A classic, instantly recognizable association of white, wedge-shaped bladed Baryte crystals, coating cream coloured nodular Witherite from Settlingstones mine in Northumberland. This was one of very few mines to have extracted Witherite commercially for its barium content, with production noted from 1873 to 1969. This piece is unusual in that the Baryte is much more 'frosted' than typically seen, almost snow-white in colour. There is some slight bruising to crystals at one end of the display surface, but it is a very pretty display of this now classic material. Ex G.A. Lowe Collection, passing to Roger Harker in 1973. Harker died in 1983, at the age of just 41, and his specimen remained with his family until very recently. It still bears his characteristic handwritten label affixed to the back.
