Hematite from Florence Mine, Egremont, England, UK

The yin and yang aesthetic of this specimen is immediately eye-catching. On one side, small balls of calcite are sparsely placed on sparkling specularite. The specularite has an iridescent lustre in bright light. On the other side, balls of calcite liberally coat kidney ore. But hiding underneath the calcite are small crystals of blue fluorite: notice the cubic shape of some of the calcite nodules. The blue fluorite is also partially visible at the bottom of the specimen. This specimen comes with wonderful provenance: it was previously part of the Bill Creighton Mineral Museum collection. It then passed through the collections of Ben Creighton, Paul Nicholson, and Peter Ward. The specimen comes with five labels.