Fluorite

A beautiful small cabinet specimen of transparent to occasionally gemmy interpenetrant Fluorite twins of deep blackberry purple surrounded by similar smaller crystals and covering a matrix of rusty, mid chocolate 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 cm on edge and have a bright glassy lustre with mirror-smooth surfaces and subtle growth patterns.  The Fluorite, especially the larger twins, displays excellent daylight fluorescence and under LWUV all the Fluorite fluoresces bright lavender white.