Witherite

specimen number:
1052445

location:
Alston Moor, Cumbria, England, UK

description:
Colorless crystals of witherite across the top of matrix. In good condition. The specimen comes with an antique label as shown at the end of the video and dates to the very early 20th century if not earlier. Originally acquired through American dealer Lazard Cahn in 1913. Brightly fluorescent.

Alston Moor in Cumbria, England, is a historic mining district that was worked for several centuries, with major activity during the 18th and 19th centuries for lead from hydrothermal veins in Carboniferous limestone. The area became one of the most important lead producing regions in Britain. In the oxidized zones of these deposits, a variety of secondary minerals formed. Witherite, a barium carbonate mineral, occurs at Alston Moor as white to gray crystals and masses, and specimens from this locality are considered among the finest known for the species.

Lazard Cahn was a prominent American mineral dealer active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who played an important role in supplying mineral specimens to collectors and institutions. Based in Philadelphia, he handled material from many classic localities and is well known for his distinctive specimen labels. Cahn was influential in the early mineral trade in the United States.

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