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Fluorite Spheres, Etc.
The name fluorite comes from the Latin fluere which means �to flow.� This name comes
from the fact that fluorite melts easily. Fluorite is the natural crystalline form of calcium fluoride (CaF2). It is a transparent
to translucent, glassy mineral. When pure fluorite is crystal clear, however flourite can show many different colors depending
on tiny amounts of other elements taking the place of the calcium in the molecular structure. Sometimes a single crystal may
have bands of several colors. Fluorite often forms beautiful cube-shaped crystals. The most important fluorite deposits
in the United States are found at Rosiclare and Cave-in-Rock in southern Illinois.
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Yellow fluorite from near Cave-in-Rock, Il. I went down to southern Illinois on a fishing trip a few years back
and I talked my fishing buddies into going rockhounding with me and we found a bunch of this yellow fluorite on a road leading
into an old mine that was posted no trespassing. We didn't go in any farther, but we were able to collect about four
pounds of material in a few minutes time. Unfortunately, I only kept about six pieces because the other guys got real
excited over it and I let them have most of it. It was worth giving it all up to start two more people on rockhounding!
Approx. size: 26x24x11 Weight: 13.8 grams
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Free-form cut from minty green material from Mexico. Approx. size: 23x23x8 Weight: 9.6 grams
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Beautiful blue and green piece cut from Mexican material. Approx. size: 38x27x9 Weight: 10.3 grams
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Polished octahedron of light blue banded material from southern Illinois. It came out really grey in the picture,
but the color is still very light. Approx. size: 21x15x15 Weight: 7 grams
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Light blue polished octahedron with a fracture plane running through on one side, so I've discounted it.
Has a nice rainbow along one edge of the fracture, and a little bit of included pyrite too. This is material from
southern Illinois, but I couldn't be more specific than the Cave-in-Rock area. Approx. size:20x14x14 Weight: 6.3
grams
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Nice piece of free-form polished material with blue, purple and white banding. Has a very cool "crackly" appearance.
Approx. size: 27x19x16 Weight: 14.6 grams
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Very nice purple material that I collected in southern Illinois near Cave-in-Rock back in the 80s. Approx. size:
47x33x28 Weight: 49.9 grams
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I found one more polished octahedron of southern Illinois material! This is a very pretty light purple with some
nice lines running through it. Approx. size: 22x18x18 Weight: 10.6 grams
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Beautiful minty green with a band of bluishness through the center that really didn't come out well in the photos.
Approx. size: 32x23x16 Weight: 17.8 grams
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