Fluorite

A beautiful cabinet specimen of transparent interpenetrant Fluorite twins of deep inky purple surrounded by numerous similar smaller crystals and covering a matrix of rusty, mid chocolate to orange brown ironstone.  Around the base and between the matrix and roots of the crystals is a thin layer of pale sea green Fluorite.   This is from the Purple Rain Pocket in Lady Annabella mine, Eastgate, Weardale, County Durham, England and was mined in the early summer of 2021.  The largest prisms all measure 2.7 cm on edge and have a matt to waxy lustre with smooth surfaces and simple rectangular growth patterns.  The Fluorite, especially the larger twins, displays excellent daylight fluorescence and under LWUV fluoresces bright lavender white.