Oi! What about the best of the Brits?

I have a soft spot for British minerals, having grown up over there.

Here's an opener - hemimorphite from Wales...


Regards
Steve

...and a second one, a jeanbandyite from Hingston Down Quarry, Devon.


Regards
Steve

Okay -- this is definitely one of my favorites. Minature fluorite and quartz, with a few little galenas, Rotherhope Fell Mine, North Pennines.

Nice miniature Joan.

Pyromorphite, Force Crag Mine, Cumbria - photo width 2.5mm...


Regards
Steve

Hi,

Beautiful specimens. Nice fluorite, Joan. And, Steve, my eyes are open.

I don't have many specimens from Britain but here is one of them:

Mimetite (var. Campylite) 5 cm by 8 cm.
Trade with the American Museum of Natural History in 1968. This specimen is the upper left quarter section of a specimen pictured in a 1960s edition of Frederick H. Pough's "Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals". I do not know what happened to the other 3/4 section of the specimen and I was not aware of the photo untilI saw it years later in Pough's field guide. I traded a large cluster of dravite from Yinnietharra Station, Western Australia (on which I spent months working out of a solid mica matrix) for the campylite. The dravite is still on display at the museum.


Best wishes,

Joe

One of my favorite Cornish specimens, dufrenite from Phoenix United Mine, Liskeard District. 6 cm across.

Possibly my best self-collected mineral, a superb millerite spray on matrix from Markham Colliery, Wales

Nice pieces, gentlemen. And Woody -- a very striking photo!

Witherite on Alstonite, Fallowfields Mine, near Hexham, Northumberland, 6 cm across. Perhaps the premier world-wide location for witherite.

I'll jump in with the best British copper in my collection, a 5.7cm spinel-twinned piece from Carn Brea, Illogan, Camborne-Redruth-St. Day District in Cornwall. Provenance goes back to the Charles Pennypacker collection (1845-1911).

Note that this is Rob Lavinsky's photo & copyright, not mine -- tag below links to his entry for the piece in MinDat prior to my acquisition.



Native copper, Carn Brea

Millerite, bit of a passion of mine - longest crystal 27mm, and with galena overgrowing millerite.

Deep Navigation Colliery, Merthyr Tydfil. South Wales.

Absolute corker Ian!
I'm a millerite enthusiast also; I think that is a world class specimen.
Regards,
Rog

Great thread and some eye-popping photos (that means YOU, Ian)

looking forward to more!

Maggie

Britain - best beer and best rocks - not that I'm remotely biased you understand.

Bit of an oddity, a 60mm "pigs egg" from North Goonbarrow Pit, Cornwall - or as the more scientific amongst us would insist, kaolinite replacing feldspar.

Love the millerite Ian - really special!

Here's a 65mm "lady's slipper" from the Virtuous Lady mine in Devon. Slightly atypical in that it has a cluster of smaller epimorphs around the base that allow it to stand up.

mal

Not sure about the best beer Ian! Great additions to this thread though...

How about an "ugly black mineral"?


Regards
Steve

Hi,

Thanks for posting those great photos.

I purchased this calcite specimen from M. Phantom Minerals (Neal and Chris Pfaff) in 1998. They had gotten it out of an antique calcite collection and I could not resist purchasing it. The Pfaffs sold high quality mineral specimens at reasonable prices because minerals were their only source of income and they had to make enough each year to cover their living expenses. They retired from the mineral business circa 2000. The specimen is from Fritzington, Cumbria, England and is 8cm by 10cm in size.


Best,

Joe

Ian,

I'll definitely agree on the beer; Steve's been in Oz too long!

I couldnt resist putting in a little cassiterite. This one is from Trevaunance Mine at St Agnes. Not a massively aesthetic specimen, but wonderfully gemmy crystals the largest of which is 8mm across. (Maximum dimension of the specimen is 53mm).

mal

Not the prettiest specimen, but one of my favourites, mainly because they are so hard to come across, and are therefore one of the SW England Holy Grail specimens. Siderite 'horsetooth' from Wheal Maudlin, Lanlivery, Cornwall (3cm). These specimens appeared around 1820, and all known horseteeth may have come from a single cavity! Even at the time they were highly sought after, one specimen was for sale at 150 pounds in 1834, a huge sum at the time.

Ben.

Aye! What about the best of the Scots???
Great specimens so far....