💎 shiny rocks make brain go brrrr ✦ dragon scale calcite [x]
A very nice example of dragon scale calcite! (Sometimes referred to as black calcite.)
Found only in the Sweetwater mine of Missouri USA, this rare variety of dogtooth calcite sports some very distinct crystal formations that give it it’s fancy fantasy sounding name. Being calcite though only puts this mineral at a 3 on the Mohs hardness scale, so definitely not as tough as the creatures of legend they’re named after. ;)
(Those shiny metallic looking inclusions at the base of this piece are likely marcasite.)
[image ids: two gifs of a pair of hands holding up a large dragon scale calcite, a dark grey rock with a heavy sheen to it, and turning it slightly to catch the light. overlapping layers are visible in the stone, giving it the appearance of the hide of a large reptile, with some smaller 'scales' merging into bigger 'scales' near the tips. end ids.]