Page Updated October 2, 2008

The following is a small selection of specimens currently available for sale. I have chosen a selection of specimens that represents the major pockets we have encountered to date, including the most major pockets encountered to date. They are arranged by pocket along with a brief description of each pocket. The scale coin with all specimens is a British 2 Pence, 2.6 cm (1 inch) across, about the size of a US quarter. I have tried to get the color balance of these specimens as close to natural as possible, but fluorite is notoriously difficult to photograph properly. Color balance can also vary between different computer monitors. If anything, they will probably look even better in the flesh. They've promised me so.

We have many other specimens in inventory, including both retail pieces and wholesale flats in all size and price ranges, and would be happy to send additional photos if you don't see something here that you like. If you have specific requirements, please inquire. Before ordering, please see our terms and conditions on the "Ordering" page.

The Blue Bell Pocket

During the 2008 summer collecting season the nature of the ground changed dramatically as we worked north and east from the Jewel Box. Where-as before we had a discrete horizontal seam of fluorite that would occasionally swell out and give some plates of white-centered crystals containg a few large, perfect twins, we now encountered a large brecciated zone that resembles a collapsed pocket. Discrete layers of fluorite are gone, but mixed in with the jumble of mud and rock are some plates of smaller, but perfectly lustrous and transparent deep green twins. Many show some chips from the pocket collapse, and many came out simply as chewed up bits. The ones that have survived so far are really beautiful and remind me of the best we found in the West Cross Cut during 2002 and 2003. The pocket is named in honor of both our favorite after-hours hang-out in St. John's Chapel, and the fact that the daylight fluorescence is so strong that the fluorites turn a deep blue in direct sunlight.

The Jewel Box Pocket

Toward the end of the 2007 summer collecting season another pocket, known as "The Jewel Box" was encountered to the north of the West Cross Cut along the main tunnel. The pocket was fairly brecciated and many specimens showed some damage, but some pieces that have come out are of exceptional quality. In June of this year we reopened the mine for the summer and have so far recovered a limited number of very high quality specimens from this area. The pocket zone continues to be heavily broken and almost all specimens show at least minor abrassions. The transparency, luster, and size of the crystals so far recovered are, however, by far the best the mine has yet produced and are, perhaps, some of the best green fluorites from the region. More coming soon.

West Cross-Cut

The West Cross-Cut was started as an exploratory tunnel westward from the main tunnel just opposite the Black Sheep Pocket in August 2001, and has since proven to be our most productive area in the mine. Some very good fluorite specimens were first found here toward the end of the 2001 mining season, including clusters of lustrous, gemmy, twinned, deep green fluorite crystals to 2.5 cm, associated with corroded galena octahedra, on an iron-rich limestone matrix.

A second drift was driven westward from the main tunnel approximately 10 meters north of the first West Cross Cut in July 2002. Excellent quality fluorite specimens were found almost immediately confirming the presence of metasomatic flats on the west side of the vein in addition to those previously discovered to the east. Excavations while collecting specimens joined the two West Cross Cut drifts in a loop during August, 2002. This area was worked again through the summer of 2003 and yielded some excellent specimens.

During 2004 a northward extension, known as the Corner Pocket produced some markedly different specimens, most of which had a partial overcoating of fine-grained white crystalline quartz. A number of fluorite-covered stalactites were found here - the first since our original workings in the Black Sheep Pocket.

In 2005 we opened up a productive zone on the south margin of the West Cross Cut, which we have named the Dodgy Bugger Pocket in recognition of the unstable tunnel roof in this area. Though this slowed us down by requiring constant timbering, we recovered some good material. Most of the specimens recovered in 2006 also came from this area. Many specimens from the Dodgy Bugger are an attractive combination of large, emerald-green fluorites and octahedral galena crystals set on a white crystalline quartz background.

The 2007 summer season began with collecting at the rear of the Dodgy Bugger area, but the nature of the pocket zone quickly changed from an open area with a bad roof into a narrow tube-like cavity that we call The Rat Hole. Being narrow and tight, we no longer had the roof support problems of the previous two seasons, but the area was rather constricted and a bit of a crawl through mud and puddles of standing water to reach the face. None the less, the area was incredibly productive and has given us some of the best quality specimens we have seen in years. The character of the specimens from this area was a bit from previous years, being mostly clusters of large untwinned crystals of good form and transparency and deep green color.