Villiaumite with Hackmanite
stock #14.1-448
Mont Saint-Hilaire, Monteregie
Quebec,
Canada
7.7 x 3.3 x 4.7 CM (cabinet)
price: $190
pre Tucson 2015 update
Villiaumite is one of the more colorful yet rare minerals found at Mt St Hillaire and a handful of other Alkalai complexes. This is a very nice and very bright red example. These cubes are good sized (about 1 CM) rare for for bright red crystals, larger crystals have been found here but they are brownish. The matrix has many other alkali minerals included in it as is typical from this locale. Sadly now the quarry is closed there will be no more of these.
Amethyst with Apophyllite and Hubeite
stock #7.AE-545
Fengjiashan Mine (Daye Mine), Daye County, Huangshi Pref.
Hubei Province,
China
7.3 x 3.4 x 4.1 CM (cabinet)
price: $175
A very neat, clean and colorful example of this find from about 8 years ago at Fengjiashan. In fine condition the Amethyst shows multiple growth steps and has excellent transparency and luster. The tabular Apophyllite covering 3 faces has nice crystals to 1.5 CM and a dusting of micro minerals including Hubeite.
Calcite on Sibnite
stock #6.2-902
Dachang Ore Field, Nandan
Guangxi Province,
China
6.9 x 4.8 x 3.3 CM (cabinet)
price: $150
An attractive and rather unusual habit of Calcite on Stibnite from the less well-known locality of Nandan. The main Calcite is a sharp scalenohedron 3.5 CM long that seems to be heavily included by Stibnite giving it a dark, cloudy interior. The overall composition and esthetics are very good, there is nice contrast with the metallic Stibnite crystals. Not typical, this is quite different from other such combos I have seen.
Beryl (var. Goshenite) on Schorl
stock #AX-14-277
Erongo Mountain, Karibib
Erongo Region,
Namibia
5 x 4.6 x 3 CM (miniature)
price: $550
Bright gem clear white Beryl crystals are studded on a 3 dimensional array of shiny black Schorl crystals. In excellent condition, this is a fine Erongo specimen and far better in person. 2012 vintage, this material has not been seen since.
Fluorite with inclusions of Chalcopyrite
stock #AX-18-153
Denton Mine, Harris Creek Sub District, Hardin County
Illinois,
United States
7.5 x 6.8 x4.1 CM (cabinet)
price: $330
A sharp multi-color pastel Fluorite with good clarity and phantoms. The crystals show excellent growth patterns and have sharp crystals of golden Chalcopyrite included inside. This looks fantastic with good lighting. A classic locale, the Denton Mine once produced a lot of good Fluorites, but is now gone forever. Some color changing based on light source, the core color is a pale yellow with blue to purple outer phantoms.
Calcite and Realgar
stock #6.2-1010
Shimen (Jiepiayu) Mine, Shimen County, Changde Prefecture
Hunan Province,
China
9.1 x 6.3 x 5.8 CM (cabinet)
price: $225
From the incredible finds of 2002, this piece has a big gemmy lustrous compound twin Calcite crystal that stands nicely on a partial Calcite that makes a perfect base. The front side is dusted with micro xls of opaque white Calcite and some brilliant red, gemmy crystals of Realgar that reach 2 CM. There is some chipping on this piece so it is very affordably priced as a result. Still it displays well and has good visual quality.
A big, sharp and well-formed single crystal of the rare "Mt St. Hilaire habit" of Rhodochrosite. Due to the thin nature of this piece it will fit in a thumbnail category but it looks bigger in person. The color is a brownish that can glow deep red with a backlight. In good condition damage-wise, there are just some very tiny edge chips seen at 10x magnification on the front face and a bigger chip on the backside. For this delicate thin habit this piece is remarkable. A great addition to any good suite of Rhodochrosites or Canadian minerals.
We all miss the great Fluorites that were once common when the southern Illinois mines were still open. At last something NEW from the region! This little known Hardin County Fluorite locale (the junction area of the Victory and the Crystal Mine) recently produced a very few nice specimens for a small collector team. Here a super sharp 4.5 CM cube is centered on a mix of cubes and etched masses of bright purple and yellow. Nice phantoms are seen on the edges, but the overall impact is very good. One of the better small cabinet specimens from this find.
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