Wernerite, Dioside, Calcite - Canada

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A spectacular longwave mineral. Brilliant and unmistakable yellow fluorescing wernerite - a member of the scapolite family. These pieces have a purple calcite veining which really only shows under MW, never before reported. Calcite verified through the obvious cleavage and vinegar test. Very interesting pieces.

In our experience, wernerite is always fluorescent bright yellow LW and a dimmer yellow SW. We admit that we can't be sure we've checked pieces with midwave in the past, but with the new MW flashlights we now check everything. Imagine our shock when we saw this piece! The violet area is strongly fluorescent under MW but shows zero response under LW, and a very minimal response under fluorescent tube SW, none under 255nm flashlight (to be expected - tube lights generate a little MW while the LED is pure 255nm SW). These pieces are from the original find. Don't think we've noticed this mineral in later pieces, but it certainly makes sense for collectors to examine their pieces with MW.