Fluorite (from Kentucky) (ex Al Kidwell Collection)

Item Description

An uncommon Fluorite specimen from near Marion in far western Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from the famous Fluorite producing Hardin County in Southern Illinois. Now this piece is labeled as coming from the "Frazier Babb Mine", and I can't find an exact listing for that specific mine, so if anybody out there has some information as to the origin of this specimen, or what the "Frazier Babb Mine" could mean, please let us know. With that said, this piece is a beautiful display quality specimen, that is distinctly different from anything you'll see from Southern Illinois due to the fact that it has associated Quartz, which is almost never seen from Hardin County. This piece hosts a predominant, sharp, lustrous gemmy, purple and white/colorless "phantom" cubic crystal of Fluorite with associated bi-pyramidal crystals of white translucent Quartz measuring up to 2.8 cm. Overall, the piece is in good condition, with no major damage on the front/display side, but it is contacted on the back/bottom where it was detached from the pocket wall. If you collect worldwide Fluorites, minerals of Kentucky or just uncommon locality specimens, don't pass this one up, we may never have another like it, and it certainly dates many several decades. From the worldwide mineral collection of Albert (Al) Lewis Kidwell (January 1, 1919 - August 16, 2008). Al was a well-known mineral collector and research geologist with Carter Oil Company and later Exxon Oil Company in Houston, Texas. The phosphate species Kidwellite was named in his honor in 1974.