Rhodochrosite with Aegirine
stock #23.1-727
Mont Saint-Hilaire, Monteregie
Quebec,
Canada
2.8 x 2.7 x 2.4 CM (small miniature/ large thumbnail (toenail))
price: $180
Pre Tucson
Rhodochrosite crystals clustered with a few slender Aegirine piecing the flat Rhombs. Classic form from Mt St. Hilaire showing the triangular shapes and flattened rhombs that are well-known from this amazing mine. I very good condition, no eye-visible damage and really no matrix either.
Grossular - Raspberry Garnet, older find
stock #23.1-728
Sierra de la Cruz, Municipio de Sierra Mojada
Coahuila,
Mexico
1.7 x 1.3 x 1 CM (thumbnail)
price: $380
Pre Tucson
A small thumbnail with big color, a cluster of the Raspberry Garnets from Sierra de las Cruces (Coahuila, Mexico). This is from the Larry White collection, it has almost no matrix and is just bright red Garnets with very nice luster and in very good condition. Larry obtained this in 2000 from NE Geological Supply at the Springfield show. This would have been the earlier find of this type of more vivid Garnets which were very exciting at that show. Larry had excellent taste and though small this is a choice thumbnail!
This is an exceptional and very unusual Brochantite from the famed Blanchard Mine. Two cubes of Galena are partly altered to Anglesite (small sparkling clear crystals on all faces) which is a fairly common thing at Blanchard. What is far more rare however is those faces are also overgrown with acicular Brochantite. The resulting green cubes (up to 1.8 CM across) contrast well with the Quartz and Fluorite matrix. We have seen Blanchard Galenas overgrown with Linarite making nice blue cubes but never green Brochantite cubes. A super distinctive specimen. Linarite and Brochantite often occur together at the Blanchard, however on this piece there is no hint of Linarite. A very attractive and important association / pseudomorph from this great USA locality. In excellent condition as seen, this piece is older, pre 1975.
Barite - USA classic locale
stock #23.1-729
Hartsel, Hartsel Mining District, Park County
Colorado,
United States
5.1 x 3.9 x 1.5 CM (small cabinet/ large miniature)
price: $240
Pre Tucson
From Hartsel which is almost exactly in the center of Colorado, this is a stacked cluster of flat habit crytsals. The color is blue grey with a lighter hue at the tips and edges. The crystals are epitaxially stacked and this is in very good condition. Colorado has several important Barite locations, the three best known are Stonham, Book Cliffs and Hartsel. All three have very different styles of Barite. Very distict form and habit on this older specimen, an excellent example of a nice Hartsel.
Goethite - iridescent filigree form
stock #22.1-636
Hot Springs, Garland County
Arkansas,
United States
7.2 x 3.3 x 2 CM (cabinet)
price: $750
Pre Tucson
Delicate twisting strands, fingers and branches of Goethite with colorful iridescence. The patina ranges from blue and purple to red and yellow colors. This specimen and a few others of this style were found some decades ago. These have a very unusual morphology and are super attractive. The material was mentioned in the “what’s new†column of Tom Moore in the Mineralogical Record. There were not many and the source was the sale of an older collection in Arkansas, the Goethite was a one off find at a construction site. Unusual and pretty these are really a very different look for the specie.
Apatite (purple) - rare locality
stock #22.1-488
Chas de Tavares, Mangualde
Viseu,
Portugal
1.2 x 1 x .8 CM (thumbnail)
price: $360
Pre Tucson
A sharp, glass and bright purple Apatite crystal from a very little known locality, found in 2012. Ex Alain Martaud collection this is in excellent condition and shows zoning with the more vivid purple color near the bottom of the crystal and when viewed through the termination the very center has a colorless zone in the core. Portugal is one of the world’s great sources of fine Apatite from the famed Panasqueira Mine, but this locality is over 125 KM to the west and the region has a very complex and different type of mineralogy. Very few of the Apatites from here are purple and most are a lot smaller, this is superb for the locality.
Vesuvianite - Gem crystal
stock #17.1-440
Jeffrey Mine, Asbestos (now Val-des-Sources, Estrie,
Quebec,
Canada
3.6 x 1.6 x 1.5 CM (miniature)
price: $3300
Pre Tucson
Vivid color and glassy faces with well-defined striations, this crystal is nearly all transparent and in perfect condition. The color is a bright asparagus green and has a purple to red core. In person the termination looks like a faceted gem, the luster is so bright it is hard to convey in photos. The Vesuvianites from Jeffrey Mine are unique in the world, famed for the colors and perfection. There were quite a few good ones found a few decades ago but very fine crystals like this were never common. Today we see very few and always at very high prices. This is from the F. Spertini collection (the mine geologist for whom Spertiniite is named) and is far better in person with a top display impact. No damage at all. Even on the bottom where it had been naturally broken inside the pocket long ago it is fully healed and re-crystalized. So technically this is doubly terminated and a floater.
Gibbsite- type locale, historic specimen
stock #16.1-125
Richmond, Berkshire County
Massachusetts,
United States
7.7 x 5.6 x 5.4 CM (cabinet)
price: $330
Pre Tucson
A fine botryoidal crust of yellowish-white Gibbsite on Limonite ore. From the famed Oren Root collection (with label) which was transferred to Hamilton College in 1835. The Root collection was at that time the finest in the United Staes. This was a new specie named in 1822 in honor of Colonel George Gibbs who was also an important early American mineral collector. This is a very early piece from the type locale, when first found it was misidentified as Wavellite. The specimen left Hamilton College to the NY State Museum collection then to Don Potter and later to Dr. Steven Chamberlain, then to Carter Rich. A long history indeed. Good fluorescence as well, with green and yellow zones LW and midwave shows green to bluish purple and yellow zones.
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