Mineral Specimen - E-247
Calcite, Sphalerite on Dolostone - Cumberland Mine, Elmwood District, Smith Co., Tennessee
10 x 7.5 x 2.5 cm (3.9 x 2.9 x 1 inches) - $30
Three calcites are perched on a heavily coated sphalerite dolostone matrix piece. This specimen would have really been a high quality specimen had the calcite at the right edge of the specimen not broken in half as the photos show. The calcites that are not at the edge of the specimen, including the one in the middle of the specimen, are absolute orange transparent gems that are the classic color for the mine, and twinned to boot. The cleaved calcite, honestly, does really hurt the value of this specimen and unfortunately, in my opinion, make this more of a reference specimen versus a collector specimen. The ruby jack sphalerites and larger sphalerite clusters make up the rest of the specimen.