Calcite with Pyrite

This relatively large cabinet specimen of Pyrite coating Calcite is an absolute treasure. It would look stunning in any cabinet and could also sit equally comfortably as a fantastic Christmas decoration of towering golden spires or a forest of glistening fir trees! It is from Uranium Mine No. 21 at Háje near Príbram, in the Central Bohemia Region of the Czech Republic. The Calcite crystals emerge from a matrix of massive pinkish white Calcite and form tall, narrow elongated scalenohedral prisms of translucent off-white grading to smoky mid-grey. It appears these crystals sat horizontally in a pocket because the thick coating of brassy golden Pyrite covers only one side of all the Calcites, indicating its ’way-up’ orientation. I should not be making fanciful analogies, but the Pyrite-covered structure is reminiscent of Disney-style castles with ever-taller towers clustered around one another. Where occasional Calcite crystals are snapped off (only a few) the true thickness of the Pyrite can be observed, and it is certainly thicker than you would imagine! This is a magnificent specimen perfect for display, accompanied with the previous collector’s card label.