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GeneralOi! What about the best of the Brits?

5th Jan 2012 06:08 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

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

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

Regards

Steve

5th Jan 2012 06:32 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

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

Regards

Steve

5th Jan 2012 19:06 UTCJoan Kureczka

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

5th Jan 2012 21:10 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

Nice miniature Joan.

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

Regards

Steve

5th Jan 2012 22:11 UTCJoseph Polityka Expert

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

5th Jan 2012 23:29 UTCWoody Thompson Expert

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

5th Jan 2012 23:40 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

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

5th Jan 2012 23:41 UTCJoan Kureczka

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

6th Jan 2012 04:41 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

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

6th Jan 2012 07:49 UTCDon Windeler

Copper

Carn Brea Mine, Pool, Carn Brea, Cornwall, England, UK

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

6th Jan 2012 15:16 UTCIan Jones Expert

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

Deep Navigation Colliery, Merthyr Tydfil. South Wales.

6th Jan 2012 17:29 UTCRoger Curry

Absolute corker Ian!

I'm a millerite enthusiast also; I think that is a world class specimen.

Regards,

Rog

6th Jan 2012 17:49 UTCMaggie Wilson Expert

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

looking forward to more!

Maggie

6th Jan 2012 18:06 UTCIan Jones Expert

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.

6th Jan 2012 21:02 UTCMalcolm Southwood 🌟 Expert

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

6th Jan 2012 22:11 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

Not sure about the best beer Ian! :)-D Great additions to this thread though...

How about an "ugly black mineral"? :-)

Regards

Steve

7th Jan 2012 01:26 UTCJoseph Polityka Expert

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

7th Jan 2012 03:35 UTCMalcolm Southwood 🌟 Expert

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

7th Jan 2012 05:13 UTCBen Grguric Expert

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.

7th Jan 2012 05:35 UTCPaul Brandes 🌟 Manager

Aye! What about the best of the Scots??? :-D

Great specimens so far....

7th Jan 2012 06:07 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

Ok Paul. Here's a fairy floss mesolite from the Isle of Skye...

I reckon minerals from any part of the British Isles including Eire are ok to post here...

Regards

Steve

7th Jan 2012 06:12 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

So Ben, is that an antique specimen? Do you have a provenance for it?

Mal - your photos are significantly improved. Good to see! Is there a crack in your specimen?

Regards

Steve

7th Jan 2012 08:08 UTCAM Mizunaka Expert

Calcite included with hematite. Stank Mine, Cumbria. 8.6 x 5.7 cm.

7th Jan 2012 09:59 UTCMalcolm Southwood 🌟 Expert

Steve,

Thanks. Playing with my Christmas present - a new camera and lens - and a lot of trial and error with lighting.

No crack in the specimen, but I can see why you asked; just a somewhat linear feature I guess.

Thought I'd try one more Brit classic for the evening; this one's a bournonite from Herodsfoot, 60mm maximum dimension.

mal

7th Jan 2012 10:01 UTCPhilip Mostmans Expert

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1438/5115697432_cf239e948d_b.jpg
Fluorite by Philip Mostmans, on Flickr

Fluorite twins from Heights mine in Weardale. Twin about 2cm on the side.

7th Jan 2012 10:48 UTCColin Fearon

One of my favourites; liroconite/clinoclasite

7th Jan 2012 10:53 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Come one people, we're Brits, it's CLINOCLASE not CLINOCLASITE.

Thank you!

7th Jan 2012 11:05 UTCColin Fearon

dammed if you do, dammed if you don't

7th Jan 2012 12:06 UTCIan Jones Expert

Very nice Stank piece, have been looking for one like that or ages, but haven't found just the right one:-(

Another Cornish classic, a small but busy Wh. Coates cassiterite pseudomorph after orthoclase feldspar, 30mm. These came out c1830.

7th Jan 2012 12:22 UTCBen Grguric Expert

Steve,

That particular siderite thumbnail is not provenanced, but all the references I have for Wheal Maudlin 'horsetooth' siderite specimens suggest they may have occurred in a single vugh or series of vughs around 1820. My specimen was obtained from a Cornish friend, who sourced it from one of his local contacts. That is as much as I know about it.

Cheers,

Ben

7th Jan 2012 12:48 UTCBen Grguric Expert

On the subject of Scottish classics, here is another tiny one, but once again very scarce on the specimen market. Herringbone silver from the Alva mine, Alva, Clackmannanshire (2cm). Sorry my camera won't get any closer. The article on this historically fascinating silver mine by Stephen Moreton (Mineralogical Record, 27, 405-414.) is well worth reading. This particular specimen has a Nick Carruth label.

7th Jan 2012 13:30 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

Zincolivenite from Dolyhir...

Regards

Steve

7th Jan 2012 13:50 UTCIan Jones Expert

Just noticed that we haven't got any barytes yet, so here is one from one of the Frizington iron mines. - a group of stubby, blue crystals to 50mm, selectively coloured red by hematite, on red-coloured calcite.

The iron mines here produced some of the world's best calcite and baryte, and some pretty good blue fluorite too.

7th Jan 2012 14:25 UTCWoody Thompson Expert

Hollow epimorphs of grayish quartz after baryte crystals, with small chalcopyrites, perched on millky quartz crystals. With old attached label. Herodsfoot Mine, Cornwall. 7 cm wide. Ex Ed David and Ed Swoboda collections. I wish I knew the original collection or dealer represented by the label. Any ideas?

7th Jan 2012 17:21 UTCIan Jones Expert

What's that dog balancing on it's nose, why it's a spray of millerite - good doggy, don't drop it.

Probably time to put the gin away:-D

7th Jan 2012 17:25 UTCIan Jones Expert

Joan Kureczka Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Okay -- this is definitely one of my favorites.

> Minature fluorite and quartz, with a few little

> galenas, Rotherhope Fell Mine, North Pennines.

lust lust

7th Jan 2012 18:18 UTCJoan Kureczka

Guess we can round out the Cumbrian stuff with one of the blue fluorites Ian mentioned. Florence Mine.

7th Jan 2012 18:24 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Let's get on to what they do best in that small island - fluorite! This one's from the Boltsburn Mine (6 cm across), perhaps one of the best fluorite localities in the country, if not the world. And sorry, Steve, but I really can't bring myself to think of Fosters as beer.

7th Jan 2012 19:25 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Woody,

The label on your specimen looks like the ones that were clipped from Heuland's catalogs and glued onto his specimens.

7th Jan 2012 20:21 UTCWoody Thompson Expert

Thanks, Jesse. I think Mick Cooper made a similar suggestion about this label being a catalog clipping, but he wasn't sure of the origin. The Heuland auction catalogs are a plausible source. I've seen a photo of another old clipped and glued-on label with apparently identical font, if I can just find it again! Do you have photos or a reference to other examples?

7th Jan 2012 20:41 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

I don't like Foster's anyway Jesse! My current favourite is a New Zealand beer, Steinlager Pure.

Regards

Steve

7th Jan 2012 21:07 UTCIan Jones Expert

Woody, I know I've seen similar, but I really can't recall where. Herland certainly crossed my mind and I checked through various books I have - but nothing quite like that. Nice rock though.

Just for Joan & Jesse - a fluorite, cubes to 25mm, with calcite from the southern Pennines - Ladywash Mine in the Peak.

7th Jan 2012 21:51 UTCBradley Plotkin

Here is one of my favorite British pieces, alstonite with witherite from brownley hill. label states this is from the original find. Regards - Brad.

7th Jan 2012 22:25 UTCPeter Trebilcock Expert

Hi Woody,just picked up on your query,I have several similar labels on "Baryte and Blende" from Ulston Moor,mine also have the small attached labels from the museum of M and M, a bit late tonight but i will photograph and send details to you.

7th Jan 2012 22:42 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Woody - I recently saw a nice group of siderite epimorphs after fluorite from the Virtuous Lady Mine with Heuland catalog label attached. I recall that Ian saw it as well. Unfortunately, financial considerations dictated that it stay where it was.

8th Jan 2012 00:09 UTCWoody Thompson Expert

Ian, Jesse, and Peter,

Thanks for your help and insights regarding the old label on the Herodsfoot specimen. I doubt that such a long label as this would have been specially printed for the specimen. It makes sense that the text was clipped from a spare catalog and glued onto it. Peter, it would be great to see any similar labels that you have. I'll keep looking for the example that I saw before. A siderite/fluorite epimorph from Virtuous Lady Mine is on my holy grail list, but they might as well be made of gold!

8th Jan 2012 11:37 UTCIan Jones Expert

Think that the Museum M&M labels on specimens are much smaller, certainly any I have are.

Woody - I'd like a box too, but I don't want to sell the house to buy one:-(

back to the BoB - the dendritic golds from Hopes Nose are good for the UK. This one, field of view 45mm across.

8th Jan 2012 22:11 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Calcite with hematite inclusions from the Banana Slide find of the early 1970s, Beckermet/Florence mine complex, Egremont, Cumbria. 13 cm across.

9th Jan 2012 02:23 UTCAM Mizunaka Expert

Calcite on hematite. Cumbria. 8.1 x 6 cm.

9th Jan 2012 10:56 UTCIan Jones Expert

Last one before I disappear off to London for a couple of football games.:)-D

Anglesite, crystals to 5mm, from the type locality Mona Mine Anglesey, c1790. Ex Acadamy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.

10th Jan 2012 12:12 UTCBen Grguric Expert

Woody,

If you have a look at the late Mick Cooper's article on the Chatsworth House mineral collection (Mineralogical Record Vol 36, pg 239-272), you'll see several examples of specimens with labels glued on exactly like yours and the font looks identical. Those specimens are from the Crichton collection (Crichton was physician to the Emperor Alexander of Russia from 1803 to 1814). His collection was sold at auction by George Sowerby in 2721 lots over a period of 16 days in 1827. Entries from a copy of the cataloge were cut up at the time and glued to the specimens to aid identification. The catalogue still exists and Franz Werner from the Russell Society is the expert on it. Very likely your Herodsfoot piece was in that lot.

Hope this helps,

Ben.

10th Jan 2012 14:19 UTCWoodrow Thompson

Hi Ben,

That's very good information, and thanks for jogging my memory!! I have Mick's article on the Chatsworth collection, so will go back and have a look at it. Unfortunately it looks like I've either misplaced or didn't save the e-mail discussion that I had with him concerning this type of label. Will send you a PM if I find more. (By the way, I added another view of the specimen to my original photo posting above.)

Woody Thompson

10th Jan 2012 16:43 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Hi all,

What a nice topic AND specimens.

Just love British minerals.

Here's one of my favorites. http://www.mindat.org/photo-346520.html

Zenjoy.

Take care and best regards.

Paul.

11th Jan 2012 15:35 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

This one's been a bit of a mystery. It came with an old label from the Sorbonne giving the location as "Northumberland." I've seen a lot of North England fluorite but never anything like this one from the region. While looking through the fluorites in the Sir Arthur Russell collection at the NHM London I came across a couple that were quite similar from the Poldice Mine, St. Day, Cornwall. Specimen is 5 cm across.

11th Jan 2012 15:53 UTCIan Jones Expert

"jackstraw" cerussite, crystals to 55mm, from Pentire Glaze Mine, Cornwall.

Famous for large cerussites of this type, in the early 1800s, there are records of specimens being hand-carried upwards of 30miles due to their fragility.

11th Jan 2012 17:09 UTCWoodrow Thompson

Jesse,

The blue/yellow zonation and drusy white quartz matrix remind me of some of the fluorites from Wheal Mary Ann.

11th Jan 2012 17:42 UTCRoy Starkey 🌟 Manager

Here's a nice Scottish zeolite Paul - red stilbite from the Touch Hills, collected in 2000. Specimen is 90mm wide.

Roy

12th Jan 2012 01:57 UTCPhilip Perkins

Here is a Kidney Ore Hematite.

The poor thing sobbed all the way out from England in 2011, torn away from the only home it had known for countless millions of years.

It seems to have settled down since i thinned it's matrix down & gave it a new acrylic base.

12th Jan 2012 12:50 UTCIan Jones Expert

Time for another rarity.

Hydrocerrusite crystal group, largest crystals 25-30mm, from Tor Works (Merehead Quarry) in Somerset.

12th Jan 2012 16:08 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Isn't that the stuff we wash off of our galena?

12th Jan 2012 16:29 UTCSteve Rust Manager

mostly yes

12th Jan 2012 20:57 UTCIan Jones Expert

Jesse Fisher Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Isn't that the stuff we wash off of our galena?

You're scrubbing the best bits off Jesse.:-S

Uber-rarities from Merehead. Green, bladed Chloroxiphite with orange mereheadite, pink-white mendipite and, if you look very closely along the chloroxiphite edges, red parkinsonite. Merehead is the type locality for parkinsonite and mereheadite and other nearby locations are the TLs for chloroxiphite and mereheadite.

13th Jan 2012 05:11 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Bugger! If I had only known I would have left the grotty stuff on the specimens and charged more! Live and learn...

Here's an Eastgate Cement Quarry fluorite and galena combo, collected in 2001. The galena has been mostly washed but still a few scarps of that grotty stuff hanging about, so not a complete loss.

13th Jan 2012 11:43 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

Some nice photos turning up here. Good to see.

Here's another small one from Scotland...Ancylite-(Ce) from Strontian...

Regards

Steve

13th Jan 2012 11:50 UTCMaggie Wilson Expert

love this thread, thanks Steve and contributors!

13th Jan 2012 12:11 UTCPhilip Mostmans Expert

Jesse,

In your pic of the Eastgate specimen in the upper right corner is a Fluorite twin with surface pits.

I have seen those before mostly on specimens from Whiteheaps, as negative imprints of missing quartz crystals. Never seen them (this clearly) on specimens from any other loc's in the neighbourhood. Can I assume these have the same origin or is there another explanation?

Cheers!

Philip

13th Jan 2012 15:17 UTCJoseph Polityka Expert

This huge calcite specimen is on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It is apprximately 25cm in length and is comprised of three butterfly twins in a trilling arrangement. The photo does not do justice to this amazing specimen. From Egremont, Cumbria, of course.

Best,

Joe

13th Jan 2012 15:18 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Hello Philip,

We sometimes get fluorite crystals with that sort of surface pitting from the Rogerley as well. I think the impressions are the result of etching and not from quartz crystals now gone. The outline is rarely hexagonal as one would get from quartz, and quartz overgrowth on the late-forming gem twins is pretty rare. In our case, the quartz is usually earlier than the twinned fluorite. In a couple pockets we have found a fine-grained, sugary overgrowth of quartz on the fluorite, but when flaked away, it seems to leave only microscopic impressions on the faces of the fluorite.

Cheers,

Jesse

13th Jan 2012 16:36 UTCIan Jones Expert

Nice rock Joe, do you think they might be interested in a trade:-)

Another old-timer, a wire copper 6.5cm high, from Botallack adit, St Just, Cornwall, c1804

13th Jan 2012 17:55 UTCJoseph Polityka Expert

Ian,

I imagine they might trade if someone offers them the Hope Diamond. I'm sure they have gotten offers over the years as they have with other great specimens in the collection. I'm sure the same thing happens at the British Museum. We will have to be content to admire them from close up without ever touching them.

Your copper is very attractive; the intergrown crystals immediately got my attention.

Best,

Joe

13th Jan 2012 18:03 UTCJoseph Polityka Expert

Hi,

Another specimen from Britain in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Campylite from Roughten Gill. Approximately 20cm in length. An antique specimen from the heyday of the mine when only J. Pierrepont Morgan could afford to buy it.

Best,

Joe

13th Jan 2012 21:19 UTCIan Jones Expert

Good to see so many British rocks, here is a wavellite from the type locality, High Down Quarry, Filleigh in Devon

Although a very small exposure, this material was still collectable 30 years ago.

Happy days:)-D

Come on, I know there is more out there, lets have more pictures.

13th Jan 2012 21:59 UTCIan Jones Expert

Joseph Polityka Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Ian,

>

> I imagine they might trade if someone offers them

> the Hope Diamond. I'm sure they have gotten

> offers over the years as they have with other

> great specimens in the collection. I'm sure the

> same thing happens at the British Museum. We will

> have to be content to admire them from close up

> without ever touching them.

>

> Your copper is very attractive; the intergrown

> crystals immediately got my attention.

>

> Best,

>

> Joe

Joe

Joe

What about a "Merthyr diamond", do you think they might bite for one of those instead. So dam fussy museums, keep asking the BM if they want to swap their box from Virtuous Lady, but no joy so far:-(

4" "diamond" I collected from Nant Hellen, an opencast coal mine in south Wales a couple of years ago

Glad you liked the Botallack copper, a classic old Cornish piece.

cheers

ian

13th Jan 2012 22:25 UTCDanny Howard

Fantastic Campylite Joseph, one day I hope to get my hands on some, but i think the locality is more likely Dry Gill than Roughton Gill? But maybe someone more familiar with the minerals of Caldbeck Fells will correct me.

13th Jan 2012 22:35 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Hi Ian and all,

What a lovely topic. Thank you all for posting.

Here is more, clinoclase from Wheal Gorland : http://www.mindat.org/photo-181791.html

Zenjoy.

Paul.

13th Jan 2012 22:43 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

This one is today's last. It's almost midnight here and have to go to work tomorrow.:-(

Ferberite pseudomorph after scheelite from Hingston Down quarry : http://www.mindat.org/photo-240125.html

Zenjoy and good night.

Paul.

14th Jan 2012 01:12 UTCBradley Plotkin

Here is an old time calcite group from egremont. x - Bement coll. 11.7 cm. - Brad.

14th Jan 2012 16:26 UTCWoody Thompson Expert

Ludlamite crystals on tan siderite crystals. From Wheal Jane, Kea, Cornwall (the type locality). 4.5 cm.

14th Jan 2012 18:22 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Time for some more fluorite. This one, with sphalerite and minor siderite came from the Beaumont (Allenheads) Mine, East Allendale, Northumberland. Recovered around 1970 during British Steel's ill-fated attempt to reopen the mine for fluorspar. 10 cm across.

14th Jan 2012 18:49 UTCStephanie Martin

Hello Everyone, wonderful thread and equally wonderful specimens. Some truly exceptional ones.

Well these certainly would not qualify as "The Best" of anything but they are special to me. It was really hard deciding on which of my British subjects was my favourite as they are all pretty royal in my eyes. Today I will post 2 of them as I could not decide on just one and not sure when I will get another chance to post more.

How can one not cherish the flint from Dover? So iconic.

Quartz var Flint (nodule with chalky coating)

Dover, Kent, England, UK

Approx 6cm x 4cm

And yet more fluorite, this time it's Blue John. I saw a fabulous piece on display at the University of Waterloo Earth Science Museum, but I didn't have my camera with me that day. If it is still on display when I go back I will try to get a good photo and upload it.

This is just a small representative slice which shows the typical banding for which Blue John is known and I was pretty pleased to get it as it is rather hard to come by for a reasonable price with good banding.

Fluorite var Blue John

Treak Cliff Cavern, Castleton, Derbyshire, England, UK

Slice approx 3.2cm x 2.8cm

14th Jan 2012 21:22 UTCCraig Mercer

Wowsers......some absolute stunners hangin out here, Fluorite's straight from heaven.

I really don't have many British specimens, but what I do have I cherish. Anyway this is probably my best UK specimen apart from my Rogerley, but it's only a fragment of some of the specimens shown here ;-)

Really looking forward to returning here to see more of these incredible photographs.

Calcite, Cumbria, England, UK

14th Jan 2012 21:57 UTCMalcolm Southwood 🌟 Expert

Only just caught up with this thread since last weekend, and really enjoyed it. Some fine classics!

This one is from deep under the ground in North Yorkshire, a 40mm specimen of hilgardite (orange-pink) on boracite (very pale green) from the Boulby Potash Mine.

mal

14th Jan 2012 23:46 UTCJoseph Polityka Expert

Craig,

Beautiful calcite; if you are going to own one your's is the one to have. It's a beautiful miniature.

This specimen in my collection is a Baryte from Frizington, Cumbria, 6cm by 9cm in size.

Best,

Joe

And now...back to American football.

15th Jan 2012 00:22 UTCPhilip Perkins

Craig

I feel that your Calcite is absolutely unbelievable, the clarity of the crystals are fantastic mate, well done, thanks for sharing.

Joseph love your Barite too, lovely blue color..

15th Jan 2012 06:36 UTCBradley Plotkin

Here is a neat little piece. Hausmannite from Bigrig. - Regards - Brad.

15th Jan 2012 08:02 UTCPhilip Mostmans Expert

Nice Brits everyone!

Being a Fluorite nut...

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1320/5115312548_f8dd797be4_b.jpg

Fluorite on Siderite from West Pastures mine

15th Jan 2012 10:38 UTCIan Jones Expert

Back to the south-west. A pharmacosiderite from Hemerdon Bal - 5x4mm and very large for the UK.

15th Jan 2012 16:43 UTCJoan Kureczka

Well, I suppose I ought to post the larger version of this. Hilton Mine, Scordale, Cumbria.

15th Jan 2012 16:56 UTCIan Jones Expert

Does it for me Joan.:)-D

"Wood tin" from an uncommon location, Lee Moor China Clay Pit in Devon

15th Jan 2012 16:57 UTCIan Jones Expert

Second time lucky

15th Jan 2012 18:32 UTCColleen Thomson Expert

arriving late to this fantastic thread....

Here's a slightly bigger Baryte to go with Joans' gorgeous Fluorite, also from Hilton Mine, Scoredale - this is a large cabinet specimen about 14 cms x8cms.

15th Jan 2012 18:38 UTCWoody Thompson Expert

Carbonate-rich fluorapatite, variety "francolite". On matrix of quartz-chalcopyrite-chlorite. Fowey Consols Mine, Tywardreath, Cornwall. 6 cm.

15th Jan 2012 20:00 UTCIan Jones Expert

"Blister copper" from Cooks Kitchen.

Don't you love these Cornish nine names

15th Jan 2012 20:04 UTCIan Jones Expert

Ian Jones Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "Blister copper" from Cooks Kitchen.

>

> Don't you love these Cornish nine names

try again - "Blister copper" from Cooks Kitchen.

15th Jan 2012 21:01 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Galena with Siderite, Boltsburn Mine, Rookhope. FOV=5 cm.

16th Jan 2012 02:09 UTCStephanie Martin

Inspiring specimens! A real pleasure to view.

Here's a little galena on baryte... doesn't compare with the larger cabinet pieces being shown, but I really like this miniature.

Galena on Baryte

Whitesmith Mine, Strontian, North West Highlands (Argyllshire), Scotland, UK

3.2cm x 2.2cm

Larger well formed galena crystal 6mm

17th Jan 2012 15:30 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Here's a bit from the Heights Quarry, Weardale, showing both the penetration twinning and well-developed vicinal faces typical of fluorite from the area.

17th Jan 2012 16:40 UTCIan Jones Expert

An historical old Devon fluorite from an unnamed Bere Alston mine and probably collected in the early 1800s, crystals to 20mm.

Originally in the collection of Clarence Bement (1846-1923) , for whom bementite is named, his collection, said to be "the finest collection of minerals ever made" was purchased in 1900 by financier J.P. Morgan (beryl var morganite) and donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. There is a black arrow on the underside (painted on all AMNH display specimens at that time) to guide staff in what the then curator, Louis Gratacrap, believed was the correct orientation for display.

Traded out of the AMNH, the specimen was subsequently in the collection of Dr Richard Hauck (hauckite). Old Bere Alston pieces are very hard to find, I was pleased to get this:-)

17th Jan 2012 17:08 UTCWoodrow Thompson

NICE historic fluorite, Ian !!! :)-D

17th Jan 2012 18:47 UTCIan Jones Expert

Just finished packing for Tucson, the trip starts tomorrow and I hit the US on Friday. Sat here with a celebratory G&T and about to go out for a meal with Mrs Jones before I disappear for a month in the sun. life is hard at times:)-D

Not the biggest fluorite in the world, but a classic St Agnes "4-face cube" from Trevaunance Mine, 1cm.

18th Jan 2012 15:19 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

I think we're having too many colorful minerals here, so it's time for an alstonite. This one on calcite from the Brownley Hill Mine, Alston Moor. 7 cm tall. The specimen is accompanied by a label from James Gregory (progenitor of the London mineral dealing firm Gregory, Bottley and Lloyd) dating it to the early 1860s.

19th Jan 2012 01:50 UTCJoan Kureczka

Tourmaline -- well, schorl. With apatite & quartz. Wooley Farm, Bovey Tracey, Devon. For those who thought I'd only post fluorite.

20th Jan 2012 19:29 UTCGeoffrey Small

Twinned fluorite from the Rogerley Mine.

21st Jan 2012 22:07 UTCMalcolm Southwood 🌟 Expert

Jesse, I love the alstonite and the history is special.

Back to some colour, (though not too many crystals this time). This is a type-locality arthurite, from Hingston Down Consols in Cornwall. The specimen is 90mm across, and I've added a close-up of the arthurite (FOV c.30mm). There is a little scorodite associated.

21st Jan 2012 23:27 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Hi all,

Nice specimens, thanks for shearing.

Here's some colour too.

Bassetite and Bayldonite, both from the TL.

:http://www.mindat.org/photo-249573.html

http://www.mindat.org/photo-288312.html

Zenjoy.

Paul.

22nd Jan 2012 01:17 UTCWoody Thompson Expert

Polished malachite slab from United Mines, Gwennap, Cornwall. Documented as having come from the collection of Lt. Col. G. T. G. Williams, and originally from the Williams family's Scorrier House. This is one of the remnants from a batch of unusually choice Cornish malachite used to make a table comparable in quality to Russian malachite for the 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition in London. 7 cm.

22nd Jan 2012 03:39 UTCGeoffrey Small

Here's a gigantic baryte from one of the mines in Frizington, Cumbria. From the collection of the Harvard Mineralogical Museum.

24th Jan 2012 03:42 UTCIan Jones Expert

Hello from Tucson!

Time for another Millerite, this time a a fairly rare English location, Greystone Quarry in Cornwall. Crystals to 19mm on dolomite, collected in 1988

25th Jan 2012 10:18 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

A nice yellow fluorite from Avon...

Regards

Steve

30th Jan 2012 00:38 UTCBradley Plotkin

Here is a bismuthinite from the Carrock mine. - Regards - Brad.

31st Jan 2012 11:23 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Hi all,

Thanks for shearing all these fine specimens.

Here's one of the relics from Devon, a Lady's Slipper from the Virtuous Lady mine.

http://www.mindat.org/photo-272268.html

Zenjoy.

Paul.

31st Jan 2012 14:38 UTCJesse Fisher Expert

Not too many decent British minerals to be see around Tucson yet (if you discount that ever-present green stuff). I did find this lovely little Boltsburn fluorite lurking in one room at the InnSuites show, however.

31st Jan 2012 15:42 UTCIan Jones Expert

A nice old-time piece from Fowey Consols in Cornwall.

Chalcotrichite with goethite in quartz, overall specimen 70x70mm, this cavity is 20x12mm. An ex Natural History Museum collection piece, purchased by them from mineral dealer Richard Talling at a cost of £1 10s in 1861. Specimen still has the original Talling number on the rear.

31st Jan 2012 18:10 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Hi,

Gee Ian and Jesse ! Gorgeous as much as the other posts.

Here's a British classic, " stupid " chalcedony from Cornwall, probably from the Trevascus mine.

I did not posted on Mindat yet because the locality is not yet clearly defined.

Specimen is over nearly 20 cm long.

Zenjoy.

Paul.

10th Feb 2012 05:36 UTCIan Jones Expert

great party guys and girls!

back at the apartment cooling down with a british beer, so i thought that i'd stick up one of britian's finest before bed calls.

instead of a rock this time, it's one of our finest mineral locations - the crowns at botallack

11th Feb 2012 23:59 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert

Nice shot Ian!

19th Feb 2012 16:33 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Ian, very nice shot.

Wish I was there.:)-D

Paul.

30th Mar 2012 18:07 UTCSteven Nowak

This is my best specimen from the UK:

Galena with Sphalerite from Heights Quarry, Weardale, England.

50 x 28 mm

14th Apr 2012 17:54 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Hi all,

Great posts everyone. Thanks for sharing.

Trying to swing on this topic.

Dont tell me that there are only these 6 pages of gorgeous specimens out there !!!!!

Keep them coming.

Here's my contribution for today, hematite with quartz from the Florence mine.

Take care and best regards.

Paul.

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