FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[John Medici]

[John Medici]

As with Pete Richards, many of my pictures are not digitalized yet, but here are a few examples that I do have. Duff quarry is the closest productive quarry to my home and the unusual amount of rain this past year kept blast areas washed for easier collecting. The quarry produces an unusual number of forms of pyrite, as Pete has mentioned, sometimes also with nice iridescence. A large percentage of the pyrite openings are filled with calcite which must be removed to expose the crystals however, and this process usually removes the iridescence if any was originally present. The Auglaize fluorite iridescence is due to hydrocarbons, as determined by John Rakovan, but I don't think anyone has studied that of the pyrites from Duff quarry. Diploid pyrite form is more common than usual at Duff quarry.

[John Medici]

A couple from Ross County, another Ohio pyrite locality. The first shown was not in our Tucson display last year. It was too wet to dig at this locality this past year.

[Darren]

Those pyrites are absolutely amazing, John - thanks for sharing!

[yowanni]

Incredible pyrites, John.
Thanks for sharing!

[Antonio Alcaide]

John, I am a lover of your Duff Quarry pyrites although I live very far from Ohio, I am afraid.

I posted a specimen with comments on the Spanish side. There we provided two links you likely know. If not, here you have:

https://vasichkominerals.com/Dufflatest.html
(link normalized by FMF)

and Pete's useful description

https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=1071

From my point of view, you are a lucky man living close to those amazing crystals (well, here in Spain we have Navajun, Ambasaguas or Carratraca as well).

Best regards

[Tobi]

https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/files/0378302_r6_e473_162.jpg

... no comment ;-)

[GneissWare]

Tobi, Tobi...Oh! Sie haben schmutzige Gedanken. ;=))

[NYFineMineralExchange]

So much amazing stuff in here, thanks for sharing. That sphalerite in fluorite ( https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/files/sphalerite_in_fluorite_1d_459.jpg ) was the most exquisite specimen I have seen in awhile!!!

[Jordi Fabre]

Two more images. Both coming from the Spanish FMF Gallery.

The Calcite is from geoalfon and the Sphalerite is from Marc C

[Bob Harman]

From my earlier days when I regularly went to Ohio quarries on field trips. August 2008.

[Bob Harman]

Many of the quarries in the Findlay Arch area of Northwest Ohio produce celestine. The habits are quite varied between Lime City Quarry, Sylvania Quarry and this example from the White Rock Quarry in Clay Center Ohio and also much different than the quarries of Southeast Michigan and Indiana. One of the more common crystal habits are these white bladed crystals such as these found about 2005 in the White Rock Quarry in Clay Center Ohio.
What makes this example quite remarkable are the multiple intact sprays with nearly all undamaged and terminated delicately bladed crystals.
I rarely touch this specimen as it is quite delicate so it was photographed in place on the display shelf.

[Bob Harman]

About 10 years ago workers in the White Rock Quarry in Clay Center, Ottawa County, Ohio blasted into a very large void chock full of hi quality rootbeer colored fluorite cubes and much interspersed celestine. Some of the smaller fluorite cubes were iridescent while the larger cubes were not.
Shortly after this event, I acquired a number of differing examples. This is one example of smaller iridescent cubes and much intermixed bladed celestine..

[Jamison Brizendine]

Very nice example Bob!

Here are three different examples of the same mineral combinations. Two were collected in the 1950s, while the first example was one of my very first mineral purchases.

[Bob Harman]

In about 2007 blasting in the White Rock Quarry, Clay Center Ohio, opened a very large void filled with hi quality fluorites, celestine, and some accompanying calcite. These were on matrix and in various combinations. A local collector/dealer had a fortuitous agreement with the quarry management ostensibly to "donate rocks to local school corporations for study" and, indeed, did donate much of the lower end material to local school corporations for educational purposes. But the better and higher end material......and there was a lot of it!......was kept for her collection and for sale.
The dealer had regularly come to our regional show so, at our next show, after this great find, everyone was lined up at her tables ready to buy whatever she had and whatever they could afford. It sold like hot cakes for pennies on today's dollar. Here is one of the larger pieces that I acquired. Sadly, the dealer unexpectedly passed a couple of years ago. Her personal specimens have now been disbursed with no more to come from the quarry based upon her original agreement.