Corsi Collection of Decorative Stones

| return to catalogue
view of stone 540

Corsi 540, approx. 145 x 73 x 40 mm, © Oxford University Museum of Natural History

OUMNH Number: 540  
Name and quarry location: Fluorite, Blue John, from Derbyshire, England  
Geological description: Hydrothermal vein deposit of fluorite. The narrow purple-blue colour zone indicates it is the Blue John variety.  
Comments: This specimen was given to Corsi by the 6th Duke of Devonshire following the Duke's visit to see Corsi's collection in 1824. Blue John, of which nos. 541 and 543 are particularly fine examples, was first discovered at Castleton around 1700, and was mined as an ornamental stone from around 1750 onwards. Fluorite approaching the colour-banding of Blue John has been found in the areas of Crich and Milltown, according to Ford (1993), and so Corsi’s ‘altro dello stesso luogo’ may refer either to Crich (like no. 539) or just to Derbyshire.  
References: Ford (2000); Price (2007) 266; Webster (1994) 337-341  
Further information:
 


Corsi's classification: Class 2. Fluorspars  
Corsi's text: 133.3 Altro dello stesso luogo [Spato di Darbyshire]  

Full entry in English

| return to catalogue
Enter some search terms
Show results as:

search tips

Searches the database for all stone records containing the words you enter. To search for a text string, put it between quotation marks. To search for stone records that don't contain a word, put a minus sign in front of it.

For example, entering: granite "coarse-grained" -Egypt will find all the coarse-grained granites that do not come from Egypt.

Terms of three characters or less have not been indexed.

Funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Oxford University Museum of Natural History University of Oxford