Is cerussite fluorescent?
Sometimes. Cerussite may fluoresce yellow under longwave UV, says the Handbook; the IGS adds blue or green under shortwave. Anglesite and phosgenite can too.
Sometimes. The Handbook of Mineralogy sheet says cerussite, PbCO3, hardness 3–3.5, may fluoresce yellow under longwave UV; the International Gem Society adds pale blue or green under shortwave. A yellow glow is not proof: the phosgenite and anglesite sheets print yellow too, so it narrows a lead specimen to a family of minerals, not to one species.
In short
- The sheet’s words. The Handbook of Mineralogy cerussite sheet prints one line: may fluoresce yellow under LW UV. A script that tolerates a garbled fl ligature finds it, and finds the lines on the hemimorphite and willemite sheets, its positive controls.
- The band grid. Three sources, read side by side. Handbook: yellow, longwave. International Gem Society cerussite article: pinkish orange (Utah) or yellow shades in LW, pale blue or shades of green in SW. Modreski 1987, New Mexico Geology 9: a powdery cerussite coating glowing yellow under longwave, activator unknown. Longwave and yellow are common to all three; shortwave is the IGS’s alone.
- Documented failure: yellow is shared. The phosgenite sheet prints may fluoresce yellow under LW UV, X-rays and electron beams, and anglesite’s may fluoresce yellow under UV. The IGS comparison table gives anglesite weak yellowish and phosgenite strong yellowish. A yellow glow on a pale lead mineral does not name it.
- The lead-carbonate ledger. Of 8 IMA rows made only of lead, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine and fluorine, 2 sheets print fluorescence: cerussite and phosgenite. Hydrocerussite, plumbonacrite, shannonite, grootfonteinite, somersetite and barstowite print none. Every printed line says may.
- Lamps and safety. Lamp choice is on best UV lamp for mineral collecting; exposure limits for 180 to 400 nm are in the ICNIRP 2004 guidelines on limits of exposure to ultraviolet radiation. This page is not safety advice. Cerussite is 77.54% lead; see is cerussite toxic.
| Mineral | Source | Longwave (LW) | Shortwave (SW) | Band not named | Qualifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cerussite | Handbook sheet | Yellow | Not named | — | May |
| Cerussite | IGS property panel | Pinkish orange (Utah) or yellow shades | Pale blue or shades of green | — | — |
| Cerussite | IGS comparison table | Can be yellow | Pale blue/green | — | Can be |
| Cerussite | IGS photo caption, Tsumeb | Not named | Not named | Fluoresces blue (UV) | — |
| Cerussite, powdery coating on fluorite, Blanchard mine | Modreski 1987, figure 9 | Yellow | Not named | — | Activator unknown |
| Phosgenite | Handbook sheet | Yellow (also X-rays, electron beams) | Not named | — | May |
| Phosgenite | IGS property panel | Not named | Not named | Strong yellowish (UV and X-rays) | — |
| Anglesite | Handbook sheet | Not named | Not named | Yellow (UV) | May |
| Anglesite | IGS comparison table | Not named | Not named | Weak yellowish | — |
Does cerussite glow under a UV lamp?
It may, and the sheet says which lamp: longwave. The Handbook of Mineralogy cerussite sheet describes PbCO3 as orthorhombic, hardness 3–3.5, measured density 6.55, colourless, white, pale yellow, smoky to dark gray or black with inclusions, white streak, adamantine tending to vitreous or resinous lustre, and adds one luminescence sentence: may fluoresce yellow under LW UV. May is the word that matters. It records that some cerussite does; it does not say that a given cerussite specimen will.
How the line was found. pdftotext can turn the fl ligature into a stray glyph; on the hemimorphite and willemite sheets it prints °uoresc. The script therefore matched uoresc with any character before it, plus phosphoresc, luminesc and ultraviolet, case-insensitive. Both controls matched. On the cerussite, phosgenite and anglesite sheets the fl came through intact.
Shortwave or longwave? What each source names
Longwave is the band every source names; shortwave comes from one. The Handbook names LW only. The International Gem Society cerussite article property panel reads pinkish orange (Utah) or yellow shades in LW, pale blue or shades of green in SW, and its comparison table repeats: can be yellow in LW, pale blue/green in SW. A photo caption on the same page, a Tsumeb cerussite on calcite, says the cerussite fluoresces blue, without naming the band.
A photographed case. Modreski 1987, New Mexico Geology 9, figure 9, shows fluorite from the Blanchard mine, Hansonburg district, Socorro Co., New Mexico, with a late coating of fine-grained, powdery, white cerussite that fluoresces yellow under longwave UV. The activator in the cerussite is given as unknown, and this page names none.
What that means for a lamp. On the printed record, a longwave lamp is the one all three sources describe a response to; a shortwave response is reported by the IGS alone. How the two kinds of lamp differ is on fluorescent minerals explained and best UV lamp for mineral collecting.
Does a yellow glow prove it is cerussite?
Documented failure: no. Yellow under UV is printed for at least two of cerussite’s companions. The cerussite sheet names phosgenite and anglesite on its association line. The phosgenite sheet prints may fluoresce yellow under LW UV, X-rays and electron beams; the anglesite sheet, may fluoresce yellow under UV. The IGS article says of the three that their fluorescence under UV can also appear yellowish, and its table gives anglesite weak yellowish and phosgenite strong yellowish. The pale lead minerals of Leadhills are surveyed the same way on leadhillite; that survey is not repeated here.
The lead-carbonate ledger. A script over the September 2026 IMA list finds 37 rows with lead and a carbonate group; 8 are built only from lead, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine and fluorine. Read ligature-aware, 2 of those 8 sheets print fluorescence, cerussite and phosgenite, both yellow, both longwave, both may. Barstowite, grootfonteinite, hydrocerussite, plumbonacrite, shannonite and somersetite print none.
What does separate them. The sheets: cerussite orthorhombic, very brittle, biaxial (−), hardness 3–3.5; phosgenite tetragonal, sectile, uniaxial (+), 2–3; anglesite orthorhombic, brittle, 2.5–3. In water a 20.00 g piece reads 16.95 g, 16.73 to 16.75 g and 16.87 g, too close for a balance to decide (how to measure specific gravity at home). The anglesite–galena case is on anglesite or galena.
Is a dark cerussite under UV a fake?
Not on that evidence. The Handbook line is a may, so a cerussite that stays dark under a lamp is consistent with the sheet. The same reading appears on is wulfenite UV reactive, where the wulfenite sheet prints no luminescence and cerussite is the first associate named; a yellow glow on a wulfenite specimen points first to cerussite or another associate.
Not advice. Ultraviolet lamps emit radiation for which exposure limits, 180 to 400 nm, are set out in the ICNIRP 2004 guidelines on limits of exposure to ultraviolet radiation; this page does not interpret them and is not safety advice. Cerussite is 77.54% lead by mass, worked from PbCO3; see is cerussite toxic and toxic minerals in a collection.
Other UV pages, among them is mimetite UV reactive and is scheelite fluorescent, are under the collecting guides. Nothing on this site is offered for sale; the wanted list is the only commercial route.