Green Fluorite with Quartz Crystals
$4,500.00
Amazonite and Smoky Quartz Specimens from Florissant, Colorado
Amazonite and Smoky Quartz from the Pikes Peak granite of central Colorado is one of the few American mineral combinations that stands beside anything produced anywhere in the world. The blue-green Microcline against dark, sharply terminated Smoky Quartz is instantly recognizable, and collectors who specialize in it can usually name the claim and often the pocket a specimen came from. Every Colorado piece we carry comes from the Smoky Hawk Mine at Florissant, Teller County, or the immediate Florissant area.
Fine Fluorite Specimens from the Classic Localities
Fluorite is the species most collectors either start with or end up specializing in, and often both. No other mineral offers the same range of color, the same variety of crystal habit, or the same number of localities with genuine personality. Our fluorite runs from a $100 Chinese miniature to an eighteen-centimeter Russian display cabinet piece, across Grant County in New Mexico, Berbes in Asturias, the Elmwood Mine in Tennessee, Dal’negorsk in the Russian Far East, and two Chinese localities.
Fluorite is calcium fluoride. It crystallizes in the isometric system, most often as cubes and less commonly as octahedra, and it has perfect octahedral cleavage in four directions, which is the single most important thing to understand before handling a specimen. It is also the mineral that gave fluorescence its name.
Featured Fluorite Specimens
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Fluorite Crystals on Quartz
$150.00
Grant County, New Mexico
Grant County produced the deep purple octahedral fluorite that has become a signature of southwestern New Mexico collecting, most of it recovered in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is not being produced today, so what circulates comes out of older collections. Octahedral habit is less common than cubic in fluorite generally, and well-formed purple octahedra with real color depth are a distinct collecting category rather than a curiosity. Our purple octahedral fluorite from the T&G Prospect is an eight-centimeter small cabinet piece and the best value in this category at $275.
Berbes, Asturias, Spain
Berbes is one of the great European fluorite localities and has produced beautiful material across many decades. The aesthetic is different from anything American: crisp, lustrous crystals with good clarity, often perched on contrasting matrix. Our lavender fluorite on drusy quartz from Berbes is a miniature where the fluorite sits cleanly on top of a drusy quartz plate, which is exactly the compositional balance this locality is known for.
Elmwood Mine, Smith County, Tennessee
The Elmwood Mine is an American classic and one of the few places on earth that produced deep purple fluorite against brilliant white dolomite. The contrast is the whole point. Our deep purple fluorite on white dolomite from the Elmwood Mine is a miniature that shows it as directly as the locality gets.
Dal'negorsk, Primorsky Kray, Russia
Dal’negorsk is a name serious collectors search by itself. The Verchny Mine produced green fluorite with associated quartz on a scale most localities never match. Our green fluorite with quartz from Dal’negorsk is an eighteen by twelve centimeter large cabinet display piece, and the largest fluorite we currently carry.
Chinese localities
China has become a major source of collector fluorite, and the material is often undervalued relative to its quality. We carry a transparent blue-green fluorite from Hunan at the accessible end, and two unusual Tongbei pieces from Fujian Province where fluorite occurs with spessartine garnet: a single octahedron with spessartine garnets included inside the crystal itself, and a spessartine with green fluorite combination showing green fluorite on one face and gemmy garnets on the other. Neither is a common association.
Fluorite also turns up as an associate on specimens collected for other species, including our Colorado amazonite and smoky quartz material from the Smoky Hawk Mine.
What makes a fine fluorite specimen
Color. Saturation and evenness matter more than which color. Zoned specimens, where color changes visibly through the crystal, are their own collecting interest.
Transparency and internal clarity. Hold the piece to light. The best fluorite is gemmy and water-clear inside rather than cloudy or milky.
Crystal form. Sharp edges and complete, undamaged faces. Because of the perfect cleavage, edge damage is the most common defect and the first thing to check.
Habit. Cubes are the default. Octahedra, cubo-octahedral combinations, and modified forms are less common and priced accordingly
Association. Fluorite with barite, quartz, calcite, dolomite, or garnet is often more desirable than fluorite alone, because the contrast makes the specimen. Most of our pieces are associations for exactly that reason.
Locality. Fluorite is one of the species where locality genuinely drives value. Most of our locality-classic material sits in the Classic Collection.
Handling fluorite: what every buyer should know
Fluorite is soft, roughly 4 on the Mohs scale, with perfect cleavage in four directions. That combination makes it easier to damage than almost anything else in a collection. Never grip a crystal by its edges, never let specimens touch each other in a case or drawer, and never use an ultrasonic cleaner. Some fluorite is sensitive to prolonged intense light, so keep it out of direct sunlight. We pack every fluorite specimen accordingly and will tell you before shipping if a piece needs particular care.
I buy a good deal of my Chinese material on the ground, on regular buying trips, which is how both Tongbei pieces came to me. Fluorite is also the category where I think the gap between price and quality is currently widest. The Grant County octahedra here are from a locality that stopped producing in the early 1990s, they are a habit most collectors rarely see, and they cost less than mass-produced material from mines still running today. Berbes is similar: a locality with sixty years of standing behind it, at a price that does not reflect that. I would rather sell a collector something with a real locality behind it than something merely large, and fluorite is where that is easiest to do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Currently Grant County in New Mexico, Berbes in Asturias Spain, the Elmwood Mine in Tennessee, Dal'negorsk in Russia, and two Chinese localities, Hunan and Tongbei. Inventory in this category turns over, so the grid below is the current picture.
Natural octahedral fluorite exists and is well documented, including the purple octahedra from Grant County, New Mexico. Be aware that cleaved octahedra are also produced commercially from massive fluorite, so buy from a dealer who distinguishes between the two. Everything we sell as a natural crystal is a natural crystal.
Perfect cleavage in four directions and a hardness of only about 4. Pressure on an edge can start a cleavage plane. Handle by the matrix, store so nothing touches, and never clean ultrasonically.
Some fluorite is light-sensitive and can fade under prolonged direct sunlight. Display away from windows and use LED lighting, which produces less heat and less UV than older bulbs.
Our current fluorite runs from $100 for a Chinese miniature to $4,500 for a large cabinet Dal'negorsk display specimen, with classic-locality American and Spanish pieces between $150 and $275.
Browse available fluorite specimens
Every fluorite specimen is photographed as received and listed with full locality, size, and condition. Looking for a particular locality or habit? Contact us and we will tell you what is in hand and what we are actively looking for.
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Fluorite Crystals
$100.00 -
Fluorite Crystals on Quartz
$150.00 -
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Fluorite on Dolomite
$375.00 -
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Green Fluorite with Quartz Crystals
$4,500.00 -
Rogerley Mine Green Fluorite
$1,800.00 -
Rogerley Mine Green Fluorite
$1,500.00 -
Rogerley Mine Green Fluorite
$300.00 -
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Spessartine with Green Fluorite
$1,750.00
