Home > Western U.S. – August 22 > MS1233 Fluorapatite with Crandallite

Fluorapatite with Crandallite - Sold


This is an unusual specimen of fluorapatite in a yellow crandallite concretion. Here fluorapatite forms a sparkling mauve crystalline ovoid, 9 mm across. Larsen (1942) described this material under the heading "deltaite", and demonstrated its identity with fluorapatite. This specimen formed originally as a variscite concretion and subsequent alteration by meteoric waters precipitated the mauve fluorapatite and yellow crandallite. This specimen is from the collection of William Sanborn (1925-1981), prominent California collector who authored Handbook of Crystal and Mineral Collecting (1966) and Oddities of the Mineral World (1976). Sanborn's collection card and labels (using the term "deltaite") accompany the specimen. A jewel of a specimen!