Specifications
Description
Locality: Daye Mine, Huangshi, Hubei Province, China
The Daye area, near Huangshi in southeastern Hubei Province, lies in the Edong mining district at the western end of China's Middle-Lower Yangtze River metal belt. Its copper and iron ores are skarn deposits, formed where hot fluids from intruding magma reacted with limestone. At the Tonglüshan deposit, for example, the ore lies along the contact between a quartz diorite body about 140 million years old and the marine limestones of the Lower Triassic Daye Formation.
Mining in the district is very old. At the nearby Tonglüshan ancient copper mine, archaeologists have excavated hundreds of shafts and tunnels, along with smelting furnaces and about 400,000 tonnes of slag. The mine was worked from the late Shang dynasty through the Western Han dynasty.
Calcite is calcium carbonate, CaCO3, with a hardness of 3 and a vitreous lustre. It is naturally colourless or white but takes on many colours from included minerals. Chalcopyrite, a copper iron sulfide (CuFeS2), is brass-yellow with a metallic lustre, and its surface often tarnishes to iridescent colours.
This one of a kind Mercedes Calcite specimen from Hubei Province, China features a tight cluster of large, transparent to smoky-clear calcite crystals with broad, sharply defined faces and strong parallel growth lines. Dark brown to bronze mineral coatings form bold stripes and patches across several crystal faces, giving the piece a layered, banded appearance. The specimen shows a mix of clear, pale honey, and grey tones, with overlapping crystals creating a heavy, solid display form and plenty of reflective surface detail.
Mercedes Calcite, also known by collectors as Benz Calcite, is a distinctive variety of calcite named for the dark spoke-like or parallel markings that resemble the Mercedes-Benz emblem. These specimens are strongly associated with Hubei Province, China, particularly the Daye County and Huangshi mining region, where calcite commonly occurs with sulfide minerals such as chalcopyrite. The combination of translucent calcite and dark metallic mineral inclusions gives these specimens their highly collectible patterned appearance.
In crystal traditions, calcite is associated with clarity and cleansing, and chalcopyrite with creativity and insight.
Chemical Composition: Chalcopyrite: CuFeS2, Calcite: CaCO3
Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will get the actual stone in the photograph.