Fluorapatite

Classic, purple gemmy-translucent crystals of Fluorapatite measuring to 1.2 cm on a Feldspar matrix with Quartz from its type locality, Sauberg mine, just east of the town of Ehrenfriedersdorf in Saxony, Germany. It feels somehow strange a very well-known species such as Fluorapatite has a recorded type locality, one imagines this to be one of those minerals whose origins of discovery are lost in the mists of time. But not so! This is an unassuming specimen, one more like you may find while searching in a quarry or mine, yet it is rich, displaying Fluorapatite of a splendid lilac-purple with hexagonal crystals lining vugs on two opposite upper faces of the milky Quartz veinstone matrix. The largest crystal measures 1.6 cm wide and all are translucent with a glassy to silky lustre.