Blue John egg mounted on a fluorspa base base as a paperweight. Likely made as a souvenir of Derbyshire and dating to around 1860. Blue John is considered the rarest of Britain’s minerals, found exclusively in Derbyshire’s Peak District. Discovered as a beautiful stone soon after the middle of the 18th century, it was eagerly pursued by the likes of Matthew Boulton, in his case for turning into the bodies of urns to mount as candelabra or cassolettes,and by others to embellish fire surrounds or inlay into table tops. Item code: 5824