This fat, 4 x 4 x 2.7 cm tourmaline crystal is nice enough on its own, contrasting aesthetically with crystallized feldspar and bladed cleavelandite matrix. It is "a cutie" for the size and price range. But what really makes it more interesting are these really sharp 1-2mm inclusions of golden MICROLITE octohedra within! One crystal comes very slightly to the surface and was microprobed for identification, at the Museum of Milan for me.I have only seen a few such tourmaline, hosting microlite within tourmaline. The piece displays well, and seems to be a one of a kind mined in late 2010. I looked around Tucson for more, but did not see any others.. Joe Budd photos

This extremley rare large plate has has at least 100 crystals, many exceeding 1 cm. This is flashy and bright, with incredible coverage . Out of the whole find, perhaps under a dozen specimens had so many crystals on one plate, I have been told by my own sources who are close to the material; and have seen nearly all that came out. This plate has the deepest green color for the find, with no tinge of the brown hue that infinges on the quality of some demantoids from here (those that do not cross over to the "topazolite" variety of garnet, anyhow). The matrix is heavier than you might expect because it too, is garnet - altered in a rare event called metasomatism where the limestone host rock was replaced by garnet in microscale. This is a dramatic example for the size range, and features garnets of a quality that, if from the old classic locale in Italy, would absolutely be priced with another "zero" in the price. Such rich specimens were uncommon even in this find, as many as there were in the first traunches found. The locality is downright dangerous, and collecting is under appalling conditions. Needlesss to say, the recovery of fine larger pieces is all the more difficult here. Further production here declined in 2010 and I expect to continue at only a modest pace compared to the easier pickings of the first year. For more information and location photos, see our update from 2010, here: http://www.irocks.com/Demantoid_Garnet_Topazolite_Garnet_Madagascar_Garnet.html. Joe Budd photos

An intense, very deeply colored fluorite with color that is literally the saturation of grape jelly. This is from a small pocket that came out only a few years ago, and was sold even in Mexico for a super premium. Most of it, if not all, was controlled by the New family (a dealership) and Jason New kept the best in his collection (which I purchased in 2010). This specimen, with crystals exceeding an inch, shows beautifully from several angles. Most of these few specimens were not recovered in pristine condition. Although it has some contacting attachment points in back, and one noticeable ding on a side crystal to the left of the main frontal crystal, this is in good shape otherwise and certainly displays dramatically. A choice Mexican fluorite specimen. Joe Budd photos

A sizable, impressive, very 3-dimensional silver that came out of an old attic collection in Michigan. It formerly belonged to Robert Rann, well-known collector and co-author of an upcoming book on Michigan's mining history and the Seaman Museum. He obtained it in a lucky find, from an attic collection belonging to the descendants of a miner , and thinks this would have come out in the early 1900s. It is complete all around, very robust, and has sharp crystals to 1.2 cm flying out from the central, more massive stalk. Hefty piece, at 200 grams. Joe Budd photos

This specimen is a nearly pure gold nugget, with only a little quartz matrix included within the gold. It is surprisingly HEAVY for the size. It is not rolled or tumbled as most Aussie nuggets, but rather formed in and remained in its "reef" location, with its original matrix. Because of this, it is very sharp and hackly. It has a bright, typical high-purity gold color to it. The mass is 149g, which is just a hair under 5 Troy ounces. The way that gold is going, maybe we shouldn't sell nuggets. Frankly, it is harder to replace them now at a fair price, even at the source. But this one came in a part exchange, and hence does not have to be marked up so much. And given the movement of bullion, it should do nicely on that count as well as being a nice specimen. I do not believe you could purchase this direct from the gold fields any cheaper than at spot plus 20%, minimum. Joe Budd photos

A rather fine garnet, from an unusual locality! We have seen small, unimportant crystals, and a few big isolated crystals, but this piece is the best I have yet seen from the mine. It features sharp crystals with good lustre, to 1 inch. They are isolated and contrasted on the matrix. From a small pocket found in late 2010. Joe Budd photos

At 540 grams, this is a robust, very large example of the famous "hematite roses" that came out of here in the 1950s-1970s , in sporadic pockets. Some are still found today, rarely - but not of such size. This is an older piece from a European collection. It is not pristine - there is some minor edge wear - but this is trivial in context and impact for such a large, impressive, "rose-shaped" example. Most such rosettes are only 1-2 inches. This is fully 4 inches across! Joe Budd photos

Old material, from this old district mined in the early to mid 1900s. We seldom see rich plates of wulfenite from the Darwin District of mines. I have seen smaller pieces this richness, but not of this size and richness. This came out of an old collection being sold off recently, in California. Previously , that collector had bought it from now-retired dealer/collector Jean Hamel in the 1980s. This piece was collected in the mid-1970s by Wolfgang Mueller, now of Tucson, in prospecting the old mines of the Darwin District. Joe Budd photos

Few tanzanites show as much mixing of colors as this crystal does. By this , I refer to the fact that natural tanzanite is trichroic, viewed as blue or purple or red down each of the three axes of display. However, most tanzanites show discrete color, in which you must rotate the crystal a full 90 degrees to see the next color in line. This particular piece, which is also fabulously glassy and has a fat and geometric termination as a bonus, shows hints of its c-axis red color when viewed from the other angles. It is a squat, fat crystal at 50 grams, or 246.0cts . This came out in October of 2010. Because of the extreme color saturation, combined with high lustre, it is very difficult for the camera to focus on the core of the specimen so that you can see how gemmy it is , in person. Instead the camera is trying to focus on both the front and back faces at the same time, leading one to think this is transparent to translucent when in fact it is more like tranparency blue glass in person. The camera sees reflections off the clear back faces, bouncing back at the lens. However, it is actually almost entirely a true transparent crystal with more gemminess. The gem rough value of the specimen, in fact, is sizeable. I got it as a bargain, not cleaned fully, and hence the price per gram of this crystal with its intrinsic, high quality cutting rough, is a bit lower than normally would be the case if the previous owners had realized its potential to clean up. Do not let the relatively "reasonable" price fool you . I just got lucky - I could not easily replace this today, for any cost of my own in the near price range to what we are selling it for. Joe Budd Photos

This specimen features a robust cluster of unusually fat and well developed hedenbergite crystals, attached to a crystallized mass of galena. I am told this dates to the 1940s or prior, from these classic mines. I have seen many small hedenbergites from here, remarkable for their sharpness. But this one is very impressive as a specimen overall, and is nice from any angle. ex Al Ordway collection. Joe Budd Photos

Morganite from Afghanistan is the modern standard, and today is a good time to get these contemporary beauties which offer a lot of color and impact for the dollar compared to the old Brazilian classics. This piece is particularly impressive as a display specimen in a moderate price range, for its shocking gemminess and transparency, deep color saturation, and sharp hexagonal form. From a collection we purchased en masse recently, and not somethig I could replace at today's prices directly from the sources due to both recent price runups and less production here. This crystal is 355 grams (nearly a pound). It is INTENSELY colored, not just a pale pink as are so many. Joe Budd Photos