Collection: Calcite Specimens

Here you will find our Calcite offerings, a varied range of interesting raw specimens, carved towers and beautiful spheres.

Calcite is a common mineral, found worldwide however there are over 300 different forms with some being highly variable and valuable.  Calcite comes in a variety of colours, with its purest form being 'Iceland Spar' aka Optical Calcite.

Some Interesting Calcite Facts:

∙∙∙  Medieval Icelandic texts talk about 'Iceland Spar' aka Optical Calcite being used by Vikings for navigational purposes, enabling them to locate the sun on cloudy days due to it's polarization.

∙∙∙  The Pyramid of Giza was once encased in five and a half million tons of limestone, which has a primary mineral of calcite.

∙∙∙ The Sphinx of Memphis, an 8 meter x 4 meter carved Alabaster (Calcite) statue carved between 1700 and 1400BCE is the largest known Calcite carving in the world.