x
4.0x 4.1 cm
$115
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on an amethystine matrix.
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CIM21 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
5.0x
4.3x 3.5 cm
$85
A
pastel yellow fluorite glob on a quartz matrix.
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CIM22 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
6.0x
5.0x 2.5 cm
$95
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on a light amethystine matrix.
Less color contrast on this one.
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CIM23 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
6.5x
6.2x 2.8 cm
$125
A
pastel yellow fluorite glob on a quartz matrix.
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CIM24
Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
6.5x
3.2x 4.1 cm
$135
A
yellow fluorite glob on a quartz matrix.
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CIM25 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
5.0x
4.9x 3.1 cm
$135
A
purpleish fluorite glob on a quartz/ amethystine matrix. Unusual
color for Indian fluorite. Some oil.
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CIM26 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya Pradesh State, India
5.1x
3.6x 3.7 cm
$135
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on a quartz matrix.
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CIM27 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya
Pradesh State, India
5.2x
4.5x 5.0 cm
$115
A
pastel colored fluorite glob on a quartz matrix.
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CIM28 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya
Pradesh State, India
6.1x
3.3x 3.2 cm
$90
A
yellow fluorite glob on a bit of quartz matrix.
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CIM29 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya
Pradesh State, India
6.3x
3.2x 2.7 cm
$65
A
light, pastel yellow fluorite glob on a quartz matrix.
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CIM30 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya
Pradesh State, India
5.9x
4.7x 3.3 cm
$110
A
yellow fluorite hemisphere on an amethystine matrix.
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CIM31 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya
Pradesh State, India
4.9x
4.4x 3.6 cm
$88
A
yellowish-purple fluorite hemisphere on a quartz matrix.
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CIM32 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya
Pradesh State, India
6.8x
2.9x 2.5 cm
$135
A
yellow fluorite glob positioned on the end of an amethystine matrix.
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CIM33 Fluorite
Buranpur,
Madhya
Pradesh State, India
5.8x
4.5x 3.3 cm
$165
A
yellow fluorite hemisphere on a quartz matrix.
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CIM34 Apophyllite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
7.0x
6.6x 2.6 cm
$78
A
terminated green apophyllite crystal on matrix, with a few other smaller
crystals. The green color is caused by vanadium impurities.
This is from recent finds (when it comes to India, pretty much
everything is a recent find...)
This
is not a clearance page, but I've priced this piece as if it were... For
intermediately colored apophyllite (neither intensely bright green, nor
super pale) the prices are really all over the place-- you can find a
similar piece for a bit less, or for 3 times as much. I've tried
to keep this in the lower portion of the general price range. As
with most Indian zeolites that are not museum grade or particularly
exceptional, there is absolutely no shortage, so what you pay often
depends more on the venue and the source than the rock itself.... crazy,
huh?
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CIM35 Apophyllite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
9.8x
6.7x 4.4 cm
$78
A
terminated green apophyllite crystal on matrix. The green color is
caused by vanadium impurities. This is from recent finds (when it
comes to India, pretty much everything is a recent find...)
This
is not a clearance page, but I've priced this piece as if it were... For
intermediately colored apophyllite (neither intensely bright green, nor
super pale) the prices are really all over the place-- you can find a
similar piece for a bit less, or for 3 times as much. I've tried
to keep this in the lower portion of the general price range. As
with most Indian zeolites that are not museum grade or particularly
exceptional, there is absolutely no shortage, so what you pay often
depends more on the venue and the source than the rock itself.... crazy,
huh?
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CIM36 Apophyllite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
9.4x
6.0x 4.2 cm
$70
A
terminated green apophyllite crystal on matrix, with a few other smaller
crystals. The green color is caused by vanadium impurities.
This is from recent finds (when it comes to India, pretty much
everything is a recent find...)
This
is not a clearance page, but I've priced this piece as if it were... For
intermediately colored apophyllite (neither intensely bright green, nor
super pale) the prices are really all over the place-- you can find a
similar piece for a bit less, or for 3 times as much. I've tried
to keep this in the lower portion of the general price range. As
with most Indian zeolites that are not museum grade or particularly
exceptional, there is absolutely no shortage, so what you pay often
depends more on the venue and the source than the rock itself.... crazy,
huh?
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CIM37 Apophyllite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
13.5x
10.5x 3.1 cm
$79
A
cabinet-sized double terminated green apophyllite crystal on matrix,
with a few other smaller crystals. The green color is caused by
vanadium impurities. This is from recent finds (when it comes to
India, pretty much everything is a recent find...)
This
is not a clearance page, but I've priced this piece as if it were... For
intermediately colored apophyllite (neither intensely bright green, nor
super pale) the prices are really all over the place-- you can find a
similar piece for a bit less, or for 3 times as much. I've tried
to keep this in the lower portion of the general price range. As
with most Indian zeolites that are not museum grade or particularly
exceptional, there is absolutely no shortage, so what you pay often
depends more on the venue and the source than the rock itself.... crazy,
huh?
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CIM38 Apophyllite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
7.9x
6.7x 4.1 cm
$68
A
terminated green apophyllite crystal on matrix. The green color is
caused by vanadium impurities. This is from recent finds (when it
comes to India, pretty much everything is a recent find...)
This
is not a clearance page, but I've priced this piece as if it were... For
intermediately colored apophyllite (neither intensely bright green, nor
super pale) the prices are really all over the place-- you can find a
similar piece for a bit less, or for 3 times as much. I've tried
to keep this in the lower portion of the general price range. As
with most Indian zeolites that are not museum grade or particularly
exceptional, there is absolutely no shortage, so what you pay often
depends more on the venue and the source than the rock itself.... crazy,
huh?
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CIM39 Calciye
coated with Quartz
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
9.3x
6.9x 5.8 cm
$78
A
vug hosting a calcite rhomb. The entire interior of the vug,
including the calcite, has been overgrown by a layer of quartz
crystals-- the blueish color is from an underlying layer of chalcedony.
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CIM40 Apophyllite
on Amethyst
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
11.3x
5.4x 3.8 cm
$88
An
amethyst-lined vug, with a colorless apophyllite in the middle.
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CIM41 Quartz
Stalacite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
10.7x
5.5x 2.0 cm
$68
An
interestingly shaped quartz stalacite from India.
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CIM42 Quartz
epimorph after Calcite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
11.0x
3.0x 1.4 cm
$75
An
epimorph (I think it's hollow) of quartz after what was once a very odd,
elongated calcite crystal. Interesting piece.
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CIM43
??? incl. Celadonite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
5.8x
6.1x 4.4 cm
$67
A
hemispherical cluster of something included with celadonite-- or it
could just be celadonite by itself, but that doesn't seem particularly
likely.
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CIM44 Apophyllite
incl. Celadonite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
7.6x
4.1x 3.4 cm
$40
A
couple celadonite included apophylites on a nicely contrasting
matrix. The celadonite gives them this unusual dark green color--
"normal" apophyllite is a much lighter green.
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CIM45 Apophyllite
incl. Celadonite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
12.1x
3.8x 2.1 cm
$40
A
group of celadonite included apophylites on a nicely contrasting
matrix. The celadonite gives them this unusual dark green color--
"normal" apophyllite is a much lighter green.
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CIM46 Stilbite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
9.0x
5.6x 5.8 cm
$45
Numerous
stilbite bowties on a matrix of another zeolite.
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CIM48 Pentagonite
Wagholi,
Near Poona, Maharashtra State, India
5.9x
5.0x 3.3 cm
$88
A
decently sized (3.4 cm) "christmas tree" of pentagonite. There is
damage (the branches that were once facing outwards are sheared), this
may be more apparent in person than in the photographs.
Pentgonite
and Cavansite are found in only a couple quarries in this area, and
those have either been bought by developers or just about reached the
water level... In other words, the cheap cavansites and
pentagonites that we have all grown accustomed to will probably not last
for too many more years.
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CIM49 Apophyllite
Mumbai
Area, Maharashtra State, India
11.0x
10.3x 5.6 cm
$40
Colorless
apophyllite from the Mumbai area.
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CIM50 Apophyllite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
5.6x
4.3x 3.1 cm
$56
A
terminated green apophyllite crystal on matrix. The green color is
caused by vanadium impurities. This is from recent finds (when to
India, pretty much everything is a recent find...)
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CIM51 Apophyllite
incl. Celadonite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
11.1x
9.0x 4.8 cm
$63
A
couple terminated green apophyllite crystals on matrix. The green
color is caused by vanadium impurities. This is from recent finds
(when to India, pretty much everything is a recent find...)
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Since these theme here is
"relatively inexpensive Indian minerals", I lifted a few from the
clearance pages for your (re)consideration.
(those are below)
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CCJ13
Quartz Stalactite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
8.1x
5.1x 5.6 cm
$69
A
winding quartz stalactite on a quartz matrix, from India.
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CCJ26
Apophyllite on Amethyst
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
10.8x
7.2x 5.7 cm
$64
A
group of apophyllite crystals inside an amethystine geode.
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CCJ27
Heulandite
Nasik
Area, Maharashtra State, India
8.0
7.7x 4.5 cm
$39
A
semi-geode like specimen of Heulandite. This is probably one of
the most common minerals in the Deccan traps-- if you visit certain
quarries, you can see hundreds of pockets in the walls lined with
heaulandite and other common zeolites.
Of
course, getting from a pocket in the quarry wall to a manageable
specimen takes a fair amount of luck and work-- most of these Indian
pieces start of as large chunks of rock, which are then carted off to
be hand trimmed with various electric saws and hand tools. If it
were not for the low cost of Indian labor, which first makes it
possible to halt quarrying operations to collect, and then makes it
possible to spend the time preparing relatively inexpensive specimens,
there would probably not be as many Indian zeolites on the market.
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CCJ28
Calcite
Dahisar
Sakinaka, Mumbai Area, Maharashtra Prov., India
6.5x
3.7x 5.0 cm
$68
A
flattened, brown calcite rhomb in a quartz lined geode. This
piece is from a find made around 3-4 years ago in a suburb of Mumbai
that is quickly being developed.
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CCJ29
Thomsonite
Aurangabad
forest, near Nasik, Maharahstra State, India
4.8x
3.5x 2.8 cm
$53
A
thomsonite specimen from recent finds at Aurangabad. Since the start
of the Indian Zeolite boom in the 70's, thomsonite has been one of the
rarest species from the country.
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CCS7 Okenite,
Gyrollite
Kandivali,
Mumbai Area, Maharashtra Prov., India
10.1x
8.0x 2.8 cm
$49
A
cabinet specimen, featuring two orbs, one of acicular okenite, and the
other of gyrolite. This quarry is located on the outskirts of
Mumbai, and along with many of the other quarries in the area, has been
purchased by developers seeking to feed the never ending demand for
housing in India's largest, and quickly growing city.
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Click
here to see the previous update!
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