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Celestine & Calcite

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MGR945276

Celestine & Calcite

New Discovery

Description Tabs

Description
Locality: 
Darah-i-Laman, Qala e Naw District, Badghis Province, Afghanistan
Class: 
Crystals on Matrix
Size Range: 
Miniature (4.5-7 cm)
Size: 
6.4 × 4.2 × 5.1 cm
Description

The most well known Celestines are from Madagascar - of course they become large and very gemmy, but concerning color they are not even half as good as this new production from Afghanistan. What else do we know - we know this wonderful crystals from Turkey, they are at the same high standard of color, but even larger crystals from this locality are not more than 10mm in size. Then we have this pale, more grey-blue crystals from Ohio - yes, they form nice arrangements and are quite prominent, but also here - they will not come even close to the color of my new ones. We have samples from Poland - they are white to yellow, but not even pale blue and of course we shouldn´t forget the material from Italy (Racalmuto, Sicily), they show light blue color - probably compare-able with Madagascar color, but most times not really well formed clusters and many of them are dull. Do some research - but I am pretty sure you will get to the same result as I did - these new Celestines are among the finest in the world! But now more about the particular piece: The main crystal is 13 x 8mm and is super esthetically placed on top of its mother rock with even a smaller crystal at the side and at the bottom present.

Mineral Data
What's on the rock

Celestine

Formula: 
SrSO4
Strunz: 
7.AD.35
Hardness: 
3.0 - 3.5
Streak: 
White
Type Locality: 
Bell's Mill, Bellwood, Blair Co., Pennsylvania, USA...

Calcite

Polymorph of: 
Formula: 
CaCO3
Strunz: 
5.AB.05
Crystal System: 
Trigonal
Hardness: 
3.0
Streak: 
White