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A very large, rare fantasy rock sphere. You won't see any of these on the market, only a handful have been made.
The main minerals on this beautiful sphere are sodalite, bright blue analcime throughout the entire sphere, along with chkalovite and minor tugtupite/polylithionite throughout the matrix. Under longwave UV the sodalite fluoresces a bright orange. Black arfvedsonite crystals scattered throughout the sphere make for a very nice patterning.
The sodalite on this fantasy rock sphere is nicely tenebrescent, darkening to purple when exposed to shortwave UV. Shine a bright white light on it and the purple color will revert back immediately.
The nickname “Fantasy Rock” encompasses a group of rocks found on the Taseq Slope in the Ilimaussaq Complex, Greenland and only in this one locality within the complex. A typical Fantasy Rock usually consists of four basic minerals: tugtupite, sodalite, chkalovite, analcime, and they are always the most color-rich pieces from this exotic, remote locale.
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.
