Back in 1996 I was lucky enough to be involved in a little digging project on a dump near the main shaft at Boltsburn mine.
The dig did not generate very much in the way of specimen quality material, though there were some signs of potential, however we did pull out some very big pieces of fluorite, siderite and calcite.
Most of my share went into a large UV responsive rock garden - it was spectacular in the evening as the sun went down!
Winding the clock forward to 2010 we decided to revisit some of these pieces - in short a large gemmy section was sent off to Pakistan for faceting.
When the parcel was returned, this stone was at the centre of the cutter's work. Weighing in at 78.5cts, it is not perfect, but pretty good.
It now resides in my collection of interesting acquisitions...
