Fluorite from Wölsendorf, Bavaria, Germany

A lovely old-timer consisting of a thin plate of fluorite with a greenish-yellow core and sharply defined dark purple zoning, forming a rather striking geometric pattern. With it being rather thin and detached from the matrix, the colour contrast is especially strong and needs only minimal backlighting to really stand out. This piece stems from Grube Hermine in the Wölsendorf fluorite mining district in Bavaria, which was once a real classic for specimens in many European collections. These receive a little less love these days than they used to, but specimens like this show why the district earned its reputation.