Detailed information
Species
Fluorite, Quartz
Dimensions
83 x 118 x 55
mm
Locality
Marienschacht Mine Wölsendorf Fluorite Mining District Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany
Condition
No recorded repairs
This classic, characteristically German Fluorite is from the Marienschacht mine in the W'lsendorf Fluorite Mining District of Bavaria, and is of dark blackberry purple, dappled with a delicate plum-pink patina and small druses of golden-orange micro-Quartz crystals. The intergrown cubic crystals range between 0.5 and 3 cm on edge, but average around 1.5 to 2 cm. All crystals are opaque and are so dark as to appear almost black. The faces are smooth yet display square geometric growth patterns with a lustre somewhere between glassy and waxy. Where the faces adopt the lighter patina, their lustre tends more towards matt. This is actually a shallow surface alteration to the Fluorite's structure, so interrupting its colour to produce these lighter hues. This delightful German Fluorite is ex. the Dr Joseph Clemente (1899-1987) Collection of southern Germany.