2CYND06 Fluorite
Yindu Mine, Chifeng Pref., Inner Mongolia A.R., China
3.0x 2.9x 3.0 cm
$400
A very beautiful fluorite crystal from Yindu--it is slightly small, but I do think this is one of the special ones. The main crystal is sharp and damage free, though what makes it special is the color and transparency. If you've ever seen those pictures of tropical beaches with that aquamarine colored water, that is about as close as I can get to describing the color, because the camera doesn't capture it well. It looks like someone cut a cube out of that water and managed to preserve the color-- though it gets deeper toward the core, to the point where you can almost not see anything-- but it still retains enough transparency that you can see the balls of muscovite below. This description is admittedly somewhat abstract, but I think it's necessary given how poorly the camera captures the color. There's a bit of pyrite clinging to the surfaces as well, giving a nice bit of sparkle and contrast.