Calcite

This stunning and most beautiful crystallised Calcite is from the Gyöngyösoroszi area in the Mátra Mountains of north-central Hungary, a polymetallic mining district which has been worked since the Middle Ages (500 to 1500 CE). Well-developed prismatic Calcite crystals to 4.3 cm tall cover a matrix encrusted with similar yet tiny crystals, all gemmy and with a wonderful lustre.  All the Calcite crystals, big and small, are colourless grading towards a milky-white interior with trigonal, Mercedes-style terminated nail head crystals.  This is a superb cabinet specimen and to me, a real show-stopper; maybe only Calcite, yet a thing of great beauty.