JH9554 Large 4 lb Yellow Fluorescing Quartz, La Sassa, Italy

Description

Up for bid is a large specimen of yellow fluorescing quartz from La Sassa Italy. The Quartz fluoresces under all wavelengths of UV light and the fluorescent pictures were taken under Long-Wave UV. This specimen was originally embedded in a Calcite/Dolomite matrix that was etched away to expose the Quartz.
Yellow fluorescing quartz was first discovered near the hamlet of La Sassa in 1970. It was found in a Calcite / Dolomite outcrop near the town’s cemetery. At that time the only accessible material was in nodules up to 4” in diameter that had weathered out of the outcrop.
In 1970, fluorescing Quartz was unheard of so it was assumed this mineral must be Forsterite. In August of 1972 the British museum analyzed the material and confirmed that it is indeed fluorescent Quartz and pointed out how rare it is to find fluorescence in Quartz.
The road to the cemetery was widened between 1975 and 1977. This exposed much more of this material including a few larger pieces. This piece was collected at that time and stockpiled in the collector’s back yard where it remained for many decades.
The knowledge of this material was kept alive thru brief references in Manuel Robbin’s 1983 book “The Collectors Book of Fluorescent Minerals” and his 1994 book “Fluorescence, Gems and Minerals under Ultraviolet Light”.
In 2010 the stockpiled material was finally sold and brought to the United States. This sparked a renewed interest in this material. Antonello Dallegno and Guido Mazzoleni published an article on this material in the 2012 “Journal of the Fluorescent Mineral Society”. In that article they identified the possible fluorescent activators as the Uranyl ion (UO2)+2, the rare earths; Tb, Eu, Dy, Sm, Ce and organic Polycylic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.
Quartz (FL Yellow LW, MW, SW)
Location: La Sassa, Italy
Size: 6" x 5.5" x 3"
Weight: 4 lbs
Contact me if you have any questions. Be sure to check out my eBay store:
Jim's Obscure Stuff
for more fluorescent minerals and other unusual items.
Shipping
I use Fed Exp Ground for most of my domestic shipping. I only charge actual shipping costs with no extra charges for packing or shipping materials. I think I finally have combined shipping working on eBay. The automatic invoice from eBay should now have the correct shipping amount. If you see any problems with the shipping amount please let me know.