Fluorite with Sphalerite

specimen number:
9892179

location:
Annabel Lee Mine, Hardin Co., Illinois, USA

description:
Attractive mostly gemmy lustrous purple crystals of fluorite to 1.5 cm on edge across the top of a matrix covered with glistening small black crystals of sphalerite. Very slight micro-cleaving on one crystal corner, this still in good condition. Attractive combination piece.

The Annabel Lee Mine, located in the Harris Creek sub-district of Hardin County within the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district, operated as a major underground facility during the latter half of the twentieth century before eventually closing alongside the broader regional decline of domestic fluorspar mining. Geologically, the deposit sits within Mississippi-aged sedimentary strata, where fluorite, sphalerite, barite, and calcite mineralization filled bedding-replacement deposits, brecciated zones, and open cavities created by hydrothermal solutions reacting with host limestones. Mineralogically, the mine became celebrated by collectors worldwide for yielding exceptional specimens of deep purple to blue fluorite crystals, often associated with sharp calcite, barite, and sphalerite, occasionally featuring distinct petroleum inclusions.

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