A wonderfully textured Calcite disc, its surface nothing like a smooth polished slab and all the more striking for it. Dense, coral like clusters of black crystal spread across a white and pale grey ground, their fine branching edges giving the whole face a lichen or moss covered look. Threads of soft tan and beige weave between the darker patches, tracing the natural growth lines of the stone. Look closely and small cavities open up across the surface, each one lined with tiny sparkling druzy crystals catching the light from within. Cut into a rounded disc and set on a simple display stand, it is a genuinely tactile, one of a kind piece of natural formation.
Calcite is a calcium carbonate mineral found in a huge range of colours and habits, from clear rhombs to the dense, dendritic black and white growth seen here, where fine crystal formations spread outward like frost or coral across the stone's surface. Small druzy lined cavities are common in pieces like this, formed as the mineral crystallised slowly within pockets in the rock.