Detailed information
Species
Fluorite, Quartz
Dimensions
21 x 20 x 17
mm
Weight
6 g
Locality
Cínovec/Zinnwald, Erzgebirge; Krusné Hory Saxony & Ústí Region (Bohemia) Germany & Czech Republic
Condition
No recorded repairs
Wow, what a rarity. The Cínovec/Zinnwald area, straddling the border between Saxony, Germany and Bohemia in the Czech Republic is one of the the most famous mining regions in the world, with a rich history dating back to the Middle Ages, but placer tin deposits in the area were probably exploited right back in the Bronze Age. Despite this mining heritage Fluorite specimens from Cínovec/Zinnwald are very rare, and good specimens rarer still. This very sweet thumbnail specimen presents a lovely combination of Quartz and Fluorite, but the Fluorite crystal is the real star of the show. It is a highly modified cubic crystal, 1.7 cm across, with extremely distinctive stepped faces. It is missing a small part of one face, but the other five sides are wonderfully detailed. Its colour is dappled from a dominant dark purple but with flashes of red and paler purple and the quartz crystal is a short terminated prismatic crystal with an angled recrystallized base. The edges of the Fluorite are slightly rounded, some from general wear with age, but there is no escaping the significance and rarity of this specimen from such an important mineral producing region. It is accompanied by an old handwritten mineral dealer label from Mineralienhaus Droop in Dresden, which can been dated to between 1904 and the 1930s. From the remarkable collection assembled by brothers Martin and Michael Günther (1951-2007 & 1956-2021).