Collector's Piece: Scheelite on Muscovite and Albite from Mount Xuebaoding
Dimension: 7cm x 6.5cm x 3.5cm
Weight: 237g
Locality: Mt. Xuebaoding, Pingwu Co., Mianyang Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China
This is a superb fine quality Scheelite from the famous 2007 "red pocket", with red tones laid over the classical orange hue at the termination. It is bright, intensely colored with a super high luster on a beautiful matrix of silvery Muscovite and Albite. There is a thick layer of exceptional, stout and metallic crystal Bournonite growing underneath. The scheelite crystal is gemmy at its termination, one of the significant features from the 2007's pocket.
Scheelite from Mount Xuebaoding in Sichuan Province has been recognized as the world's best. Production has tapered off in the last decade due to the expansion of a nearby panda preserve and the exhaustion of a number of the larger scheelite-bearing veins, Scheelite specimen from this locality are now very sort after in the market and are always auctioned off. The earthquake in 2008 makes accessing to this extremely remote mountain even more difficult, specimens like this will see price increases in multiples in the near future.
Scheelite is named after Swedish chemist and amateur mineralogist Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who discovered the element Tungsten from Scheelite-Tungsten comes from two Swedish words, "tung" meaning heavy and "sten" meaning stone or rock.