FLUORITE

SPECIMEN DESCRIPTION

A good sized cabinet specimen of intergrown octahedral Fluorite crystals from the Judith Lynn Claim within the Pine Canyon deposit in Grant County, New Mexico, USA. Sides of the octahedral crystals reach 4.5 cm, although none are any more than half complete as they have developed tight against a matrix of opaque, snow-white Quartz, so becoming truncated. Both the Fluorite and Quartz have a fine granular texture, probably the result of acid used to remove a drusy surface coating of tiny Quartz crystals. The Fluorite is violet mauve and translucent. This is probably its near-natural colour because specimens are often placed in direct sunlight to alter their colour to a more rosy pink.