Calcite

Stank mine in south west Cumbria is world famous for its superb Calcite and extracted Hematite for thirty years between 1871 and 1901. The mine is considerably further south of the west Cumbrian iron mining district, about 48 km (30 miles); the Barrow-in-Furness area being historically in the county of Lancashire. This gorgeous small cabinet specimen displays several large colourless gemmy Calcite crystals which form gently rounded, complex scalenohedral prisms, so characteristic of the Furness peninsula. The two largest crystals measure 5.2 and 4 cm with at least five smaller Calcite crystals emerging from the light chocolate-tan limonitic matrix. The Calcite crystal that crosses the specimens is cleaved, so missing its termination. This really lovely example of a Stank Calcite is accompanied by an old German (C.F. Pech, Berlin) label.