This famously known "jackstraw" cluster of GEM barites features sharp, transparent, golden-honey-colored gem crystals to 9.5 cm in length. Minor dolomite is associated, as well. It is a floater, with the major crystal very finely doubly-terminated. This spectacular barite cluster is a miracle in preservation - that such a thing could come out of the mine in the late 1800s and survive to this day, pristine and undamaged and unrepaired, astonishes me. But, it has! It was sold by the noted Frizington dealer John Graves in 1904 to Dr. Charles Trechmann (1851-1917). Both Graves' and Trechmann's labels survive here, to this day. The piece went to the British Musuem in 1926 with the collection, and stayed there until it was exchanged out to Ralph Sutcliffe in the 1980s. From there, it passed to Greenbank in 1991 with the Sutcliffe collection, and remained there as a core piece in the northern Spar District suite until today. To me, this was one of the iconic pieces in the collection, and it represents the pinnacle of the mineral occurrences here at a level few surviving pieces can, and that we will never see again. Illustrated in "Classic Minerals of Northern England," page 132 as a fullpage photograph . (Joe Budd photo, shown here). This is a superb specimen of the highest calibre; with provenance, unlikely aesthetics, and survival adding a bit of fascination as well . NOTE THIS IS THE COVER OF UK Journal of Mines & Minerals Issue no 5