Variscite forms as a secondary mineral, near the surface, in places where clay minerals and phosphate minerals occur together. As these minerals break down, variscite forms in massive veins or crusts. Crystals are small and very rare. Variscite is a popular rock-shop specimen.
This variscite specimen comes from Utah, probably the Lucin locality. You might see it called lucinite, or possibly utahlite. It looks like turquoise and is used the same way in jewelry, as cabochons or carved figures. It has what's called a porcelaneous luster, which is somewhere between waxy and vitreous.
Variscite has a sister mineral called strengite, which has iron where variscite has aluminum. You might expect there to be intermediate mixtures, but only one such locality is known, in Brazil. Usually strengite occurs in iron mines or in pegmatites, which are very different settings from the altered phosphate beds where variscite is found.
