Fluorite

This fine specimen of dark blackberry-purple Fluorite is from the Marienschacht mine in the Wölsendorf Fluorite Mining District of Bavaria, Germany.  This mine was originally named the Kuppel mine, but this was changed to Marienschacht in 1925.  The mine operated until 1979 and since then nearly all evidence of its mining history has been removed, leaving open fields and a distant wooded landscape.  The Fluorite from Marienschacht varied markedly in appearance and this cabinet specimen is an opaque, intense dark purple, tending almost to black.  Interlocked cubic crystals to 3.5 cm on edge compose the display surface.  These crystals have razor-sharp edges and relatively flat faces, and all portray a certain degree of shallow stepping to form interlinked platforms in linear geometric shapes.  The Fluorite crystals are sparsely dusted with tiny off-white Quartz crystals and occasional coloured films of speckled apricot-tan and pale lilac.  Ex. the Dr Josef Clemente Collection of southern Germany.