Locality: Attributed to French Mine, Alstead, NH
Specimen Size: 13 cm specimen. Specimen interior almost all graftonite, (as visible on bottom sawn surface). Laminar, brown-pink graftonite is exposed on right side of specimen
Field Collected: Francis Maloney, Gilsum, NH. Gift from Dale Johnson.
Catalog No.:
Notes: Francis Maloney (d. 2002) was the founder of the Gilsum Rock Swap and former postmaster of Gilsum. Francis owned several mines in the Gilsum-Alstead area. In August, 2011, I (Tom Mortimer) was invited to Gilsum to assist the Gilsum Historical Society in the idendification of specimens from the Maloney collection donated by his widow. Unfortunately, none of the specimens were labeled with either species or locality, although certainly most had come from the mines of the Gilsum-Alstead area.
This specimen locality attribution was made by 1) similarity to Harvard Museum specimen #130841 -- see mindat.org photo, and 2) that Francis Maloney extensively collected in the Gilsum-Alstead area.
Worldwide, graftonite is an uncommon mineral. Melvin Hill, Springfield, New Hampshire is the type locality for graftonite.
Locality: DeMott Mine, Grafton, NH
Specimen Size: 4 cm specimen
Field Collected: Dana Jewell
Catalog No.: 1820
Notes: A good voucher specimen from this little collected locality. The laminar structure typical of graftonite is evident.
Locality: Keyes Mine, Orange, NH
Specimen Size: 12 cm specimen with 9 cm zone of deep reddish graftonite
Field Collected: Ralph Lingard, ex. Gene Bearss
Catalog No.: 1953
Notes: The laminar structure of the graftonite is visible in the 1 cm zoom view.
Locality: Rice Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 12 cm specimen with pinkish-brown zones of graftonite within broken cross-sections of well delineated triphylite crystals.
Field Collected: Unknown - ex. Gene Bearss
Catalog No.: TBC
Notes:
Locality: Rice Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 7 cm specimen
Field Collected: Ralph Lingard, ex. Gene Bearss
Catalog No.: 1954
Notes: Two zoom views showing laminar structure.
Locality: Rice Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 8 cm specimen with red-brown graftonite embedded in blue triphylite
Field Collected: ex Gene Bearss - Purchased from Perham's, West Paris, ME for $8.00
Catalog No.: 1955
Notes:
Locality: Palermo Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 6 cm specimen with pinkish zones of graftonite with bluish triphylite
Field Collected: Gene Bearss
Catalog No.: 1960
Notes: When Jim Nizamoff examined this specimen in April, 2015, he thought the pink mineral might be graftonite. He was right; an Oct 2015 XRD analysis confirmed graftonite. This graftonite presentation is different from the more frequently encountered laminar structure. I had also considered wolfeite and triploidite for this pink mineral.
An EDS analysis on a polished grain was also consistent with graftonite, with a modest calcium content.
Locality: Fletcher Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 4.5 cm specimen
Field Collected: Clayton Ford
Catalog No.: 2021
Notes: This is the first Fletcher Mine graftonite I have seen.
Locality: Fletcher Mine, N. Groton, NH
Specimen Size: 2.2 cm high specimen
Field Collected: Clayton Ford via Gordon Jackson
Catalog No.: 2101
Notes: My first guess at this cream colored mineral was lithiophilite.
EDS analysis, (BC174 - set 13) indicated a chemistry of (Fe0.77,Mn0.65,Ca0.73)P2O10.5 , normalized for two atoms of P. I forwarded photo and EDS results to Jim Nizamoff and he opined graftonite. Chemically graftonite, (Fe2+,Mn2+,Ca)3(PO4)2 , is a good fit.
The dark mineral between the layers of graftonite is heterosite-purpurite.