'Purple Rain' Weardale fluorite

'Purple Rain' Weardale fluoriteLocality: Purple Rain Pocket, Lady Annabella Mine, Weardale, County Durham, England Approx size: 2. 5 x 2 x 1. 5" Approx weight: 216g Sunlight will fade the color in fluorite. Keep sun exposure brief; do not display in a sun exposed location (even if it looks cool!) LOOSE crystal: one of the smaller crystals, marked in an image, has some movement. It seems wedged in place but use caution placing weight on it during handling. Weardale is among the most

Locality: Purple Rain Pocket, Lady Annabella Mine, Weardale, County Durham, England

Approx size: 2.5 x 2 x 1.5"

Approx weight: 216g

❗Sunlight will fade the color in fluorite. Keep sun exposure brief; do not display in a sun-exposed location (even if it looks cool!)

❗LOOSE crystal: one of the smaller crystals, marked in an image, has some movement. It seems wedged in place but use caution placing weight on it during handling.

Weardale is among the most renowned sources for fluorite among collectors, producing gemmy cubic crystals with Jolly-Rancher colors and strong UV reactivity. This specimen comes via UK Mining Ventures, who currently own and operate the famed Lady Annabella, Rogerly, and Diana Maria mines in Weardale.

The Purple Rain Pocket is part of the Fairy Hole Vein in the Lady Annabella mine. The find earned its name from the steady rains that accompanied the pocket's extraction, paired with the material's intense purple daylight fluorescence. Daylight fluorescence means the fluorite reacts to the UV in sunlight, taking on an other-worldly indigo glow.

Purple Rain specimens typically appear dark purple-gray under incandescent light (indoor lighting). This variety of fluorite can display good color zoning, with alternating thin bands of violet, amethyst, magenta, mauve, and light green visible at the edges. Many pieces having a green core. The alternating zones of green and purple muddle to give the material a gray appearance.

This specimen has lighter color, and a bit of clarity despite the white inclusions responsible for the crazed (crackled) pattern that radiates out from the center of each face. 

UV Reactivity: The specimen reacts with a strong light blue glow under several UV wavelengths, and is very bright when exposed to a powerful 365nm UV light. Some types of purple fluorite phosphoresce, and I did detect faint phosphorescence for several seconds after exposure to 365nm UV light. The color zoning reacts to UV, with banding apparent in both the UV and daylight fluorescence images.

It was easiest to photograph the daylight fluorescence effect in sunlight, but I find the glow appears the most intense in indirect or diffused sun—for example, enjoy your fluorite outdoors on an overcast day, or near a window indoors.