Fluorescent Museum page 8

Below are two rare pieces. On the left is the a white matrix with pink, radiating crystals of baratovite and black blades of aegerine from Dara-I-Pioz, Alai Range, Tien Shan, Tadzhikstan. The baratovite fluoresces bright pale blue SW. On the right are purple amethyst-looking Franklin fluorite crystals sparsely disseminated in limestone and feldspar which fluoresces cherry red. The fluorite barely fluoresces SW and not at all LW, but there is a light blue white glow around the crystals SW. These were found at the Trotter dump of the Franklin mine. I have a few pieces for trade.

Below left is a septarian nodule slice from Southern Utah. It is a Cretaceous period mudball that cracked. Calcite formed in the cracks. It has been sliced and one side is polished. It fluoresces pale blue LW & SW. On the right is a large piece with gemmy red and white tugtupite that fluoresces cherry red SW and orange LW and has a long-lasting phosphorescence. This was an early find from Kvanefjeld, Ilimaussaq, Greenland and is 4.5 inches long.

Below is rare beta-willemite. It is officially known as yellow-fluorescing willemite and is very attractive with many small sparkling crystals. It is from Sterling Hill mine, Ogdensburg, New Jersey. Beta-willemite fluoresces yellow SW.	Below is red gemmy willemite with patches of fluorapatite. The large area on the left is 7/8ths of an inch long and this piece weighs 3 oz. I have only a few pieces of red willemite for trade.


An unusual four-color polished slice of microcline, var. amazonite, with reddish fluorapatite, willemite, calcite, and augite from the Mill site, Franklin. This amazonite is blue-green and fluoresces gray-blue SW. The fluorapatite fluoresces burnt orange SW, the calcite fluoresces orange-red SW, and the willemite fluoreseces green SW.	Here is an underappreciated fluorescent mineral from the Noble pit of the Sterling Hill mine. Most of it is now buried. It is scapolite. This piece has massive light grey scapolite and calcite. The scapolite fluoresces crimson red SW and the calcite fluoresces a bright orange-red SW. The host rock is incredibly tough to break. It takes two strong men to break off a few pieces.


Calcite from the Franklin mine occasionally turns a beautiful salmon color. This is from the Mill site in Franklin. It fluoresces an exceptionally bright orange-red SW. The closer to the ore body the calcite is, the brighter it glows.	Salmon calcite from the Sterling Hill mine in Ogdensburg was unheard of several years ago. Digging in the wall at the southeast corner of the Passaic pit in 2006 exposed some of the prettiest salmon calcite ever found. It fluoresces orange-red SW, but is not as bright as the Franklin material.