Calcite (Butterfly twins)

Beautiful butterfly twinned crystals of Calcite are delightfully scattered over a sparkling creamy druse of Dolomite with associated well-formed prismatic Quartz crystals.  From Ametista do Sul in the Alto Uruguai region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, the colourless Calcite crystals are gemmy to translucent with a strong tinge of milky white.  Butterfly twins are richly distributed all over the display surface, averaging around 2.1 cm across.  If this were my specimen I would tend to call these “heart” twins, but “butterfly” is what they named at Ametista do Sul.  Elegant single prismatic Quartz crystals to over 1 cm tall are richly scattered between the Calcite twins and are of a similar colourless to milky white to that of the Calcite.  By contrast, the carpet of micro-crystallised buttermilk cream Dolomite crystals forms a good contrast to the display crystals.  A fine specimen showing off many fine examples of twinning.