Item #10980

$75.00
Fluorite
Judith Lynn Claim, West Burro Mountains, Grant Co., New Mexico

This fluorite specimen from New Mexico in the USA reminds me a lot of some of the purple/pink fluorites from Durango, Mexico. As it turns out, the fluorites from both localities are often much darker purple when mined and they are left out in the sun to fade, resulting in a pleasing mix of purple and pink. I once rode into the small town where the Mexican variety is mined and saw entire roofs covered with fluorite (your roof is both a safe place to store your diggings and the best place to get it a lot of sun exposure!). This piece measures 4.3 x 3.9 x 3.3 cm. If you look carefully at the octahedral surfaces, you will see that they are all curved...very unusual! I don't know if this is natural or a result of HF (Hydrofluoric acid) being used to clean the quartz off these specimens. A very nice New Mexican specimen, with no damage.