Tuesday Update – Fluorite

HAPPY Michaelmas to you all, especially our Christian followers.

Michaelmas Daisies are one of the few flowers to still be in bloom at this time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and their purple petals are coincidentally very similar to the colour of some of the Fluorite crystals presented today.

Another coincidence is that several of the Fluorite specimens offered today come from the collection of the Very Reverend Michael Keirle, Dean of Jersey, the most senior Church of England minister in Jersey. His wonderful collection was assembled during the 1980s, 1990s and into the 2000s and is particularly strong in Fluorite.

The Fluorites listed today come from around the world, but not the UK – those will be released at our Winter Open Day. Todays are from famous, classic occurrences and when viewed together the diversity in colour is quite amazing. Those from the Illinois - Kentucky Fluorspar District are particularly noteworthy and between them present many of the stunning features seen in specimens from there.

Those from Okorusu mine in Namibia also show a remarkable level of diversity, reflecting the importance of this mine to mineral collectors across many decades. France features heavily too, with a great balance of old-time and more modern discoveries with some lovely colour tones.

Preparations are well underway for selecting our specimens to take to the Bakewell Show (The Rock Exchange) in Derbyshire on Saturday and Sunday October 10-11 and so there is still time to put in your requests for us to bring along pieces for viewing. We will of course be displaying many hundreds of classic British specimens along with an extensive suite of UK Mining Ventures Fluorite.

For our international customers, if you are planning on visiting the Munich Show in Germany from Thursday October 22 to Sunday October 25 and would like specific specimens brought along to view, from either our USA or UK showrooms then do please ask, there is still time.

Next week we continue with colourful specimens but increase the brightness several levels as we venture to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Please note: Today's featured specimens are situated at both our US and UK showrooms.