Blue John Box (SOLD)

English

Hallmarked Birmingham 1930

This Blue John box shows very attractive striations and is mounted with a simple band of silver

w 19 cm d 9.5 cm h 6 cm (7.5 x 3.75 x 2.5 in)

Blue John is the rarest natural formation in the British Isles and the only known deposit is found near Castleton in Derbyshire. This mineral only occurs in small masses lining ancient caves or in voids in the limestone and boulder bed of Treak Cliff. Each piece of Blue John has to be extracted carefully by hand as blasting with explosives would open the cleavages effectively shattering the semi-precious stone and rendering it useless. Instead, the usual mining practice is to extract the limestone around the Blue John and so release the latter from its enclosing rock. 

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