Gaspeite: The Fluorescent Pretender
I’ve known more than one collector who has been enticed by the brilliant blue/green fluorescence of the mineral gaspeite. In fact, under the light of a Convoy S2+ long wave flashlight, this material can produce one of the brightest fluorescent responses of any...
The “Feldspar Effect”: Is This Really a Fluorescent Mineral?
There is something I call the "feldspar effect". When people first start collecting fluorescent minerals in the field they usually are amazed at the typical fluorescence of your average feldspar. As they gain experience and see more fluorescent minerals they realize...
Synthetic Fluorescent Halite
This article was originally published by Stefano Buzzoni on Nature's Rainbow.To produce crystals at home is an interesting experiment and if they fluoresce, could be “magic”. Furthermore, it’s easy and cheap. The only ingredient you have to use in big quantity is...
Gem Tabular Ruby Cluster: An Unique Crystal Habit
Most ruby specimens are either high-priced single/group of crystals on a marble matrix, or cheap massive habit rough from India. Not so here. This cluster of hundreds (or thousands) of intersecting crystals screams color and brightness, and has a delicate, not seen...
Pyromorphite and Plumbogummite – A Midwave Glow
There's been some cornfusion about the fluorescence of pyromorphite lately in the Fluorescent Minerals Facebook Group. I'll try and summarize, but invite others to wikify. For our purposes the nicest pyromorphite comes from the Bunker Hill Mine, Kellogg, Idaho, from...
Carpathite Crystals from San Benito Co., California, USA
Rick Kennedy surprised most folks in the FMS Fluorescent Mineral Group (FB) by posting pics of this magnificent cluster of carpathite crystals. Carpathite (karpatite) is a very rare hydrocarbon mineral first described in 1955. In California it appears as a low...
Fluorescent, Phosphorescent and Thermoluminescent Fluorite from the Globe Mine (Rio Arriba)
This article was originally published by Stefano Buzzoni on Nature's Rainbow.This kind of fluorite was well described by Robbins (1984). “...This material is opaque, and greenish or gray in daylight. Under long wave, the fluorescence is violet. Under short wave, the...
Life Saver Triboluminescence
Some comments from our Facebook Group: JB: Worth noting: if you want to try this at home, they have to be Wint-o-green lifesavers, not pep-o-mint. The oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) is fluorescent, and the sugar breaking produces UV light, causing the methyl...
Cuspidine under Longwave UV
We have a bunch of folks attending the Franklin "SuperDigg" this April (2017). Many of them are carrying the new Convoy 365nm LW flashlight (see the GlowNotes article on this light) so I thought it would be nice to give folks an idea of what many of the minerals they...
Esperite under Longwave UV
We have a bunch of folks attending the Franklin "SuperDigg" this April (2017). Many of them are carrying the new Convoy 365nm LW flashlight (see the GlowNotes article on this light) so I thought it would be nice to give folks an idea of what many of the minerals they...