Discussions

💬 Home 🔎 Search 📅 Latest

╳Discussions

💬 Home 🔎 Search 📅 Latest

Groups

Recent Images in Discussions

GeneralCalcite from Mount Sterling area, Illinois ?

20th Feb 2013 20:13 UTCHerwig Pelckmans

Dear all,

While in Tucson I acquired 4 calcite specimens with interesting habits, all from the following locality:

"Hope County, Illinois". One even mentioned "Pough Quarry, Hope County, Illinois".

The calcites are unusual in that the specimens all show two generations of calcite. The first generation consists of normal sized scalenohedrons (up to 20mm long). On these crystals is an oriented growth of a second generation of flat rhombohedrons (about 5mm thick and 20mm across) of calcite.

The matrix is a light grey limestone.

Yesterday while checking things out, I noticed there is no Hope county in Illinois.

Fortunately I remembered the dealer I bought it from, so I asked for help and more information.

His reply:

"Yes, I forgot that those were in there. As you have seen, there is no Hope County, Illinois. I know the guy that got these though. He bought them at a small show, many years ago, in Mt. Sterling, Illinois. We both agree that the specimens are from a quarry near this town."

=> So the calcite specimens should be from a quarry near Mount Sterling, a city in Brown County, Illinois.

My questions: does anybody know about a quarry near Mount Sterling, a city in Brown County, Illinois, where these specimens could come from?

Has anybody ever been to that small mineral show in Mount Sterling?

Any info that could shed more light about these intriguing specimens and where they actually came from, is more than welcome.

Cheers, Herwig Pelckmans (Belgium)

20th Feb 2013 22:42 UTCBob Harman

HERWIG , Are sure the calcites are not from POPE COUNTY, Illinois? This county is in extreme southern Illinois and the Eastern part of that county is the Western part of the Illinois fluorite district. There are several older mines and several quarries that could have produced your calcites. I suggest posting pictures of them and seeing if they can be identified as being from this part of the state or the Mt Sterling Brown County area which is in the West central part of the state. CHEERS..........BOB

21st Feb 2013 01:46 UTCD Mike Reinke

Herwig,

Illinois is not loaded with mindaters uploading photos, but there are 255 calcite photos. You might scroll through them to see if any look like yours. There aren't many to choose from in those areas you mentioned. I would think 'Hope' meant 'Pope', but there are no other clues to go by, so I wouldn't feel very confident in that. The 2 places are very far apart, without other likely-misspellings. I guess it would boil down to your confidence in the dealer. The "We both agree..." sounds weak, but I can't say for sure, of course...

21st Feb 2013 02:47 UTCKeith A. Peregrine

Herwig,

Could you post photos of these calcites? Including the limestone would be helpful too.

Keith

21st Feb 2013 08:17 UTCHerwig Pelckmans

Dear Bob, Mike, Keith, and others,

Thanks for your replies.

The dealer, whom I highly respect for his integrity and knowledge, provided me last night with the following additional information:

"These are definitely not from Pope Co. in the south of Illinois. They are from somewhere around Mt. Sterling and were collected in the 1970's or early 1980's. I have checked this with the original owner and this is all that he could tell me. A shame, as they are neat calcites."

I did go through all 350+ photo's of calcite from IL that came up when I did a photo search, but no picture came close to any of my calcite specimens.

As requested, I have made photos of one of the calcite specimens. One is made in early daylight, the other in bright sunlight. Note the 2 distinct crystal habits of calcite and the "sugar" of pyrite crystals sprinkled on the calcite scalenohedron. The small sceptre on top of the calcite is a nice addition. :-)

Cheers, Herwig

21st Feb 2013 15:43 UTCKeith A. Peregrine

Herwig,

I'll be attending a Peoria club meeting on Tuesday and pass the photo around to see if anyone recognizes it. Will do the same with some Springfield members I'll see on Saturday too.

Keith

22nd Feb 2013 16:26 UTCHerwig Pelckmans

Keith and others,

That would be great!

I made another photo that really shows the oriented growth of the flat rhombohedrons on the scalenohedron.

Note the parallel orientation of the 3 rhombohedrons on the right!

The width of the largest rhombohedron (on the right) is approx. 10 mm.

I hope somebody will recognize this material and be able to tell us more. To me the specimens seem typical enough to be connected to a specific locality or find ... but then again I might be too enthousiastic. ;-)

Looking forward to your feedback.

In case you would like additional photos, Keith (or anyone else), please let me know.

Cheers, Herwig

23rd Feb 2013 00:31 UTCDavid Zimmerman (2)

Herwig,

Nice looking piece you have there. It might be harder to attribute this piece to a single location because I've seen similar material from Pints Quarry in Iowa, as well as the old Pough(sp?) Quarry (Vulcan Materials now) in Oshkosh, WI to name just a few that come to mind. I'm sure there are 3 or 4 locations in IL that could've produced that piece as well. Hopefully Keith can get lucky with a few more locations in IL for possibilities.

Nice piece and pictures.

24th Feb 2013 01:46 UTCKeith A. Peregrine

Herwig,

I spoke with several LOESS members (Springfield, IL) last night. No one is aware of any collecting locations in the Sterling Hill area of Illinois. Actually, no one is aware of a Sterling Hill in Illinois. The calcites do not look familiar with other calcites people have collected here, but that is not conclusive.. The big bugaboo is the limestone matrix. This does not look like any limestone here in Illinois. Consensus is that it is not from Illinois.

I'll be talking with people from the Peoria club Tuesday night. Hopefully, someone will recognize it.

Keith

24th Feb 2013 05:18 UTCHarold (Hal) Prior Expert

They look very much like the Pints Quarry in Iowa. If they were mixed with my Pints material they would be difficult (even including the sawed surface which mine had) to seperate. As for the the old Pough(sp?) Quarry (Vulcan Materials now) in Oshkosh, WI, all of the material I have had from the Vulcan was colored gray by micro Marcasite inclusions, and the xl. form was different. The two generations of growth was also prevalent in the Shullsburg, Wisconsin Calcites (however Sterling, Illinois would be relatively near to Oshkosh). If I was voting from the image I would label as Pints Quarry. It is definitely not like anything I have seen from Pope County.

24th Feb 2013 14:07 UTCDavid Zimmerman (2)

I think it will be a very hard task to try and find definitive locality data based on this information. As Hal pointed out, there is a Sterling, IL, which very possibly could have a quarry that could've produced similar material. The problem is that the area that could've produced this piece is probably 2,000 square KM in size because calcite and pyrite are literally the most common 2 minerals found in that area. Sure, some have more distinctive crystal shapes and qualities (and yours is a very high quality), but at this point it could have been found in a one-time pocket in a small quarry anywhere in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and possibly Indiana, or Ohio as well. I also agree with Hal that it does not look like the Pope county material. Buffalo, Iowa is another location that was famous for this combination, but the calcites look a little to gemmy to have come from there. The calcite also looks a little too clear to have come from the SW Wisconsin lead mines area, plus marcasite was the favored sulfide in that district, although pyrite did also occasionally occur. The task would be easier if the piece were large, because there are relatively few locations that produced large specimens, but there are hundreds of quarries that can produce nice looking small pieces.

If I had to guess, I would say the piece came from a small quarry in Iowa....possibly the Pints Quarry in Raymond. Maybe you could do a longgggg search in the calcite pictures from Iowa and Illinois here on Mindat and see if you can find similar-looking material. I would imagine that would end up being a 6 hour search though!

Good luck and nice piece. :-)

Mindat.org is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: May 3, 2024 15:49:57

Go to top of page