Yttrocerite (rare)

Item Description

The piece comes to us from an old East Coast collection, with a label from the legendary mineral dealer, Hugh A. Ford. Since the label has Ford's New York address it dates to 1946-1957. There is also another smaller hand-written label from an unknown collection. Yttrocerite is a synonym for Yttrofluorite, which are both yttrium-rich varieties of Fluorite. This piece features a patch of rich purple patch of what is thought to be Yttrocerite sitting on matrix. It should be noted that many reports of purple Yttrocerite have turned out to be simply purple Fluorite, with no appreciable amount of yttrium. I can't say for sure if this piece has any of the rare-earth element in it.