Detailed information
Species
Alstonite
Dimensions
68 x 87 x 30
mm
Weight
220 g
Locality
Brownley Hill Mine Nenthead, Alston Moor Cumbria, England
Condition
No recorded repairs
A classic, old-time small cabinet-sized Alstonite matrix specimen from the Co-Type Locality at Alston Moor, from which the name is derived. Well-formed, classic, steeply pyramidal and bipyramidal Alstonite crystals reaching 8 mm in length richly cover the display surface underneath which platy flattened rhombic crystals of Calcite (or possibly Witherite) are seen. The Alstonite crystals are in very good condition, but the appearance of this specimen is indicative of 19th century samples rather than the re-discovery during the 1980s. Indeed, having been first discovered in 1834/35, the underground location was forgotten until the late 1800s and again lost until the 1980s. This is a very good sized richly crystallized example of this extremely rare double carbonate of barium and calcium. Ex Martin Kershaw Collection.