FLUORITE with CALCITE

SPECIMEN DESCRIPTION

This large miniature of Fluorite with Calcite is from heights mine close to the village of Westgate in the Weardale Valley of County Durham, England. Two peppermint green cubic crystals, each averaging around 1.6 cm on edge sit embedded in a matrix of massive Fluorite and creamy opaque Calcite, with a 2.8 cm tall hexagonal Calcite crystal perched at one end. When examined closely, the Fluorite crystals each contain a pale, yet distinct, near-surface edge purple band. The Calcite is an opaque, pale tinged cream with a sequence of horizontal, stacked plate-like faces capped with a flat, hexagonal termination. This Calcite crystal part envelopes a third part Fluorite crystal of the same peppermint green. The Fluorite exhibits no natural daylight fluorescence, but under LWUV become a bright patchy lilac.