Zincite, Franklinite and Calcite

Help improve this record

No owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

Rounded crystals of dark cherry red-brown Zincite protrude from a creamy Calcite matrix pervaded with metallic black crystals of Franklinite. This choice small cabinet specimen is from the Franklin Mining District in Sussex County, New Jersey and has a small A. E. Foote (Philadelphia) label affixed to the specimen's base. The address for Foote dates it to 1879-1890 making this a lovely historic piece. The Zincite hemispheres measure almost 3.5 cm across their longest dimension and the Franklinite crystals tend to form rounded, slightly modified octahedral crystals. Under long wave UV light the Calcite fluoresces pale red while under short wave UV it is a brighter orange-red. A few tiny patches of fluorescent green Willemite are also visible under short wave UV, vindicating Foote, whose label recorded accessory Willemite, only for someone to have later crossed it out. In hindsight, UV was not available to Foote who probably mistook the Calcite for Willemite! A really fine crystallized Zincite with very large crystals and aesthetic too.