A Fine Weardale Fluorite

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A Fine Weardale Fluorite

Rogerly Mine, Weardale, North Pennines County, Durham, England

Overall size 14.0 x 12.0 x 5.5 cm. This specimen features a richly crystalized plate of sharp cubes with many complex twins. Displaying the well-known colors of light green in daylight equivalent lighting switching to purple and light green coloration in incandescent lighting due to the strong blue fluorescent reaction to UV lighting. With custom lucite base.

Certainly one of the most popular collectible minerals, calcium fluoride (CaF₂) occurs in numerous important deposits spanning the globe. The nearly infinite array of available colors, often occurring in multi-color zoned “phantom” growth, have long delighted mineral collectors and lapidaries alike. Valuable as a smelting agent and for use in certain types of glass and optics, it has been mined in great quantities for industrial purposes. Vividly colored specimens with aesthetic crystal growth are best known from classic North American deposits in Illinois and Tennessee, European localities in Spain and England, and more recently from several exciting Chinese discoveries.