DAZZLING RARE POWELLITE Princess Pat Mine Specimen!

COLORFUL Old Stock Princess Pat Mine  Fluorescent Specimen With Rare Powellite!

Bright bold scheelite, calcite, hyalite, and rare powellite specimen!

Minerals:     Scheelite:  CaWO₄

Size:           8" x 5" x 2"

About Photographing Fluorescent Minerals:

All rocks were photographed using a 36-watt Shortwave Ultraviolet light and are the closest representations I could get.  In real life, the contrast between colors and with the nonfluorescing matrix will be greater, the hyalite opal will be even MORE shockingly bright yellow-green, and red colors will be more pronounced.  The greater contrast in seeing a specimen live is due to the camera recording the clouding effects of phosphorescence -- which nearly all of these specimens have, to varying degrees -- that the human eye sees only after the UV light source is removed.  In other words, every specimen will be more colorful, more beautiful, and more amazing than can be recorded with a camera.

The other challenge in getting accurate photos of fluorescing rocks with different colors and intensities is that the blues and greens of scheelite and hyalite opal, being closer to the ultraviolet end of the light spectrum, are "favored" by the camera, and the oranges and reds from caliche and calcite are more difficult to capture accurately.  To get the camera to "see" the red fluorescence that the human eye sees requires having the shutter open for 8 to 12 seconds or more, which causes the scheelite and hyalite to flood the picture with their intense fluorescence.

About This Specimen:

This amazing rock has tons of creamy yellowish-white fluorescing powellite, a rare calcium molybdenum mineral.  Liberal spots of bluish-white scheelite and the bright yellowish-green fluorescence from hyalite and deep forest green from secondary silicates/carbonates would make for an interesting specimen alone.  It is in fact due to the molybdenum content of some areas of the Princess Pat Mine that excellent fluorescent specimens exist -- the molybdenum present in scheelite ore made it very difficult and expensive to extract the tungsten from the ore.  When mining operations found scheelite with molybdenum, they moved on.  Their loss, our gain!

The color, clarity, and intensity of the powellite is extremely difficult to capture on a photograph.  The intense fluorescence is too bright in comparison, and the creamy-yellow color just doesn't register well.  The specimen in person is better than can be captured in a photograph, so this rock will look far better when you see it!  The reverse side rocks with brilliant blues, green, and a touch of orange.  Enjoy this rare and extremely colorful specimen!

About the Princess Pat Mine: 

The fluorescent minerals from the Princess Pat Mine in the Mojave Desert north of Adelanto, California, have long been regarded as some of the most beautiful fluorescent specimens in the country, if not the world, at times rivaling the Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey, specimens and the beautiful Ilimassauq, Greenland rocks for color and variety.  Sadly, there are very few specimens of any quality remaining at the mine, due to long-ago commercial extraction and decades of specimen collecting by rockhounds.

The Princess Pat was really more of a prospect than a mine.  Developed during the desperate rush for scheelite (tungsten ore) during World War II, when the Japanese cut off America’s primary sources in China, the Princess Pat ceased production in the mid-1950s but gained a reputation over the years as a source of beautiful fluorescent minerals.

I only learned about the Princess Pat a couple of years ago, when my interest in fluorescent minerals was first piqued, and the best samples have long since been collected.  Recently, however, I came across a sizeable amount of OLD STOCK Princess Pat specimens, examples of the finest that the prospect had to offer.  Some will be maintained as part of a traveling natural history museum for which I am in the process of forming and obtaining 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.  The remainder I will be offering here on eBay. 

About The Lake Arrowhead Natural History Museum:

The major purpose of The Lake Arrowhead Natural History Museum is to bring the beauty and wonder of rocks, minerals, and fossils to inner-city school kids.  Despite being disabled, I used to take my extensive collection to schools in San Bernardino, CA, until the tragic fire in the San Bernardino Mountains in October, 2003, destroyed my home, all of my kids' and my possessions, and my entire collection of rocks and minerals.  Since then, I have been trying to recreate a presentable collection and to gather samples of interesting rocks -- local actinolite is a favorite -- to give to each and every kid in attendance at the assemblies.  In less than 90 minutes, I teach them all about elements, minerals, rocks, fluorescent and radioactive minerals, and every-day uses in the home and in school of the rocks and minerals used by our society.  Instead of looking at boring black-and-white photos in a book while sitting at hard, uncomfortable desks, these kids get exposed to a wonderful world they never knew existed outside of their 10-square-block gang war-zone neighborhoods.  They get to see, touch, learn about, and own beautiful mineral specimens, but more importantly, they get to realize that there is a world out there for them to escape to -- a better life full of opportunity and wonder.

Once the museum receives its nonprofit status, sales of the rocks and minerals will be through it as an important source of operating funds.  Thanks for your support -- and enjoy these terrific specimens!

Shipping and Handling Fees and Details:

We accept and prefer Paypal for ease and speed of payment and processing.

All shipments are Flat Rate Priority Mail through the USPS for $10.95 S/H.  Fedex or UPS ground will be used at your request.  And I ALWAYS add more specimens, so you ALWAYS get more than you expect!  My philosophy is to underpromise and over-deliver.  Your rocks will always look better than they appear here on the photos.

We can ship world-wide with USPS Global Priority Mail (usually 6 to 10 days).  If less than 1 pound in weight (< 454 g), delivery is available to some countries for $20.  Otherwise, the USPS Global Priority Mail rate for packages up to 20 lbs. (<9.08 K) for most countries is $44.95. 

Any questions, feel free to e-mail me at petethexman@hotmail.com.