Fluorite

A beautiful small cabinet specimen of translucent to semi-transparent interpenetrant Fluorite twins of deep blackberry purple covering a matrix of rusty chocolate brown ironstone.  Around the base and between the matrix and roots of the crystals is a thin layer of pale sea green Fluorite, which in the base is concentrically banded.   From the Purple Rain Pocket in Lady Annabella mine, Eastgate, Weardale, County Durham, England, this was mined in the early summer of 2021.  The largest prism measures to 2.5 cm on edge and the crystals vary in habit from cubic to elongated cubes.  The prism faces tend to have a matt to waxy lustre, with glassy edges framing each prism.  The prisms nearly all have etched cross-diagonal growth patterns producing a harlequin patchwork of diamonds.  In this specimen some parts are lighter purple and more translucent, causing the crystals to glow due to internally reflected light.  The twin displays good daylight fluorescence and under LWUV fluoresces bright creamy lavender.