Willemite, Calcite, Unknowns - Australia

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A spectacular, large Puttapa specimen that glows brightly under all wavelengths. Under midwave and longwave, the color shifts to a bright, notable yellow. There is a yellow phosphorescence for both longwave and midwave, which is different from the blue/green shortwave phosphorescence we are used to.

Wonderful patterning and mixed hues, strong phosphorescence from Puttapa Mine, Australia.

Puttapa has been picked over with a fine-tooth comb. There have been several trips to the mine to extract every little scrap left, first-run pieces have sold (except for these) and much of the minor leftover material has been wholesaled out to numerous sellers. We were one of the three original sellers of this material and still have much of our original stock (we are the only ones actually revenue sharing with Graham Fraser, a good friend).

The only minerals we are pretty confident of are the willemite and calcite - there may be much more. The white mineral has been assayed to be willemite with a very high zinc content.

Special note: The phosphorescent pic was taken with zero lights - glows like a banshee. (Our rule of thumb on these pieces is that anything that phosphoresces is willemite, aragonite being the possible exception).