BLUE JOHN - Cut and polished - Castleton, Derbyshire

'BLUE JOHN' FLUORITE

 Cut and polished 
 
Winnats One Vein, Treak Cliff Cavern, Castleton, Derbyshire

A polished piece of banded Blue John. Polished on the front with a natural surface on the reverse.

Blue John is a variety of the mineral fluorite. It is only found in the vicinity of Treak Cliff, near Castleton in Derbyshire. It is typically banded with purple and white fluorite. Blue John has been mined for hundreds of years and made into jewelry, bowls, goblets, vases, and numerous other decorative items that are now prized throughout the world.

The origin of the name Blue John is not clear.  It is likely that it was a local name given to the stone by the Derbyshire lead miners who already knew the zinc mineral sphalerite by the nickname ‘Black Jack’. 

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