Old Tor Mine, Castleton, Derbyshire, England

This is classic lapiday material, highly sought after. Radially puprle and white banded Fluorite. This is from the Alan Bohne collection. Alan got this specimen and several others on a trip to Scotland to visit his relatives. He got these specimens from his Uncle Angus, who was into lapidary. When I got the specimen, it was quite dirty. First a layer of dirt had to be scrubbed off. There were even some plant roots. Next a soak in HCl to remove the dinged up Calcite that covered the crystals on the top and the Caliche on the front. Then a couple of baths in Iron Out. As you can see, the effort was worth it. There is still a little internal Iron staining, nor did all the Caliche come off (although the Iron color is gone). It was a bit disapointing to find some of the crystals in spots on the top bruised even though they were originally beneth a layer of Calcite.

From the Alan Bohne collection

13.1 x 8 x 5 cm

$100      Click here to order this mineral.