Size 6cm x 4.5cm

This mineral, specifically the bright raspberry red, iron rich variety, put Iron Monarch on the world map. The late Glyn Francis first found pink to pale red variscite crystals in the late 1970's, although these early finds were poor quality compared to more recent finds. At the time of discovery this mine was the only location worldwide where pink -red variscite crystals were found. This remained the case for approximately the next 30 years, until a mine in Brazil unearthed a small find of iron rich red variscite, although the amount and quality did not match Iron Monarch. The best find of red variscite was in november 1994, and I was lucky enough to be there helping Glyn Francis.

This speciman has bright raspberry red clusters of gemmy red variscite crystals on a background of fluor-apatite, the apatite would have been originally white but is stained by hematite. There is also micro pyrolusite crystals with the apatite as well. Showy speciman of a rare mineral.