Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Mine Charcas, Potosi, Mexico
SIZE : 17.5 x 15 x 11 cm

This specimen is a calcite that belonged to Roger Caillois, a notorious French collector. Roger Caillois had called this "sculpture": woman and child. The calcite presented is white with a pearly lustre.

It was found in the Charcas mine in Mexico. After its dation in 1988, this specimen joined the collection of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.

This sample is kept today in the storage rooms of the collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire Naturelle. (i.e., not yet displayed to the public).

Photography: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire ,
© MNHN.

SPECIE : Calcite

HISTORY : Name inspired from the Latin word "calx" meaning burned chalk

Species first described in 1836 by Johann Karl Freiesleben (1774-1846), officer of the mines of Saxony

Type-locality: undefined because species already known from the Ancients
ANCIENT NAME : Spath d'Islande, chaux carbonatée

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ca CO3
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Rhomboédric
COLOR : Colorless, white, color depending on inclusions
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to opaque
LUSTER : Vitreous, pearly
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Well-formed crystals common, forming concretions
HARDNESS : 3
DENSITY : 2,711

CHEMICAL CLASS : V - Carbonates, nitrates
GROUP : Calcite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 5/B.02-20
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 5.AB.05

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Calcite

MNHN N°188.74

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