Detailed information
Species
Mendipite
Dimensions
28 x 42 x 28
mm
Weight
70 g
Locality
Torr Works Quarry (Merehead Quarry) Cranmore, Somerset, England
Condition
No recorded repairs
At just over 4 cm long, this excellent miniature of the rare lead oxy-chloride Mendipite is from Torr Works quarry at Cranmore in Somerset. Apart from the display face and one end, the Mendipite is encrusted with the characteristic sooty, black manganese oxide in which it was found as quarrying operations passed through this magnificently mineralised zone. The Mendipite forms parallel white to slight pink, densely packed fibrous bladed crystals with a silky lustre. Mendipite has a high specific gravity (relative density) of 7.24 and this specimen certainly demonstrates this, because it feels disproportionally heavy for its size!