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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 15, 2021 17:23 Post subject: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Hello everybody, I am Jean Suffert a modest mineral collector. I started to collect minerals in the 60s with my father (totally blind), mainly in the Alsace/Vosges region of our country that is located in the east of France along the German border. Alsace also produces wonderful white wines that are well known around the world. We found some nice minerals in the Vosges, spending almost all of our weekends in the St Marie aux Mines district. At the time there were no regulations to open, enter, and discover nice samples in the most prestigious St. Marie aux Mines galleries. Here are some specimens from our discoveries. The most exciting one was the opening of a pocket containing some of the most colorful fluorite. It was extremely difficult to extract these samples since the gangue was pure quartz. But eventually we did it and here are presented some of the few specimens that were extracted from this exceptional find. Only 20 to 30 specimens are known around the world. The first discoveries of other specimens were done in 1922 when the fluorite mine was still active. Enjoy.
Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
Locality: | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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Dimensions: | 22 x 8 x 8 cm |
Description: |
This deep blue specimen is 22 cm long, and 8 cm wide at its greatest width. The largest crystal is 4 X 4 cm, on one side of the "pebble" it is only fluorite and on the other side a few partially iron oxide colored quartz crystals under the blue fluorite but not necessarily too intense yellow. It was mined in 1974 just after the previous sample and I still remember the instant I pulled it out of its geode after unhooking it without really knowing what was on the back. My father present, a great blind collector, was the second person to be able to touch it to realize the size and number of perfectly crystallized cubes. It was a very emotional moment. |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 15, 2021 17:23 Post subject: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Discovered in 1974 in the Vosges mountains in Alsace (France) this specimen and others from the same pocket are exceptionally totally deep blue color.
Mineral: | Fluorite |
Locality: | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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Dimensions: | 10 X 7 cm |
Description: |
Biggest cube is 4.5 X 4.5 cm, extracted from a pocket located in the Moritz II mine in the small village of Sewen in the Doller Valley River. |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 15, 2021 19:33 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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blue fluorite from Sewen, Moritz II Mine, Vosges Alsace
Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
Locality: | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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Dimensions: | 22 x 8 x 8 cm |
Description: |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 15, 2021 19:33 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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fluorite from Sewen, Moritz II Mine
Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
Locality: | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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Dimensions: | 22 x 8 x 8 cm |
Description: |
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Birdbrain59
Joined: 07 Feb 2019
Posts: 21
Location: Oregon
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Posted: Feb 15, 2021 19:33 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Very cool!
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 04:24 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Thank you very much
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Tobi
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 4112
Location: Germany
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 06:33 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Hello Jean,
what a wonderful fluorite specimen, incredible colour!!!
I hope you show us more from your collection, regards
Tobi
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Carles Millan
Site Admin
Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 1474
Location: Catalonia
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 06:39 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Very nice color!
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LeadMineGal
Joined: 18 Dec 2012
Posts: 31
Location: Westhampton, MA
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 10:46 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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What a beautiful blue color! I love this!
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Philippe Durand
Joined: 10 May 2016
Posts: 628
Location: Normandie
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 13:47 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Thank you for your note. All the french collectors of fluorite know this place in a small Vosges valley. Very confidential place who produced some of the most blue fluorite in France with also Puy St Gulmier. The MHNP in Paris try to buy one specimen that is outstanding (but not mine). The blue color is totally natural and absolutely stable in presence of light.
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 18:18 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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A rose of axinite from Bourg d'Oisan in the French Alps
Mineral: | Axinite-(Fe), Quartz |
Locality: | Rampe des Commères, Le Bourg d'Oisans, Grenoble, Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France | |
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Dimensions: | 8 x 8 cm |
Description: |
this rose-like specimen has been discovered in the Rampe des Commère around Bourg d'Oisans in the Alpes. The biggest cristal is 4 x 4 cm. The sample is totally crystallized in all faces |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 18:21 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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A rose of axinite from Bourg d'Oisans
Mineral: | Axinite-(Fe), Quartz |
Locality: | Rampe des Commères, Le Bourg d'Oisans, Grenoble, Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France | |
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Dimensions: | 8 x 8 cm |
Description: |
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Don Lum
Joined: 03 Sep 2012
Posts: 2862
Location: Arkansas
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 18:38 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Welcome to the FMF, Jean.
_________________ hogwild |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 16, 2021 18:43 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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thank you Don
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 17, 2021 04:32 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Hi Jordi, I had some difficulties at the beginning, but now I understand how it works. Thank you very much.
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Tobi
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 4112
Location: Germany
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Posted: Feb 17, 2021 04:39 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Jean Suffert wrote: | Fluorite, Quartz
Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France
Dimensions: 22 x 8 x 8 cm
Description:
This deep blue specimen is 22 cm long, and 8 cm wide at its greatest width. The largest crystal is 4 X 4 cm, on one side of the "pebble" it is only fluorite and on the other side a few partially iron oxide colored quartz crystals under the blue fluorite but not necessarily too intense yellow. It was mined in 1974 just after the previous sample and I still remember the instant I pulled it out of its geode after unhooking it without really knowing what was on the back. My father present, a great blind collector, was the second person to be able to touch it to realize the size and number of perfectly crystallized cubes. It was a very emotional moment. | Hi Jean, after 30 years as a mineral collector with a particular love for fluorite, your 22 cm deep blue fluorite is one of the most beautiful mineral specimens I have ever seen. An incredibly beautiful thing, I could look for hours at this enchanting specimen!
Thanks for sharing this surreal fluorite, regards
Tobi
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 17, 2021 06:29 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Thank you Tobi for your kind words. Yes I am quite happy to have the chance to discover such a rare blue fluorite. At this time I didn't know that this kind of blue color was not very common for fluorite and often, for some specimens from the Massif Central (France), very unstable in presence of light. Have a nice day. Yours
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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Posted: Feb 17, 2021 12:54 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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One of the biggest peace that was extracted from the Moritz II mine in Sewen in 1974
Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
Locality: | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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Dimensions: | 26 X 18 X 18 cm |
Description: |
BLUE STORY
Hello, in an article* published in 2016 by Alain Martaud in Rocks and Minerals, this one said: “In the 1920s, the Moritz II mine was briefly worked for fluorite but proved uneconomic and was abandoned. A few specimens of intense blue cubes to 4 cm on ferruginous quartz exist. In 1974 some local amateurs braved entry to the old workings and found a good pocket before being interrupted by dangerous flooding. Some of the specimens recovered are of top quality, but they are very few, and most collectors have never even seen one. From the quality of the specimens this may be considered a world-class site” *Alain Martaud (2016) Blue Fluorite from France, Rocks & Minerals, 91:3, 212-233, DOI: 10.1080/00357529.2016.1138424. To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00357529.2016.1138424 This third sample from the Moritz II mine in Sewen (Alsace, Vosges) was extracted just after the previous one published in FMF recently. In the fluorite vein, the geode greatly enlarged revealing an incredible landscape of dark blue crystals. The difficulty was to extract it from an extremely tough quartz matrix without blowing up the cubes. All of the quartz crystals were coated with iron oxide, more on the ones at the base of the geode than on the ceiling. After 2 days of work, drilling the quartz with an electro-pneumatic drill with drills of 80 cm and 20 mm in diameter, we came to the end of this fluorite without too much breakage. It is 26 cm high, 8.1 kg and the fluorite part 16x16x16 placed on quartz crystals colored by a thin layer of iron oxide. The whole base is in quartz. Unfortunately, the larger crystal, which was damaged during extraction, has a 5.7 cm edge. Almost at the same time, another exceptional piece was extracted which consisted of a plate approximately 25x25 cm covered with blue fluorite cubes on both sides making several cm edges and which was attributed to my team-mate. Today I have no idea where it is and it will be very difficult to find out as his ex-owner has been deceased for a few years. The other surprise of the day was the discovery of another exceptional piece. Unfortunately, I will not be able to show it to you because between the two weekends, that of its discovery and that of its extraction, it had disappeared. I was to return to Strasbourg on the Monday when I was a student. It was discovered following the extraction of the sample presented today. Following its removal, I bent over the geode to see the rest: extraordinary !! A small mound of bright yellow colored quartz about twenty cm in diameter was topped by several interlocking multi-center intense blue cubes, the largest of which must have been at least 6 cm ridge. It was a late Sunday night, we were all very tired from a long and energy consuming weekend and decided to come back the following Saturday to extract the wonder. Evil took us, the following Saturday at 9am, the geode was empty! Nothing more than the base of crystallized quartz. We were me, my father, my teammate, and a younger accompanying us, apparently totally devastated. Sewen’s adventure ended there.
25 years later I have learned the hard and ruthless truth. I was 20 in 1974 and certainly a little naive. My "friend", co-teammate, RS (God bless his soul, he's no longer of this world), had returned with the young man to extract in solo the piece in question without telling us a word about it. And we who thought that this beautiful sample had been destroyed. In fact, it still exists, many know it and its current owner is a French mineralogist well known to many of us. When you discover such beauty, her exact and intact photo remains etched in your memory for life. I do not know the exact route that this sample has taken during all its years, it has passed into the hands of great collectors of fluorite, but it has every chance of ending its life one day in a large museum!! Fortunately, it will remain in the heritage of French minerals in good place.
It just goes to show that you should never put off until tomorrow what you can do the same day. A little story from the past remembered with great serenity. The best for 2021 to all “pebbles”, it should be better than the one that just passed away. PS: Honnestly, the blue color of the sample changes a little bit depending on the color of the background when we go from black to white on the shelves in my collection. |
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Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
Locality: | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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Dimensions: | 26 X 18 X 18 cm |
Description: |
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13244 Time(s) |
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Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
Locality: | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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Dimensions: | 26 X 18 X 18 cm |
Description: |
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13247 Time(s) |
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Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
Locality: | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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Dimensions: | 26 X 18 X 18 cm |
Description: |
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