Rhodochrosite from the old finds is one of the Holy Grails of every new major collector. This piece is a stunning exemplar of WHY we all want one. And it is big, flashy, and sparkles with color. The color is a bright cherry red, not the darker wine-red of the scalenohedral style most folks have already. This style is much rarer - and was much rarer back in the day, as well. Very few like this came out, and particularly few in this SIZE range. This would have been 1978-1980 range. This is the same pocket as the famous "Snail" rhodo of Bill Larson's collection. This specimen glows when backlit, because light comes through the entire radial wheatsheave cluster atop. It has a nice horizon, whereas most have a contacted or bare edge. A great N'chwaning rhodo of the scalenohedral style will be more expensive than this one, and yet here w get a better degree of rarity and uniqueness in display. This piece came to me as a larger specimen from an old collection purchased in entirety to get, largely, this one piece. It had remained in South Africa for 30 years, only comin gto me in fall of 2010.Joe Budd Photos

This specimen is the back cover of the MINERAL-UP calendar, published in Spain by Joaquim Callen. I LOVE the piece, and have always loved it since I bought it and put it away 4 years or so ago, waiting to see what else came out of the mine. It turns out that the brief rain of fine golds was both spotty and short, with many of different styles but few so brassy and bright like this. It looks, in person, like robust aluminum foil, that has been gold plated and then airbrushed to make it more modernist. This is a phenomenal piece with INSANE lustre and form so sharp it LOOKS like it was cut with a cookie cutter, not grown. I am trying to find words to express why this little thing looks so damned overpriced , at first glance. And all I can end with is,IT IS THAT SHARP. To me, most Round Mountain golds are second-rans in a general sense, after California crystallized golds, for lustre and brightness. Look in the publications and you will see very fine golds with fine crystals, many more robust and larger than this, but you will see nothing quite like this for sheer "flash". Size is just a bit under 2 inches and so this is a full-on miniature, not a toenail. It is equally good on both sides and picking a front face is entirely arbitrary. It is a floater with no attachment point or damage. And, it is one of those favored Round Mountain golds that stands as a great piece on its own merits, rather than being just a neat crystal from a rare locale. I really feel this is a competition-level gold miniature, about as choice as you can get for anything in a remotely reasonable price range, and that it leaves money on the table. The reason I say this is because you can spend far more on a California gold and yet, in the end, not have one so impactful as this. That being said, I will put in writing that i will buy this back for a check, anytime - I love it that much.Joe Budd Photos

This very rare copper, zinc, phosphate, reaches its worldwide zenith in Montana. Or it did, anyhow, over 30 years ago! Such specimen are extremely rare and this is a HUGE crystal for the species, at the top of its size range except for a few outlying specimens. This cluster of extremely lustrous, rich and deep blue-green veszelyite crystals , is quite simply phenomenal and the best such I have had for sale. This was the major specimen in the Roland and Kathy Sherman thumbnail collection, the non-Southwest-USA portion of which I recently purchased. It is INCREDIBLE in person with a presence hard to convey in photos...very impactful, despite that it is a small miniature/large thumbnail. The story is something like this, to set it all out: It was mined in the late 1960s (1969, i think?) in the major pocket of this material found at Phillipsburg. It was sold in a fishy deal in 1981 by a colorful miner nicknamed "Oreo", at the Tucson show, to the dealership Van Scriver. Brad van Scriver then sold it to well known San Diego thumbnail collector (who also happenned to be his mother!) , Beth Gordon, within a day. It was in her collection for decades and she had one of the finest collections of thumbnails for the era. The previous owners, Roland and Kathy Sherman, traded it out of her before the collection was broken up. This then was the best piece in their own thumbnail collection. It was not on the open market, then, since 1981. The blue is dark, true, but it IS a vivid blue color and not as dark as it looks in the photo. This is a very rare specimen of highest quality that ALSO happens to be a superbly balanced thumbnail specimen for the collector. Joe Budd Photos . NOTE ADDED courtesy of collector Russ Hage: Oreo Winginghoff was somehow involved in ownership of BP during the time this specimen was mined. He sold the Vesy xtal to Duane Johnson who sold it on to the Smithsonian (perhaps the only finer example, or one of the very few). Oreo was killed when a loader drove over him will working at Stillwater PMG mine about 5 years ago (2007?).

Phenacite from this old locality, producing in the 1940s-1950s, is still regarded as the highlight of the species. Large crystals of this magnitude are hard to find, and generally only seen in museums today. This specimen was featured in the exhibition "MINERAL DREAMS: Brazilian Gem treasures" at the Munich show of 2010. It is a highly lustrous, flying-saucer-like crystal that is absolutely transparent in most portions, and is very bright overall both on the surface and internally. The crystal broke from matrix at the bottom, so there is a contact there, and also a small damage spot of about 6 mm atop and on the left edge (this could be filled with restorative epoxy if desired, easily enough; but I thought it relatively trivial in context and prefer to have the natural piece without restoration). Otherwise, it is complete all around and even on the backside. Small crystals of muscovite mica are included in the bottom of the crystal. A MAJOR crystal of this rare gem species! Joe Budd Photos

A very , very fine and rare specimen of large crystals of Cervandonite, which is a rare earth arsenate containing all kinds of interesting ingredients such as Ce, Nd, La, Titanium and Aluminum, and some Arsenic for good measure. It is like a witches' brew of rare earths with oxygens added. These crystals are gorgeous and extremely large for the species. The cluster is 1.5 cm across, and complete all around. They are undamaged, and show classic curvature for this material. From the collection of Matteo Chinellato of Italy.Joe Budd Photos

Papagoite seldom occurs so intensely, so brightly, and so well dispersed in the quartz from this classic locale. Recent finds have really redefined standards, yielding huge crystals with excellent coloration. However, most are large crystals, generally singles or clusters. ry finding a killer miniature against the crowd of larger pieces! There just are many largre pieces, now, but few this size range for the miniature collector. This is one of the finest smaller quartz crystals I have seen for clarity, sharpness, and completeness (it is a doubly-terminated floater). It is invested with Papagoite, both rich and of the highest color saturation for this material. Overall, just an exquisite specimen that is so much brighter and more colorful than most. .Joe Budd Photos

Dioptase crystals to 1.4 cm, richly and solidly covering matrix. This is a beautiful, rich specimen , though the dioptase from this locality does not have quite the lustre of Tsumeb material (from the 1980s). However, this is far more rare! This specimen might seem unassuming at first , but it is important to note that the dioptase from Guchab predates Tsumeb dioptase of any quality by 50 years and more -and is VERY rare on the market. As well, documented specimens, are almost unheard of as they tend to lose labels over time or be "re-labelled" as a Tsumeb dioptase by dealers because of the perceived price premium associated with having a Tsumeb dioptase (only because most of us have never heard of Guchab, before, though!). This is a legitimate piece with a Smithsonian label, purchased with funds from the Roebling donation of 1926. Hugh Ford, a dealer in NYC, traded this out of the Smithsonian prior to 1950. His label, which still is associated with the piece, dates by its address at 110 Wall Street from 1946-1957. His letter to the collector, Russell Ford, notes this as well. The Smithsonian label notes that it was obtained from the Kegel collection - Kegel was a very important general manager of the company that owned the Tsumeb mine from 1922-1938, and in fact the main shaft in the 1920s was named the friedrich Wilhelm shaft under his directorship. The Kegel collection was the single most important collection of Namibian material existing at the time, and was purchased en masse by the Smithsonian in 1950 using funds provided by the Roebling endowment. This documented, displayable specimen is an important historical dioptase with a rare provenance.Joe Budd Photos