Fluorite - Poggio Balate, Sicily, Italy

Locality: Poggio Balate, Termini Imerese, Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Dimensions: 70*58*42mm/253g

Fluorite from Sicily is rare to begin with — but this grey-purple variety from Poggio Balate is among its most quietly unforgettable expressions.

Where the locality is known for deep blues and vivid greens, these specimens take a different path: muted, contemplative, and unmistakably present. Their soft grey-lavender hue carries the serene quality of Song Dynasty Ru ware — understated in color, extraordinary in character. Some pieces grow alongside ivory-white barite, its cream-colored crystal sprays curling like piped frosting, delicate yet dimensional. Others display crisp violet phantom borders, or banded interiors that shift through multiple tonal layers — each one a singular record of geological time.

Under UV light, the story deepens. Long-wave UVA (365nm) reveals a quiet violet fluorescence; short-wave UVC (255nm) brings out a pale blue, almost architectural glow with a distinctive boxwork pattern. Both reactions are accompanied by phosphorescence — a lingering afterglow that fades slowly once the light is gone.
Not the loudest in the room. Rarely the easiest to find.