Featured Another Clever Bloke thread

Went to a little table top yesterday, as you do. One bloke selling is usually at another teeny tiny table top where it costs twenty pence - yes, really - to get in.

He said he was having to charge slightly more at this table top than the other one (!). So, the Antica Murrina, the two Attwood & Sawyer pieces and two other brooches were a whole ten pounds. The pearls, real, were a fiver. Bless him, I'd grabbed the necklace and he then called me back ten minutes later because he'd found the bracelet, so gave it to me. He also sold me the yellow plastic necklace on my other thread. One whole quid.

Another Clever bloke, Bruce, had apparently looked at all this lot and sneered at it. Bruce then sold me a Blue John and silver necklace for ten quid. Bruce had another bit of Blue John which he had labelled properly. But this, he thought, was amethyst. It ain't.

 

No it ain't. It is clearly Blue John, lucky you.

 

Oh yes. He's a miserable git too, so I feel even better about it! Grumpy sod who is right up his own you know what. HAH.

 

Blue John was my Dad's name for skim milk...0% fat.
I know about Ellensburg Blue...but this is a new one for me. What is 'Blue John' in this context, please?

 

Is it me or does that lion have an old Swawovski mark?

Blue John is a Fluorite variant that was found in one mine in the UK. It doesn't go cheap, if you can find any. I might have mistaken the piece above for amethyst too, because it doesn't show up here.

 

The lion is Attwood and Sawyer, as is the lizard. Very nice quality with very good resale value.

This is Blue John, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_John_(mineral)

the banding and the yellow flashes are what’s so distinctive. I love the stuff. Luckily, it gets mistaken!

 

I don't see any yellow from here, just some brownish discolorations that can be there in lower grade amethyst too.

 

Now this was a chunk of it. I think most of us would have been happy with the leftover shards
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/stone-ii/a-regency-blue-john-tazza-circa-1820

 

Thanks, all...What a sweet education, available here!

 

The blue John cavern is still open to look round if you are ever in NW England. Some beautiful surrounding scenery too. Castleton, Edale and the hope valley.

 

Thanks, but it's not likely. Age, along with a towering disgust for the state of air travel, limits my meanderings to the NW U.S...automobile or rail only.

 

what......no watercraft ???

 

Ruth, it’s got some yellowish, the light wasn’t great.

 

If you click on the photo you can see the odd yellow streak.

 

That blue john tazza is really something.

 

I couldn't see the hammer price, but if we ever find one at a rummage or a bootie...come to Mama/Papa!