Fluorite

Unknown Owner

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Situated a few miles north of the famous Blanchard mine, the Desert Rose mine is a smaller claim originally for lead and copper, but with Fluorite in association. Good, larger display specimens are rarely seen from there, but it does have the reputation for a diversity in colour and crystal morphology. This piece, from Arvid Pasto's renowned Fluorite collection is unusually fine, presenting an attractive cornflower blue colour in a larger size than usually associated with this deposit. This small cabinet-sized display specimen is totally covered in intergrown frosted blue cubes, typically 5 to 6 mm on edge, but reaching up to 8 mm. Several are damaged, but this is still several times better than anything else we have seen from this claim. With strong backlighting the blue colour really glows around the edges and through where the translucent Fluorite veins penetrate the matrix.