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A nicely tenebrescent piece of tumbled tugtupite. Of course, the tugtupite fluoresces a bright cherry red. Under longwave UV light, the color of the tugtupite shifts to the typical salmon color.
A very rare stone, the name tugtupite is derived from the locality where the mineral was first found. Tugtupite is also referred to as Tuktu, a named derived from the Greenlandic Inuit word for reindeer (tuttu) and means “reindeer blood.” Tugtupite is a rare silicate, closely related to sodalite. The red variety of the mineral tugtupite has been used as a gemstone since 1965.
Keep in mind, tugtupite is really found nowhere else in the world, in spite of reports from MSH Canada and Kola Russia, none ever make it to market.
For ages, the inuit of Greenland have understood the power of tugtupite. Legend has it that lovers can cause the stone to glow fiery red just from the heat of their romance. The brilliance and vibrant colors announce the intensity of their love.
How to tell the tugtupite you purchase is real:
1. It will glow a bright red under shortwave UV light or a salmon-orange under longwave UV light
2. No fluorescent lights? It will darken upon exposure to sunlight (sometimes, only slightly depending on how much tugtupite is in the stone) this phenomenon is called “tenebrescence”
3. It is phosphorescent (it briefly glows after exposure to strong UV light)
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.
