FLUORITE - photo 1
FLUORITE - photo 2
FLUORITE - photo 3

FLUORITE

Lot 125
21.10.2025 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 19 050
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1506294
Lot 125 | FLUORITE
Estimate value
$ 25 000 – 35 000
A magnificent blue and yellow fluorite showing strong color zoning, sharp cubic geometry, and gorgeous color contrasts. It is unusually 3-dimensional and complete all around, front and back, whereas most such specimens tend to have just one display face. It is a large and showy specimen of an unusual color palette, known in this quality only from one mine, and from a few pockets over several decades of mining. The quality, in this size, is extremely rare. The combination of blue and yellow is more rare than either the blue or yellow alone. Further, the transparency of this specimen, even as thick as it is, speaks volumes to its rarity and collectible desirability as a specimen. Most such pieces are simply not so transparent, lacking the beautiful "glow" within that this piece presents when backlit. Illinois fluorites mostly came out in the "heyday" of collectible specimens when they started to have enough value and beauty to catch the attention of miners to preserve them, even as the collector economy and mineral value both grew rapidly in America at the same time in the 1980s-1990s. While Illinois' multiple fluorite mines produced a huge number of average specimens, the truly great things were always rare, and often stashed away by mine managers and professional dealers who worked with miners, and took them to market. The mines, faced with outside market pressure for fluoride manufacturing from China, started closing in the 1990s. Soon enough, fluorite became so rare that the prices started skyrocketing in value almost overnight, as old collections were bought up and brought to market. That transition, those large collection purchases, are now mostly 15-25 years ago. The large collections are all gone and dispersed. What remains today are the individual fine specimens preserved in the wider collections built by long-lived collectors in the US market, primarily, during that time and the few decades since. Al and Sue Liebetrau were worldwide fluorite collector specialists (among other things), residing in Oregon. Over 60 years of collecting let them build a massive collection in the time that these items were coming out, and then they held their pieces through that market transition as source collections all sold, and fluorite kept going up in value. The Liebetrau fluorite collection stayed in place, untouched. This was one of the top few specimens in a large collection suite of hundreds of fluorites, and the only one of this style - a notable and classic formation from Illinois. Many say that fluorite is the most desirable collectible mineral species at some levels, and Illinois or China fluorites compete as queens of the game. On a custom molded lucite display base.
5¼ x 4⅞ x 4⅜ in. (13.3 x 12.3 x 11.0 cm.)
1.78 kg.
Medium:Fluorite
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
07.10.2025 – 21.10.2025
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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