Celestine with Calcite

specimen number:
2102334

location:
Stoneco Quarry, Lime City, Ohio, USA

description:
Classic combination piece for this well-known Ohio locality with gemmy light blue lustrous tabular crystals of Celestine measuring to 2.0 cm in size across the top of matrix with crystallized calcite. This is in good condition.

The Stoneco Lime City quarry, situated in Perrysburg Township within Wood County, Ohio, United States, is a classic Midwestern mineral locality highly celebrated for producing exceptional combination specimens of pale blue to snowy-white celestine alongside sharply formed, honey-yellow to tan dogtooth calcite crystals. Geologically, this large commercial aggregate excavation cuts through thick sedimentary sequences of the Silurian-age Lockport Dolomite and Greenfield Dolomite formations. Within these dense carbonate strata, ancient regional dissolution events and decaying prehistoric algal mounds created massive, cavernous open pockets, frequently called caves by collectors, where circulating strontium-bearing groundwater slowly precipitated tabular celestine crystal groups and beautifully contrasting, highly fluorescent scalenohedral calcite groupings. Historically, organized open-cast industrial quarrying at the site began under the Maumee Stone Company before expanding significantly under Stoneco Incorporated during the mid-to-late twentieth century, serving as a highly popular destination for institutional field trips and independent mineral clubs throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Following corporate transitions, including acquisition by Oldcastle Materials and integration into the Shelly Company, active commercial operations at the main mineral-producing cuts wound down, leading to the permanent cessation of collector access and the intentional flooding of the deep pits beginning in 2010.

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