Detailed information
Species
Fluorite
Dimensions
112 x 165 x 80
mm
Locality
Blackdene Mine Ireshopeburn, Weardale Co. Durham, England
Condition
No recorded repairs
This large cabinet specimen must surely rank as the finest Fluorite found at Blackdene mine. This 16.5 cm long plate doesn't bear any of the cubo-octahedral Galena crystals for which this mine is rightly famous, instead, concentrating wholly on exceptional Fluorite crystals. And wow, it does this with perfection. Unlike the paler purple Fluorite crystals seen with the Galena, this Fluorite is intensely purple - like that from Frazer's Hush - and is exceptionally gemmy and glassy too. However, unlike Frazer's Hush specimens, this one features a whopping 5.1 cm wide individual crystal, absolutely pristine in form, and with a distinctive dark sulphide-rich layer developed preferentially on one crystal face. The smaller crystals (still mostly above 1 cm on edge and up to 2.7 cm) forming the remainder of the specimen are all mostly twinned and extremely gemmy. This is a top class Weardale Fluorite of the highest order. Ex Bill Creighton collection.