Detailed information
Dimensions
18 x 16 x 15
mm
Locality
Golconda Pegmatite Golconda district, Governador Valadares Doce Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Condition
No recorded repairs
Famed for intensely coloured Fluorapatite crystals, most of which are gemmy, but very small, the Golconda Pegmatite field near Governador Valadares, Doce Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil has been known for over a century, but for its first 50 years it was mined for Muscovite, only later becoming a famous gem-mining district. This thumbnail-sized specimen features a 1.5 cm long, lilac-purple truncated pyramidally terminated stocky prismatic Fluorapatite crystal lying across a small piece of matrix with an accompanying tiny (3 mm long) teal-blue, narrow prismatic terminated Elbaite tourmaline crystal. The Fluorapatite crystal has a fractured base but its upper section is well-formed, with vertical growth lines and a classy termination with just very light microscopic chipping to be seen. Glassy and bright externally, internally the crystal is translucent rather than transparent with a cloudy, inclusion-rich interior, but this does not affect its rather charming colour which is very rich for a Fluorapatite and a classic for Golconda.