This piece looks carved. This fantastic gem crystal is unearthly in its gemminess and sharpness. It represents the ultimate quality level to which the collector can aspire, if funds are available , and sophistication allows appreciation of perfection at any size. I use the hyperbole not lightly, having see literally thousands of Pakistani aquas in the last 20 years. This one, mined a few years ago, is special. This piece jumps out, even still. It has an impact beyond its size, and a quality that places it in the top percent of a percentile of all the similar specimens mined. The associations with matrix and a slight garnet inclusion serve to enhance the sense of ethereal clarity and perfection of the crystal itself. It is , gram for gram for my tastes, one of the finest gem crystals I have held in my hand. Aside from a few very small natural growth contacts on the side, it is pristine and perfect all around and looks equally good from all 4 sides. The photos makes this look like a killer, and it is, but even their accuracy does not convey the piece's full impact in person. Joe Budd photos

Smithsonites from the old Kelly Mine are around�name a size and price range, and with a little patience any collector can get a beautiful specimen. However, most pieces are flat, and have no association. This is a gorgeous, 3-dimensional, mounded piece with intense color AND a really unusual association with flower-like rosettes of calcite crystals. It is complete all around and has no damage, just a superlative example. It was purchased shortly after mining by well known book author and collector, John Sinkankas of San Diego. He described it in 1966 as "a very fine specimen of shining botryoids, color rich blue-green," at a time when they were generally available and yet this was special even then. Note on his card, he valued it at triple what he paid, on the day he accessioned it to his card files! The piece stayed with John through the sale of the majority of his collection (possibly thousands of pieces) in the 1980s; and I last saw it in his home in the mid 1990s before he passed away. By then, he had picked up water color painting as a hobby and painted his favorites. I bought a number of remaining pieces from him in the late 1990s but did not have the funds at the time to purchase this piece. It was sold to another dealer, who sold it to Jack Halpern at the first showing of the piece. It remained in Jack's collection in San Francisco until exchanged to me (with some evident agonizing on both sides) in 2009. I have seen so much of this material over the years (25 years of dealing), and so few pieces ever struck me the way this one did both when i first saw it, and still today. It is a sentimental piece that has a lot of meaning to both myself and its previous owners, both gentlemen-collectors of the old style who truly are passionate for their pieces. I can admit i feel a little guilty trading it out of Jack, to tell the truth...but he wanted a REALLY nice rock from me in return, towards it all, and that's how it has to work. Joe Budd photos

At 10.5 pounds, this is a rather hefty single aquamarine crystal, of some stature. It has absolutely NO DAMAGE and is complete all around! To imagine such a heavy , big piece coming to market from this region without being damaged is difficult today. The piece has a glassy lustre and an intense color that is atypically nice for the locality. Although larger crystals are known, I have not seen another this size, showing such geometric perfection and quality in both color and lustre. The aquamarines from this locality are simply not often very gemmy , compared to aqua from Shigar Valley. That being said, and taking the size into account, this piece is more translucent than most large Nagar aquamarines, and of course has a deeper intense blue color than most Shigar aquas. It came out in the late 90s and was sold into the collection of Marc Weill. It is illustrated in the Mineralogical Record book on his collection (Jan-Feb 2008). Joe Budd photos

Intense, deep, rich color marks this garnet as a top grade tsavorite, and not just a "minty green" garnet from this important locality for tanzanite that also has recently spit out incredible garnets and diopsides as well. The crystal is complete, embedded in its back in graphite matrix, and has saturated color throughout. It is hyperbole perhaps, but the lustre on this crystal is nothing short of "freaky" and I do not use the word lightly. Killer thumbnail! Joe Budd photos

This specimen has what I most love about old pieces - a convergence of beauty and aesthetics with importance, history, and locality value. The 6.5-cm spray of azurite crystals in the middle is dramatic and has intense azure color. It is perched on contrasting matrix, and protected by the vug it formed in. From an old collection being dispersed in France, I picked this up as a larger specimen and trimmed it to accentuate the crystals more dramatically. I knew it was important, but I am now told that for size and impact, it is quite simply the finest surviving azurite from this old Italian locale, according to Dr Federico Pezzotta of the Museum of Milan. When old specimens can still be important after 100 years, you know there is value in ownership. But its nice to have display quality beauty, too. Joe Budd photos

This is a huge gwindel (twisted) quartz crystal that is perched on matrix with the aesthetics you would expect in a miniature, not in a piece the size and weight of a bowling ball! This locality produced such pieces in the 1980s, and few of such size and perfection, we think. It has been in the Daniel Trinchilllo Sr. collection (with specialties in both Quartz and Alpine suites); and then went into the well-known Marc Weill collection built up in the early 2000's. The crystal alone is nearly 7.5 inches long. It is over 2 inches thick and SO GEMMY AND LIMPID, its like looking into frozen water with sparkles trapped inside...and the clarity is really , really unusually good, especially in the size range. For a lage and colorless, totally clear gwindel, this would have to rank among the top few pieces of the style recovered from what I know of and can ascertain from asking the dealers and collectors of such pieces. The quartz sits, twisted, on a matrix of alpine granite with adularia feldspar crystals - and few come out with any matrix at all, let alone a nice pedestal of good balance in size. This is hands down one of the more important quartzes i have had, period. This piece weighs 11 pounds and comes with a custom display base. Joe Budd photos

This specimen is a piece of significance for both species and locale. It also happens to be visually stunning. Intense azure-blue, metallic crystals to 8 mm nearly cover one long surface of the specimen. Must be seen in person to be appreciated. Although some are damaged, many are intact as well , and the sheer richness is more than I have seen on any other specimen for sale of this very rare material. Ex Al Ordway Collection (purchased from a mining engineer who collected it) - this was one of his major ten specimens, from my memories of the collection over the years. This locality has produced the best of species, and this large display quality specimen has to be among the more important survivors. Joe Budd photos

An extraordinarily rich, sparkling specimen that is so intensely colored it looks fake. If you knew nothing about the species, one could still appreciate this piece on the shelf for the sheer intensity of blue color, unlike almost any other mineral species in person. The hyperbole is justified - it is hard to believe the piece isn't sprayed with something to make it so bright, and it is hard to focus on individual crystals amidst the brightness of all the reflections here. This piece is literally infested with glassy, bright caledonites. Few crystals exceed 5 mm, but there are hundreds of them, all over the specimen (many in protected vugs). The sheer summation of the crystals makes this piece more rich than all but a very few surviving specimens from this mine, according to those with quite a bit more knowledge of the locality than I admit to. Ex Al Ordway Collection (purchased from a mining engineer who collected it)- this was one of his major ten specimens, from my memories of the collection over the years. Although caledonite occurs at other localities, and in larger crystals, these are the brightest and most lustrous. Joe Budd photos

This is a sophisticated piece from the mid-1800s era; that looks damned good even by modern standards of persnickety aesthetics. It has both significance of history and pedigree, AND it is a fine piece - and those features are not often present in the same old classics specimen no matter how historic or pricey it may be. I believe a piece like this adds a level of historic context and sophistication to any fine collection, even one that has far more obviously valuable golds and gemstone crystals in it. The piece features a sharp penetration twin showing gemmy, phantomed crystals of a saturated purple color atop a pedestal of smaller crystals. It is nice and purpley in the case , but when hit with daylight it goes grape-juice purple. This is a link to photos of another piece on my site which shows the effect in full fluorescent light (similar to this piece): http://www.irocks.com/s_present.php?sid=LGC-66+&go=Go. But even in normal daylight and case lighting (if halogen , sunlight balanced), you can see the hints of intense purple fluorescence as it glows purple. After all, this is fluorite from the district from which the very word "fluorescence" was coined in the mid-1800s, based on this "day-glow effect" in this species. Lastly, I like that we know its whole history: mined in mid-1800s and then a long chain of collectors til now. It was first in the CARL BOSCH (1874-1940) COLLECTION (link at http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=205 which was sold to the Smithsonian in its entirety. Bosch was known as the consummate collector of his day, widely regarded as having persnickety and frankly insanely picky taste for his time in that he wanted "best specimens possible" in terms of visual quality at a time when many collectors were happy with reference samples. It resided there until 1980 or so when it was exchanged out to the owner of the Himalaya Mine, well known collector Bill Larson, in an exchange deal. He has a fine worldwide collection emphasizing just such classics, in fine aesthetic quality. During his ownership, it was ILLUSTRATED in the FLUORITE book/issue of the German magazine LAPIS: see ExtraLapis, 1993, page 39. And he kept it until about 2005 when he put it up for sale at Tucson. He sold to Dallas collector Wally Mann in 2005 or 2006 (and it was displayed in Tucson 2008), and it was in his choice collection of English classics until recently passed on to me. Joe Budd photos

A magnificent large specimen of truly elegant quality rarely seen in a matrix piece for this material. It would have come out in the early 90s and found its way quickly into the noted Alpine subcollections of Richard Kosnar (specialties are in Russian, Swiss, and Pakistani alpine type deposits). There are approximately 20 larger , and very translucent and gemmy, crystals flaring off from the specimen in a serrated row like the plates off a stegosaurus. The crystals are elongated and sharply terminated, and the color and lustre are reminiscent of the famous Austrian epidotes (more below). We have seen literally thousands of Pakistani epidotes (and related clinozoisite) over the years. NONE have ever stunned me the way this piece did. The matrix is a beautiful contrast, and it looks more as if the piece was sculpted than anything else. One seldom sees "pretty" matrix of this sort (byssolite/actinolite). So often, the matrix is just a place for the crystals to stick onto, on this material. Rarely is it a complementary and important part of the specimen itself. It just surprised me so much, that i naturally assumed it was Austrian at first. However, on further thought, this is much gemmier than any large Austrian epidote has a right to be, the color is perhaps a little different, and the price wasn't to the moon as those old classics (and recent finds there as well) so often can be. Instead, you get here the classic alpine quality that has been treasured for the species for hundreds of years, but at a pricepoint reflecting its contemporary origin. And, that being said, I think the piece becomes a value going onward, and is truly near the top pinnacle of what you can hope to get in such specimens from Pakistan based on context to date. For what it is, I think one of the best pieces in update. Joe Budd photos

AMNH Curator C. Gratacap described this piece in his 1912 book on the acquisition of the Bement collection with the American Museum as one of the finest dozen calcites in the thousands of specimens in the Bement collection. Firstly, the photos cannot do the piece justice. The photo is accurate for form, but does not capture somehow the full, vibrant life of the piece in person. It is simply beautiful in a case...all else here aside. In person, with light bouncing in and out of it, it is like a jewel and we rank it among the finest calcites to come to market from the old copper district of Michigan - comparable to the few such surviving treasures in major museums like the Seaman Mussum in upstate Michigan. The crystal is complete all around the display faces and PRISTINE as you look at it. It shows much sharper lines in person, and is only contacted on the back and cleaved on one upper-rear-facing edge only (not seen from the display in any case). The crystal is , as a bonus, twinned, which is very rare for the locality, not to mention the size. Again, in person this is more obvious, as it has a visible 3-dimensionality that pushes the twinning plane out at the viewer. This is an old piece from the turn of the 1900s or earlier. It is an antique classic that fits with modern aesthetic sensibilities, is a cabinet specimen, is outstanding just on its own merits, and has a great pedigree. This is a rare convergence and it makes the piece attain a rarified level of quality and desirability to my mind. It was notably in the collection of Clarence Bement, an industrialist and philanthropist whose collection was regarded by 1900 as the finest in the US. It was eventually purchased by JP Morgan and donated in 1910 to the American Museum of Natural History. A copy of the AMNH accession label is provided, showing that Bement bought the piece from dealer Lazard Cahn - the label dates to around 1900-1901, by street address for his business (see the Min Record archives at http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=324 for more information). It was sold for $45 - a huge sum in those days for "just" a calcite, from a contemporary locality. So that shows you what was thought of it, even at the time. This piece was exchanged out from the museum in 1977 to Lawrence Conklin. He sold it to F John Barlow shortly after. It is shown in Barlow's book (1998), The F John Barlow Collection, on page 287. Barlow's editor for the copper chapter of his book is Marc Wilson, curator of the Carnegie Museum and an expert on the copper country minerals and history. Here is what he has to say: "This superb specimen consists of an outstanding, transparent, colorless crystal on minor matrix from the Hancock Mine..." . So, in sum, it shows well, is cabinet sized, and was owned by 2 of the most prominent collectors of the last 120 years (with a long stay in a museum in between them). Since the sale of the Barlow collection in 1998, it has been in a private collection and not for sale until now, when the owner retired and sold some pieces off recently to me. Joe Budd photos

This superb, doubly-terminated crystal shows gemminess and internal zoning characteristic of this important old East Coast locality. Classic yellow-green color zoning like this, along with the actual form and habit, is an important marker for genuine Haddam pieces. Such crystals are treasures of the past, seldom seen except in museum drawers today. This particular piece is in fine condition and has the interesting provenance of having been owned by about half a dozen of the most prominent East Coast field collectors and specialists of the 1900s. It started with Lazard Cahn (1865-1940), according to notes on the accompanying label of Arthur Montgomery (noted field collector who passed away in 1999). Montgomery paid $15 for it, probably in the 1930s. Then it went to Richard Gaines, and then to John White (former Smithsonian curator). White sold it to John Marshall. And John exchanged it to Lawrence Conklin before he passed away. All are noted , crazy-dedicated, East Coast enthusiasts who only want the best of these old locales. Joe Budd photos

This elegant miniature hosts a glittering 3-dimensional "net" of intergrown gold crystals, forming seemingly wispy clusters atop a pedestal of quartz. Actually, the gold is quite robust, not fragile at all, but just looks so. For the style, this is classic Eagle's Nest material. This is a superb miniature gold specimen for the price, in my opinion, that I am blowing out only because it turned up in our move and was an old specimen I bought at old prices. Joe Budd photos