FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Robert Seitz]

There are (at least) two fluorite museums in the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District:

Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum, Marion Kentucky
https://www.clementmineralmuseum.org/
(link normalized by FMF)

American Fluorite Museum, Rosiclare, IL


It’s easy and worthwhile to visit both in a single day. They are a short distance apart (60 min, 27 miles), separated by road and a ferry ride across the Ohio River. The Clements Museum has best displays of the two.

The former had a good selection of specimens for sale in museum shop. The latter had a much more limited selection in museum shop but good specimens were available in the local community.

I will post pictures from both of the museums in separate threads and acquired specimens under my collection section.

[Mike Chontofalsky]

Very nice pictures. My wife and I had a very nice tour of the museum today. If you have the opportunity to visit this fine Museum please support it any way you can. Not surprising they have a shoe string budget.

[Robert Seitz]

Good point about the shoestring budget for many of these museums. It was subject in all the small ones visited recently. Some have good shops to assist. The specimens for sale in Clements Museum were great & I post some pictures of them. The American Fluorite Museum (Rosiclare) appears to be really struggling now as shown in newspaper articles this year.

I attach some more pictures of specimens.

[Bob Carnein]

In 1983, shortly after Ben Clement's death, his son Ed was marketing the collection now housed in the Clement Museum for sale. I believe the price was $10,000, but that may be wishful thinking on my part. Hearing that he also had some Franklin, NJ material for sale, I went to visit Ed in Kentucky and bought a few nice fluorescents and an odd piece of colorless, transparent fluorite and possible holdenite coating ore from Sterling Hill. Luckily, I didn't have $10K at the time, and most collectors didn't value US fluorite nearly as highly as they do now. This probably saved the collection from being dispersed. I still treasure and display the pieces I bought, and remember Ed Clement as a fine gentleman devoted to his father's memory.

[Bob Harman]

I have been to both museums twice. They are small, but nice and worth seeing especially because they are in, and part of, the Illinois - Kentucky fluorspar district. If you go, starting with either one, take the auto ferry across the Ohio River to see the other. The Ben Clement museum sponsors a dig at the Kentucky Eureka Prospect; I think it is in October. You will find middling quality pieces on that dig. I field collected on the Illinois side in 1998 thru about 2004. At that time you could still find nice middling quality stuff in the dumps and lining the parking lots of the Harris Creek district, North of Cave-in-Rock, Il.
See my pix collecting there in about 2004.

While the museum specimens are quite nice in both places, few examples are truly world class. One interesting note that I made was that the Kentucky fluorite, making up the majority of the Clement Museum examples was mostly the common dark purple cubes type with few examples of other colors or habits.
Ross Lillie was the Ozark-Mahoning company geologist in the last years of operation of the Harris Creek District in Illinois and amassed a world class collection from the miners. If his collection had been donated or sold as a lot to either museum it would have outclassed their specimens by a lot, but his collection was largely broken up and sold off. BOB

[Robert Seitz]

A few more specimens.

[Kelvin Hu]

Seems very few deep blue flourite produced in IL?!

[Jesse Fisher]

The Minerva #1 mine was famous for blue fluorite and produced some very nice specimens in the 1980s and early 1990s. I would call the color "sky-blue" rather than "deep blue," however.

[Bob Harman]

As I previously noted, the Kentucky fluorite deposits were about 90% common dark purple cubes. The remaining small percentage were shades of purple and yellow in color.

The Illinois fluorite deposits, especially the Cave-in-Rock area including the Harris Creek District's 3 mines were quite variable in color. Shades of purple, blue, lavender, and several shades of yellow along with multiple colors in many cubes and specimens all were found. In general, the Illinois specimens were much more colorful than the Kentucky examples.

It also should be noted that there is still much ore in the ground. The mining rights are still owned by several local companies. If fluorite and ore prices again rise, mining might resume. One or two collector specimen mining concerns have, over the last few years or so, expressed interest in specimen mining in the district. The rising high prices for better collector specimens has spurred interest in this, but if many more collector specimens were to be found, high end prices might take a hit. BOB

[Robert Seitz]

More specimen, other pictures.

Re more ore in the ground and specimens. One of the companies mining for aggregate kin the area is stripping above one of the mines. This stripping apparently continues down into remaining pillars for fluorite mines and may expose some areas for collecting. They apparently have some specimens for sale, however, I did not have time to investigate further into quality or availability.

[Robert Seitz]

A few more specimens & that's it for my recent trip pictures of this museum.

[k-m.minerals]

Just recently took a trip to the Ben E. Clement museum! I wanted to include some of the photos I got while we were there. These were all shot through the case with only the lighting in the case available, and I'll include a shot of what the original photos would've looked like. It was an awesome experience to see so much high-quality fluorite in one spot! Also good practice for creating and editing studio-like photos for specimens! I hope you enjoy these pieces & photos.

[Robert Seitz]

k-m.minerals,

Since you recently visited, is the fluorite museum in Rosiclare still open?

[k-m.minerals]

Sadly, I don't believe so. It's my understanding that they've been broken into twice now, and set on fire both times as well. The most recent incident (which had to be a few years back) took too much of a toll on the museum. What wasn't stolen was most likely damaged by the fire. I don't think they've been open since :(

It's disheartening to see people be so careless with such a core piece of history for the area. Those specimens were irreplaceable.

[k-m.minerals]

Wanted to add some more photos, including some from the "WOW" room, which displays fluorite specimens that are backlit to show off color, zoning, and formation.