Calcite

specimen number:
2063286

location:
Gillfoot Park & Helder Mines, Egremont, Copeland, Cumbria, England, UK

description:
Wonderful miniature from this classic old locality. Four absolute gem quality colorless glassy crystals of calcite, the tallest 3.0 cm in height coming off a small amount of matrix. The smallest crystals of the far left of the cluster is cleaved on the termination, all of the other crystals are sharp and absolutely perfect. Complete all around. The specimen comes with a previous label from the collection of Ray DeMark.

Located in the Egremont district of West Cumbria, England, the Gillfoot Park and Helder mines were developed to exploit extensive high-grade iron ore deposits hosted within Carboniferous limestone formations. Sunk during the late nineteenth century by companies such as the Gillfoot Park Mining Company, these underground operations extracted massive hematite bodies formed by mineralizing solutions moving through fault lines and cavity systems. Beyond their industrial output of rich iron ore, the mines became famous among mineralogists for yielding world-class collector specimens, particularly lustrous specular hematite, classic botryoidal kidney ore, transparent calcite crystal groups featuring characteristic butterfly twinning, and pale fluorite.

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