Fluorapatite
This was one of the first specimens that I got in a trade with Graham Fraser. He had just come back from one of his fairly arduous collecting trips throughout Australia and this was one of the pieces that was leftover. Fairly confident he just traded it as a way to get to know me as the trade we made far favored me. I had just given him a small 1-2" piece of Princess Pat willemite that I had collected when I had first found that pile of it.
Locale: Rothsay Beryl Mine, Western Australia. Collected by Graham Fraser Nov 2014
Weight: 11oz | 311g
Dimensions: 2.9 x 1.4 x 3.2 in | 75 x 36 x 81 mm
Kratochvílite
This was a rather interesting experience. Purchased by myself in February 2017 after a stint of looking at the International Mineralogist Association's list of fluorescent minerals on fluomin.org . There were quite a lot of minerals that I had never even heard of and unfortunately most weren't being sold on eBay at the time. However, one of the ones that I came across was kratochvílite from a Czech seller. He also was able to take decent UV photos of his specimens. Enough to show me that I wouldn't get skunked on a non or dimly fluorescent variety of the mineral as often happens in the hobby. It was a match made in heaven for me. It's hard to emphasize how hard it is for dealers in a country outside of the US to get good fluorescent photos simply because all of the "name brands" in this hobby are based in the US. With that information in tow I asked him about several minerals that were on the IMA list. His prices were very reasonable so I just asked him to show me the best of the best of those species. This is what he showed me. An absolute best-in-class specimen of kratochvílite that's better than anything I can find documented on the internet. Came from his personal collection. It is both the richest in terms of overall saturation of kratochvílite and has multiple large pockets of pristine crystals.
Locale: Kladno mine, Kladno, Czech Republic
Weight: 325g
Dimensions: 114 x 60 x 56 mm
Calcite with Quartz
Update 4/8/25 - After talks with Peter Megaw, a subject matter expert on many Mexican locales, I believe this piece to be from the El Carmen Mine in the West Camp. According to Peter, it was mined in the early 90s.
Found at a local rock shop by myself. As usual the owners had no idea that this specimen fluoresced. All to my benefit! This is an absolutely gorgeous Halloween combination of fluorescent orange calcite and green quartz. I actually didn't notice that there was fluorescent orange when I had first bought it. I just knew that the quartz was fluorescing - a rarity in the hobby. Fluorescence is primarily shortwave but some of the quartz crystals fluoresce orange under longwave! Also of note is that there is a small outcrop of micro fluorite crystals (approximately 1mm in size) that fluoresce red, another rarity. The combination of the two makes this an exceptionally special specimen in my books.
Locale: El Carmen Mine, West Camp, Mexico
Weight: 175g
Dimensions: 98 x 69 x 36 mm
Chalcedony
This was purchased for me by my mom in 2015 on her trip to Taiwan. Specifically this specimen is from Taitung. Pretty good considering she didn't want to bring one of my lights! She just had a feeling it'd fluoresce based on what I showed her before! There aren't any photos of chalcedony even on Mindat. I imagine that's because most of it got turned into jewelry. This was one of the specimens that were being sold along with the jewelry it was made from. Collected by locals that claim that there's not that much of this material left.
Location: Taitung, Taiwan
Weight: 241g
Dimensions: 89 x 49 x 29 mm
Petroleum Quartz
This was purchased by me from a miner named Nasir Munir in April 2017. He and his friends have visited the Balochistan area to collect specimens like this one. At the time of purchase petroleum quartz specimens on matrix were incredibly rare. You would only see them on sale for exuberant prices $1000+. However, thanks to his efforts specimens like this are now available for affordable prices. It was quite interesting getting to know Nasir and seeing a completely different perspective. For example, much like sites over here in the US you pay a fee in order to go collecting for minerals. Unlike here this helps fund an army presence to guard the border from insurgents. Also unlike here there are very strict guidelines. Legal documents proving your citizenship are required, photos are absolutely not allowed, and only the tools provided can be used.
I showed Nasir several photos of the collecting site I found off Mindat and he says that it's changed quite a bit thanks to an army presence and insurgents. Quite a terrifying thought just imagining that someone could potentially be shot at while enjoying the hobby. I also asked Nasir to write the names of the area in his native language out of curiosity. The Urdu writing just looks beautiful to me and to see it handwritten by a local makes this quite an enjoyable purchase for me.
Of interest is that there seems to be two different activators. One blue and the other yellowish green
Location: Balochistan, Pakistan
Dimensions: 71x67x21 mm
Weight: 100g
Lepidolite
This specimen was purchased February 2017 at a local show. The dealer had several of these specimens from the same locale, all of which fluoresced equally. There were wonderful pieces with topaz embedded in the lepidolite but this piece was by far the best fluorescent specimen. It's quite an interesting piece as the bottom is clearly the mica that one would recognize when thinking of lepidolite. However, as we go up we can see that it started forming columnar stacks and eventually terminating. Photographed under LW as well as daylight. No effect SW
Location: Virgem da Lapa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Weight: 389g
Dimensions: 77 x 68 x 52 mm
