Gypsum

Coarse-grained, transparent, colorless gypsum in vuggy, thoroughly leached, franklinite-calcite ore. Most of the original calcite has been dissolved, but that which remains fluoresces bright red SW. Some of the space formerly occupied by calcite is lined with a druse of pink rhodochrosite, much of which in turn is included in the clearly later gypsum. Despite the precipitation of rhodochrosite and gypsum, much vugginess remains. This specimen was acquired by Art and Harriet Mitteldorf of SPEX Industries upon their purchase of Ewald Gerstmann’s collection in the 1980s. Later, in 1989, the Mitteldorfs donated the former Gerstmann collection to the Franklin Mineral Museum, where this gypsum specimen is now housed as number FMM-1470.

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