stephbg | Pretty rock of the day: Possibly purple aragonite with pyrite

This is possibly purple aragonite with pyrite. I don't have a confirmed ID, but I'm pretty sure about the pyrite sprinkles, less so about the base crystals. I had thought maybe calcite, but was told there was unlikely to be such a thing as purple calcite. The colour is right for amethyst, but I wasn't sure amethyst grew into that shape. That's about as far as my imagination extends

While hunting for aragonite pictures for research on a previous post I stumbled across something that looked like a possible match, so until advised otherwise I'm identifying this as purple aragonite. Since aragonite is made of the same calcium carbonate as calcite, it's not too far from my original guess. It also makes me suspect the expertise of the person who said she had never heard of purple calcite. The aragonite is also cheap enough for me to afford - there's not much point in identifying something in my collection as pure platinum or plutonium. There may yet be a label for this hiding in the drawer, and I'll be sure to make corrections if proven wrong.

This is a biggish specimen (for me), about the size of a human heart. Unfortunately it did take damage during TGSC which mostly cracked off the pyrite, but some is left if you take the time to look. This has lots of angles and interesting surprises hiding in nooks and crannies. I certainly was pleasantly surprised when I took a close look at it for the first time in years. Enjoy.