Alpaca Silver

 The Most Colorful Mineral in the World

Introduction

The Alpaca Silver Store neither condones, approves, supports or further advances the theories, reports or beliefs put forth in these blogs concerning healing, metaphysical properties or acknowledgements.  They are merely put here for your enjoyment and information.  Further discussion and research should be accomplished before accepting at face value anything written here.  However, there had to be some fact, religion, hearsay, myth or information of some kind to justify any of the information put forth.

Because of the length of the blog I will break it down into four parts: Introduction and History, Description, Properties and Simulates, Location, Uses and Care and Cleaning and Mythology, Metaphysical and Healing.  This will be the first, Introduction and History.

The origin of the word Fluorite comes from the Latin verb to flow and reflects today’s use of Fluorite as a flux in steel and aluminum processing.  It was originally referred to as fluorspar by miners and is still called that today.

Fluorite is a mineral with a veritable bouquet of brilliant colors.  Fluorite is well known for its smooth luster and rich variety of colors.  The mineral Fluorite comes in all colors.  Deep purple, (it’s most famous) amethyst, sky blue, sea green, sunny yellow, and crystal clear.  There are rarer colors of pink, brown, reddish orange (rose) and even black.  Fluorite is very attractive and in demand.  Intermediate pastels between the previously mentioned colors are also possible.  It is easy to see why Fluorite earns the reputation as “The Most Colorful Mineral in the World”.

Most specimens of Fluorite have a single color, but a significant percentage of Fluorites have multiple colors and the colors are arranged in bands or zones.  The effect is similar to a phantom Quartz crystal, where there appears to be a crystal within a crystal.  Except in Fluorite they are of different colors.  A Fluorite crystal could have a clear outer zone allowing a cube of purple Fluorite to be seen inside, or a single crystal of Fluorite could have several different color zones.

Fluorite is second only to Quartz as being the most popular mineral for collectors, but is not popular as a gemstone for, unlike Quartz, it can be easily scratched or broken.  Purple Fluorite can be hard to tell apart from Amethyst, but a simple hardness test will reveal which is which.  Fluorite is much softer than Amethyst, being only a 4.0 on the Mohs Scale.

“Blue John” is a Fluorite variety banded with colors and white, found only in Derbyshire, England.

History

The ancient Egyptians used Fluorite in statues and in carving scarabs.  The ancient Romans believed that drinking alcoholic beverages from vessels carved of Fluorite kept the drinker from getting drunk. (Remind anyone of amethyst?) Artifacts of carved Fluorite were found in the ruins of Pompeii.

The Chinese have used it in carvings for more than 300 years.

Color-banded Fluorite, widely referred to as Blue John, from Derbyshire, England has been called “Britain’s rarest gem.”  The legend about the naming of Blue John, which is often told by guides at the Blue John Mine, is interesting, especially for anyone, who is interested in language and word origins.  Briefly, it is as follows: During the eighteenth century, when some of this Fluorite was sent to France for jewelry, French craftsmen, apparently because of its typical color banding, referred to it as bleu-Jaune (Fr.: blue-yellow). Subsequently, because of “standard linguistic laziness,” that designation was corrupted to Blue John by the English.  The widespread report that vases (etc.) fashioned from this Fluorite were found among the early ruins of Pompeii, however, it is now thought to be incorrect.

Photographs of several objects, including an especially noteworthy goblet, made from Blue John Fluorite are shown on the web site: www.Blue John-cavern.co.uk.  The goblet is described as made by A.E. Ollenershaw was presented to H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh on the occasion of the opening of the Chemistry Building, Umist (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology), May 2nd, 1968.

Banded Blue John Fluorite has been worked into ornaments since 1750 and there are about 14 categories of banding patterns.  A goblet, made, by the craftsman Edward Leonard Fisher, sold at Christies of London in 1998 for £3,000.

Blue John Cavern

The Blue John Cavern in the Peak District of England is a series of caverns considered to be the finest range in Great Britain.  Their Cavern Tours are of immense educational interest showing clearly how the caverns are formed in limestone strata and how the limestone itself had much earlier been formed by the deposits on the floors of great oceans which have long since receded, as the fossilized remains of marine animals now show.

The Cavern is well illuminated by electric lighting. Very comprehensive planning was necessary here to ensure that the whole project was complementary to the caverns as a whole, without appearing to intrude or commercialize the caverns in any way.  It has been suggested that the Blue John Cavern is the finest that can be seen by the general public in Western Europe.

The Blue John Cavern in Derbyshire

Blue John is Britain’s rarest mineral first discovered at Castleton by the Romans almost 2000 years ago, and are the world’s only known deposits of this extremely rare and beautiful stone.

During excavations at Pompeii two vases of Blue John Stone were supposedly unearthed, evidence therefore that the Romans not only discovered the stone but also appreciated it for its ornamental value.

The Blue John Cavern is home to 8 of the 14 known veins of this beautiful mineral.

Geology and Mineralogy

Blue John Stone is the most prized ornamental variety of Fluor-Spar (Calcium Fluoride).  It differs from any other flour-spars in that it has definite banded veins of color running through it.

Quality stone is found in veins of some three inches in thickness on average.  It is also found in nodular forms lining the inner walls of cavities in the carboniferous Limestone of just one hill to the west of Castleton Village.

Nodules are spherical “fungus-like” growths, composed of concentric bands of blue, purple and white or yellow Fluorite, radiating from a central focal point. Massive varieties are seen to be composed of interpenetrating cubic crystals.

It has been seen that certain specimens will show signs of fluorescence on exposure to ultra-violet light, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

The Mining of Blue John Stone

Mining is essentially done by hand. Blasting is resorted to only very occasionally in special circumstances, as the shock can disturb the crystalline structure and render the stone incapable of being worked.  Blasting can shock the characteristic coloring and banding out of the stone and render the Fluor-Spar an off-white opaque color.  Even if the crystalline structure is still sound the discolored material is worthless.

When the Blue John occurs in nodules it is relatively easy to dislodge the fungus like formation with hammer and chisel and crowbars but great care is required to remove the nodules without damaging them.  These nodules are not easily recognizable to any but the most experienced as they are normally completely buried in clay.  The miners recognize a lump of Blue John by its weight.  It is the nodules that are greatly prized as the configuration is in concentric bands.

Often the Fluor-Spar occurs in Ganges, or veins surrounded by limestone needing a more complex process to remove them.  The extremities are sought and with a crow bar and chisel the miners cuts a deep ledge above the entire deposit.  However the depth of the hole is pure guess work as the miners don’t know the depth of the deposit.  The ledges are extended downwards at the lateral extremities to a suitable bedding plane beneath the Fluorite.  The final phase in the mining is known as “lifting”.  Wedges and crowbars are carefully driven into the bedding plane beneath the deposit.  The entire piece is lifted out, all excess material is carefully removed and the true size of the find is only then discovered.

The use of Fluorite as an industrial mineral is recent.  Until the half of the 19th century, its interest was mainly ornamental.  Then it became industrial in the 1980’s.  The industrial growth goes back to 1860 – 11880.  Currently Fluorite is mainly used in the following fields: Chemical industries (manufacturing of hydrofluoric acid, thermal fluids …), Iron and Steel industries (melting in the blast furnaces …), in fields of less economic importance i.e., Glass and Ceramics and welding.

Valzergues Fluorite was primarily used in Iron and Steel industries, in various factories located anywhere in France.  It was also exported to the United States.

Fluorite was named the official state mineral of Illinois in 1965; this status, however, was given because of its economic value as a nonmetallic ore, not because of its use as a gem rock or gemstone.

Brought to you by the Alpaca Silver Store.