Witherite with Fluorite

Witherite is a rare barium carbonate and unusually, in this small miniature, forms crystals attached to a thin sliver-like plate of lavender Fluorite.  It is from Rosiclare, a Fluorite mine in the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District of Illinois, USA and now the site of the American Fluorite Museum.  The Witherite forms three hexagonal prismatic crystals measuring 3.6, 3.2 and 2.1 cm long, all 1.7 cm in diameter, with horizontally striated prism faces and bevelled terminations ending in a flattened pinacoid.  The Witherite is translucent greyish milky-white and has a matt, somewhat waxy lustre.  A seldom seen species from an even more infrequently seen location.  This specimen comes with a Dr Ing. K. Maucher of München label and is ex. the Josef Clemente Collection of southern Germany.