Celestite is highly sought by collectors for its stunning, sky-blue tabular crystals often found in geodes. It is relatively soft and brittle, requiring careful handling to prevent damage to its perfect cleavage surfaces.
Spotting celestite in the field
Field marks- 1
Pale sky blue, though often colorless or white, in tabular or prismatic crystals
- 2
Heavy for a pale mineral, though slightly less so than barite
- 3
Soft at 3 to 3.5, with good cleavage, and gives a crimson flame test
Celestite is strontium sulfate, the barite twin, and the two are genuinely difficult to separate by eye. The flame test resolves it: strontium burns crimson, barium burns green. It forms in sedimentary rock, especially in limestone and evaporite settings, and geodes lined with pale blue celestite from Madagascar are among the most widely sold mineral specimens in the world. Clay Center in Ohio produced the famous American crystals.
Straight answers
- Is it worth cutting?
- Too soft and too fragile to cut. A display mineral.
- What is it really worth?
- Inexpensive, since Madagascar geodes are abundant. Large well-formed American crystals are collectible.
- Can you legally keep it?
- Ordinary personal-use collecting rules apply. The Ohio localities are private quarries.
Often confused with
Celestite vs. its common look-alikes, and how to tell them apart in the field.
Often found alongside celestite
Minerals reported to co-occur with celestite. Spotting these in float or country rock is a strong cue you are in the right ground.
All properties
- Chemical formula
- SrSO₄
- Mohs hardness
- 3-3.5
- Density
- 3.9-4.0 g/cm³
- Streak
- White
- Luster
- Vitreous
- Transparency
- Transparent
- Crystal system
- Orthorhombic
- Crystal habit
- Tabular Crystals, Massive, Granular
- Cleavage
- Perfect On {001}, Good On {210}
- Fluorescence
- Occasionally Faint Blue or White Under UV
- Rarity
- Common
- Uses
- Collector, Lapidary, Industrial Source of Strontium
- Host rock
- Sedimentary Rocks, Limestone Cavities, Hydrothermal Veins
- Typical price
- $10-100 for small clusters, $200+ for large, high-quality display specimens.
Where rockhounds find celestite
34 mapped spotsClassic worldwide localities
- Madagascar
- Lake Erie, Ohio, USA
- Sicily, Italy
- San Bernardino County, California, USA
- Tunisia
U.S. states with celestite
Each link opens a state-specific list of mapped rockhounding spots that produce celestite.
Field-hunting tip
Look in sedimentary rocks, limestone cavities, hydrothermal veins country, the host setting where celestite typically forms. If you start seeing calcite, sulfur, gypsum in float, you are in the right ground. Field specimens usually show a tabular crystals, massive, granular habit, so train your eye for that shape before scanning the outcrop. In the U.S., the densest reported localities are in Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana. Start trip planning there.
Common questions
How do you identify celestite?+
Where is celestite found?+
Can I find celestite in the United States?+
How much is celestite worth?+
What rocks look like celestite?+
What minerals are found with celestite?+
What kind of rock does celestite form in?+
What is celestite used for?+
Find celestite on the map
RockHoundR shows mapped rockhounding spots, access rules, and lets you log every find.
