Color Change Scheelite and Fluorite, Xiang Fang Lin Mine, China

Scheelite is one of the brightest fluorescent minerals around and somewhat widespread. In years gone by, miner would head out into the hills looking for bright scheelite rocks that were indicative of important tungsten ore. What's unusual about this specimen, is the color change in midwave--a deep red, with some areas a much brighter red.

While this specimen is labeled as from the Xiang Fang Lin Mine, it's from an older collection and the mine is probably now known as the Dongshan Mine, one that is known for its color changing scheelite.

Anyway, though we're relatively new to collecting, we've focused a good bit on Chinese material, and this is probably the best example we've seen of the material. Fortunately, we stumbled upon it at a local show. It's about 3.5 by 3 inches, and weighs in at 407 grams.