We have run out of stock for this item.
*Note: Please make sure to right-click and print (or save) ID card located in the photo gallery for your records*
A nice piece of tenebrescent fantasy rock with broad areas of blue fluorescing analcime and exquisite tugtupite veining. Areas of orange are fluorescent sodalite. You can see minor polylithionite as well. This piece is pure color - we try to photograph everything as if it were mounted in a display cabinet with the lights a foot or so away. Up close to the light this piece screams color.
The name "Fantasy Rock" was coined by MinerShop to refer to a group of rocks containing specific, bright and colorful minerals found on the Taseq Slope within the Ilimaussaq Complex of southern Greenland. These striking rocks are multi-colored and multi-wavelength. A typical Fantasy Rock usually consists of four basic minerals: tugtupite, sodalite, chkalovite, and they are always the most color-rich pieces from this exotic, remote locale.
We discovered the area where Fantasy Rocks are found in the summer of 2004, but really did not mine it until 2005. It is found high on the slope and requires a very long hike up to reach the deposit. Blasting is required to get pieces out of the veins, and then the day’s find must be backpacked out - a 2+ hour hike to the valley floor, over really rugged terrain, with a backpack filled with rocks. It’s amazing no one busted a leg in our ten years of tours. There are many varieties of Fantasy Rock found in this deposit, and each one has its own character.
They were nicknamed "Yooperlites" which is derived from the name “yooper”. A yooper is a nickname for the Upper Peninsula natives and these fluorescent stones quickly gained fame. After data was published on these fluorescent stones, it was discovered that sodalite is the actual true mineral that is fluorescing orange.
365nm UV light is often called "blacklight". Before the advent of longwave UV LEDs, blacklight fluorescent tubes, (the kinds used in hippie days to light up psychedelic posters) were the standard longwave UV light for our hobby. They were not very powerful but they did light a large area.
Enter 365nm UV LEDs
First, an animation showing the difference between the UV flashlight we recommend (365nm filtered UV flashlight) versus unfiltered 395nm UV flashlights we see many folks carrying around at shows. So. much. visible purple light. We selected a bunch of rocks as a demonstration. Took pictures of them under his flashlight without the filter and then with the filter.
