Twin Scheelite on Muscovite Cluster from Mount Xuebaoding

Dimension: 6.5cm x 5cm x 5cm
Weight: 313g
Locality: Mt. Xuebaoding, Pingwu Co., Mianyang Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China
 
A spectacular cabinet sized specimen of lustrous toffee-orange Scheelite crystals embedded within a carpet of silver-white blades of Muscovite mica.  This specimen is from the renowned mining district around Pingwu at Mount Xuebaoding, in Sichuan Province, China.  Two excellent twin dipyramidal Scheelite crystals sit amongst the Muscovite, so beautiful and lustrous!
 
Scheelite from this locality has been recognized as the world's best, and this crystal has great orange colour and quite a large size for this locality.  The mountain was closed for mining years ago 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.
 
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.