BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL Princess Pat Mine Specimen!

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Big and Beautiful Old Stock Princess Pat Mine Fl uo res ce nt Specimen! Colors that rival the Greenland fluorescent specimens! Minerals: Scheelite: CaWO 4 Hyalite Opal: SiO 2 â^(tm) n H2 O (up to 8-10% water) Calcite: CaCO 3 Caliche (secondary carbonates) Secondary carbonates/silicates Colors: Scheelite: bright bluish-white Hyalite Opal: bright to intense yellowish-green Caliche: bright light orange Calcite: deep red Secondary carbonates/silicates: deep forest green Size: 11" x 7" x 3" Weight: 6 lbs., 11 oz. (3.05 kg) Note: All rocks were photographed using a 36-watt Shortwave Ultraviolet light and are the closest representations I could get. In real life, the contrast between colors and with the non-fluorescing matrix will be greater, the hyalite opal will be even MORE shockingly bright yellow-green, and red colors will be more pronounced. The greater contrast in seeing a specimen live is due to the camera recording the whitish clouding effects of phosphorescence -- which nearly all of these specimens have, to varying degrees -- that the human eye sees only after the UV light source is removed. In other words, every specimen will be more colorful, more beautiful, and more amazing than can be recorded with a camera. Weighing in at nearly 6-3/4 pounds, this nice museum specimen from the Princess Pat Mine is large but worth the room it'll take up in your collection. The dazzling bluish-white scheelite and pretty pastel orange from caliche deposits are enlivened by bright splashes of bright yellow-green hyalite opal and dark rich forest green fluorescence from secondary carbonates and silicates. Deep red from calcite adds a nice contrasting color. About the Princess Pat Mine The fluorescent minerals from the Princess Pat Mine in the Mojave Desert north of Adelanto, California, have long been regarded as some of the most beautiful fluorescent specimens in the country, if not the world, at times rivaling the Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey, specimens and the beautiful Ilimaussaq, Greenland rocks for color and variety. Sadly, t are very few specimens of any quality remaining at the mine, due to long-ago commercial extraction and decades of specimen collecting by rockhounds. The Princess Pat was really more of a prospect than a mine. Developed during the desperate rush for scheelite (tungsten ore) during World War II, when the Japanese cut off AmericaÂ's primary sources in China, the Princess Pat ceased production in the mid-1950s but gained a reputation over the years as a source of beautiful fluorescent minerals. I only learned about the Princess Pat a couple of years ago, when my interest in fluorescent minerals was first piqued, and the best samples have long since been collected. Recently, however, I came across a sizeable amount of OLD STOCK Princess Pat specimens, examples of the finest that the prospect had to offer. Some will be maintained as part of a traveling natural history museum for which I am in the process of forming and obtaining 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. The remainder I will be offering on eBay. About The Lake Arrowhead Natural History Museum The major purpose of the Lake Arrowhead Natural History Museum is to bring the beauty and wonder of rocks, minerals, and fossils to inner-city school kids. Despite being disabled, I used to take my extensive collection to schools in San Bernardino, CA, until the tragic fire in the San Bernardino Mountains in October, 2003, destroyed my home, all of my kids' and my possessions, and my entire collection of rocks and minerals. Since then, I have been trying to recreate a presentable collection and to gather samples of interesting rocks -- local actinolite is a favorite -- to give to each and every kid in attendance at the assemblies. In less than 90 minutes, I teach them all about elements, minerals, rocks, fluorescent and ... read more

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