Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Le Beix, Puy-de-Dôme, France
WEIGHT : 107 carats

This cut stone is a fluorite. It is cut in an isosceles triangle form. It weighs 150 carats and has a great sky blue colour.

The initial fluorite from which the sample cutting comes, was found in Le Beix mine, Puy-de-Dôme, in France. This cut specimen was offered to the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle by the association "les Amis de la Minéralogie".

It is currently exposed in the Treasure Room, within the Gallery of Mineralogy of the Muséum.

Photography: A. Dahmane / Photo Saint-Hilaire,
© MNHN.

SPECIE : Fluorite

HISTORY : Name derived from Latin "fluere" meaning flowing, in reference to its melting behavior

Species first described in 1529 by Agricola Georgius (1494-1555), German mineralogist

Type-locality: undefined because species already known by the Ancients
ANCIENT NAME : Spatum vitreum, calx fluorata, spath fluor

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ca F2
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Cubic
COLOR : Colourless, white, blue, green, yellow, violet, pink
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to translucent
LUSTER : Vitreous
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Well-formed crystals, cubic-shaped, octahedrally-shaped
HARDNESS : 4
DENSITY : 3,18

CHEMICAL CLASS : III - Halogénures
GROUP : Fluorite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 3/A.08-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 3.AB.25

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MNHN N°203.192

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