A tough call for the #MinCup25 semi-final but I think I have to give dioptase the arts vote as a pigment since ancient times (i.e. on Neolithic sculpture, Asian murals & Russian icons), though ‘reindeer blood’ tenebrescent, & phosphorescent, tugtupite “King of Fluorescent Minerals” is also a gem, gaining both art and physics points from me.
Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r4m02
Though kyanite is used in the arts, hematite is the most important pigment left standing, & vital to millennia of art history so easily wins the art vote. Red ochre, earth, Venetian red, mars red & English red. A stable, rich, vibrant red in cave paintings through contemporary paintings! #MinCup25
Vote for hematite here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r4m01
Cuprosklodowskite was mistakenly named for sklodowskite, in turn named for Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Dioptase has been used as a pigment since ancient times. You find it on Neolithic sculpture. Asian murals & Russian religious icons. It’s also used in jewellery. Dioptase wins the arts vote!
#MinCup25
Vote for #dioptase here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3m04
Look “space green” kosmochlor may be of meteorite origin and occasionally carved as it’s associated with jadeite, but blue kyanite definitely gets the arts vote for jewelry and use in porcelain and pottery glazes. Plus is gets physics points as an index mineral. #MinCup25
Vote for kyanite here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3m03
Haüyne, formed in magma chambers, is pretty, blue & can fluoresce. But electrically conductive iron-ore hematite is an absolute giant of art history, used as red ochre, going back at least 164,000 years to Pinnacle Point Caves! Also called Venetian, mars or English red.
Vote hematite! #MinCup25
Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3m01
While iron-nickel alloy taenite gets physics points for its meteorite origin, magnetism & Widmanstätten patterns kyanite gets physics points as an index mineral.
Plus lovely blue kyanite definitely gets the arts vote for jewelry and use in porcelain and pottery glazes. #MinCup25
While molybdenite gets some physics points (source of Re for geochronology, Mo used as a catalyst, battery electrodes, alloys of iron & semiconductors),
Dioptase can be made into jewelry & (though a rare pigment) has been on artwork used since Neolithic times so it wins my art vote!
#MinCup25
Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r2m06
Baryte might be useful geochronology but you can’t vote against 164,000 years of art history!
From cave painting to today! Electrically conductive hematite is a pigment with a storied history in red ochre & chalk.
Vote for art & human culture. Vote hematite! #MinCup25
Vote for hematite here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/results/r2m03
Pretty blue Kyanite is used in porcelain(though more dishware/plumbing than art) but it is used in jewelry. Points for physics as an index mineral.
But topaz wins the art vote with centuries of gems, carving & jewelry. Plus on the physics front we have its use in lens & xray spectroscopy #MinCup25
Vote for topaz here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r1m13
Ele Willoughby, PhD
Abie