FLUORITE var. Blue John

SPECIMEN DESCRIPTION

For a mineral, or ornamental stone, that is so iconic to England it is remarkably hard to obtain good quality, colourfully banded cut and polished slices of Derbyshire Blue John. Part of the reason for this is that the fine banded material containing deep purple and yellow bands only occurs in one or two 'veins', the remainder of the veins being just a uniform single colour, or lacking the key purple shade. Most of the best banded material actually comes from older collections, as samples are recycled, or as hoarded chunks of rough banded Fluorite are found and prepared. This good sized thin slice has been sawn to the optimal thickness to allow light to transmit through and show off the beautiful banding to maximum affect. Ex Malcolm Southwood collection, no. MS 1997.117.