A specimen of purple fluorite on siderite from new production at the Yido Silver Mine. To the untrained eye, this looks like a typical Yaogangxian specimen, but a slightly closer look reveals that the matrix is in fact siderite (rather than muscovite.)
I was offered a small group of specimens prior to Tucson which I declined due to the exorbitant prices, though I was happy to see one small lot available in Tucson as well. This is the best from the group
Pieces like this are exciting because they come from a location that had previously not produced specimens.
The bulk of the currently available Inner Mongolian pieces come from only 3 or 4 mine clusters ( mainly Huanggang, Rongguan and Chaobuleng)-- over 200 such mines and mine clusters have been opened over the past several years. That pieces like this make it to the market means that there is a chance that a greater portion of those 200+ locations will eventually start to produce collectible specimens.
Sawn on the reverse.