Mounted Specimen of Cryolite from the Mines of Ivigtut (1900 to 2000 Greenland)

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Cryolite

Cryolite is a rare mineral, which was used as a flux in the production of aluminium by the electrolyte process. Its only notable locality was in Greenland. Ivigtut was founded as a mining town in 1865 after cryolite was found there in 1806. The date of 1914 is significant in that an international ice patrol based at Ivigtut was formed there in that year following the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. The Titanic struck a huge iceberg near midnight whilst traveling at a speed of 20 knots. The International Ice Patrol successfully monitored the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic for icebergs between 1914 and 1940 until the threat of German aggression towards Denmark’s colony of Greenland closed down the base at Ivigtut. Today the town has been abandoned.

An Interesting Mounted Specimen of Cryolite from the Mines of Ivigtut
South West Greenland
Marked ‘Ivigtut July 1914’
Circa 1914

Size: 9cm high – 3¾ ins high
Base: 13.5cm wide, 8.5cm deep – 5¼ ins wide, 3¼ ins deep