Description

Detailed Description

This is one of the sharpest and finest fluorapatites I’ve ever seen from Ipirá – a superb bipyramidal prismatic crystal! Gorgeous intense blue colour, and in excellent condition. The small brown crystals on the back of the fluorapatite may be monazite – we see this kind of association in Ontario (rarely), with calcite vein-hosted occurrences of fluorapatite – but have not been tested. This is a killer for the locality!

About These Ipirá Fluorapatites

The fluorapatites from Ipirá have been known for many decades and are the most amazing hue of blue – when strongly lit or backlit they can look otherworldly. Unfortunately, they are almost always rounded and damaged, and many are incomplete – I’ve looked through thousands of them over the years and it is almost impossible to find fine specimens! It’s exasperating. (Look at even the published photographs of Ipirá fluorapatites – they usually show very rounded and damaged specimens.) These specimens are remarkable for their sharp crystal form and quality.

Please note:

(1) the crystals are indeed intense blue – they are dark, and the photographs show their appearance with strong enough lighting to see the colour well. In lower light, they are darker.

(2) the colour representation in the still photographs has been carefully calibrated and adjusted to show an accurate rendition of this specimen in daylight (shade). The colours in the video are not similarly adjusted.