Celestine

specimen number:
2013639

location:
Pugh Quarry, Custar, Ohio, USA

description:

Semi lustrous large blocky bluish gray crystals of Celestine to 3.0 cm in size on matrix. This is in excellent condition. These are exceptionally large crystals for the species at this locality. The crystals are very aesthetically placed upon the matrix.

The Pugh Quarry, located in Milton Township near Custar and Weston in Wood County, Ohio, United States, is an important industrial open-pit aggregate operation famously recognized as one of the premier mineral collecting localities in the Midwest. Geologically, this quarry cuts into the Middle Devonian-age Detroit River Group limestone and dolostone strata, where ancient structural fracturing and low-temperature hydrothermal fluid activity formed open cavities and solution vugs. These pockets allowed for the spectacular crystallization of highly aesthetic mineral specimens, most notably large amber-colored dogtooth calcite crystals, pale blue celestine blades, barite, iridescent marcasite, sphalerite, pyrite, and highly phosphorescent brown root-beer fluorite cubes with hydrocarbon inclusions. Historically, industrial quarrying began at the site in the mid-twentieth century to extract crushed stone and agricultural lime, and the property later came under the long-term ownership and operation of the France Stone Company. During its peak commercial operations from the 1960s through the 1990s, the quarry management frequently permitted organized mineralogical clubs and academic researchers to enter the pits, resulting in thousands of world-class specimens being preserved in private and museum collections. Through 2026, while the quarry remains a heavily secured, active commercial aggregate operation owned by corporate successors, liability restrictions and deep active mining below the primary mineralized zones have completely halted field collecting, leaving the site as a significant historical benchmark for studying Mississippi Valley-type mineralization within the Paleozoic carbonate rocks of northwestern Ohio.

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