Aquamarine is rare from Mexico, let alone a big fat crystal with enough size to carve or display as a specimen. This is surely an old specimen, long in the David Stoudt Collection. I have seen only a handful of such pieces over the years. This one was purchased from a Mexican source, originally, and from an old collection of a miner there. Weight is 125 grams. Joe Budd photos

This specimen is from the finds of 2009 in Madagascar, from a dangerous, mangrove-covered deposit that floods for most of the day during the collecting season there. While many came out, briefly, we feel this deposit will be short lived. This is a stunning small minaiture or large thumbnail (a "toenail"), one that was held back until recently, by one of the sources. This piece features large, glassy and gemmy, grass-green demantoid crystals, measuring 1.75 cm in length, stacked together on a thin shard of matrix. This is a superb example for the size range, and features garnets of a quality that, if from the old classic locale in Italy, would 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. 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, see our update from 2010, here: http://www.irocks.com/Demantoid_Garnet_Topazolite_Garnet_Madagascar_Garnet.html. Joe Budd photos

Despite the flood of recent cuprites, copper, and even some silver from this mine, there have been surprisingly few examples of the generally more common copper carbonates such as azurite or malachite. This is a particularly nice, and very complete and colorful, example of azurite from this mine. The ball-shaped cluster is complete all around and pristine. It is the largest good example I saw from a small pocket released at Tucson of 2011, and held for me by one of my Russian sources before the show. The mining here is predicted to blast through the oxidation zone (from the bottom-up) within a year or so, making all these beauties a thing of the past. Joe Budd photos

Most Berg Aukas smithsonite is inferior to Tsumeb material, and one watches for the rare example that just leaps out, stands on its own, and presents so nicely as this piece. The crystals are large, well developed- and nearly pristine. The largest is 4 cm, tip to tip! They dominate a well trimmed matrix, and have a beautiful green daiquiri color to them. The crystals are translucent, and practically glow when backlit as the best Berg Aukas material does. This is from an old European collection where the owner purchased it from the father of the Gobin brothers (dealers), over 20 years ago; and is one of the better examples from this locality I have seen in this style. It is, for the price and size range, a much more important example from this locality than you could get in a comparably sized Tsumeb piece, given that for some reason the Berg Aukas locality is just disparaged in pricing compared to its more famous brother locale. And yet, Berg Aukas is almost as old, and had a history of producing amazing specimens too! It was discovered in 1913, and mined until 1978 (per MINDAT). Joe Budd photos

This piece was mined in approximately 2004 and was from a small locality in Shigar, from which I have not seen other pieces attributed since. It has the size and robust textbook-hexagonal form with basal termination of a Nagar-style (Hunza Valley) aquamarine, but yet with a deeper color saturation and gemminess characteristic of Shigar Valley pieces. Lustre is glassy, and fine. Overall, for the size and price it is very imposing and dramatic. The large central crystal is accented by sidecar crystals of aquamarine on one side and by mica crystals on the rear-left , which add both sparkle and dimensionality to make the piece more than "just a single" as so many big aquamarines are. It is complete all around, and as near to pristine as you can wish. I had exhibited this for a number of years as part of the natural history minerals exhibit at the Heard Museum in the north Dallas area. Large and hefty, at nearly a kilo in mass (over 2 pounds weight!). Joe Budd photos

From a private collection, this piece was purchased in the mid 1980s when the find came out, and never trimmed down from the big chunk I found it in when purchased�which was lucky, indeed, as the larger rock protected this pocket in a crevasse. This is one of the larger, and certainly one of the showier, hot pink calcites that I have seen come back on the market. It has intense color saturation, top lustre, and a moderate gemminess. The overall richness and dimensionality of the piece, make it very dramatic on a shelf.. Joe Budd photos

Wulfenite from the remote Kuruktag Mountains came onto the market first around 2007, and I was hot on the trail of the rumours of the find before it left China. This was a specimen I purchased at that time for my own collection of large China minerals, and it remained my favorite large wulfenite from this find for years. It is the only large example of this strange dual-colored crystal habit, with robust,m fat crystals instead of the generally thinner crystals this find is known for now. Also, a second generation of wulfenite with more red color, lays at the base. This particular piece, I liked, because it is just so unique amongst the others out there. I have now gotten one larger piece I was after, although it is of a different habit, and I cannot keep all things. So this is up for sale for a brief time...Joe Budd photos

In 1978, the Jonas Mine produced what is probably the most famous single pocket of tourmaline crystals of all time. This is a large, thick, very intensely colored crystal from that pocket. The piece is just over 120 grams, and stands 5 inches tall. It is pristine and complete all around (there is only one little natural divot, not damage, on a side edge). The color saturation, and size of this crystal, make it stand out dramatically. Few such are available on the market. Joe Budd photos

This is an important tourmaline specimen because so few of the multicolored scepters from this famous mine are on any kind of matrix, let alone so appealing and aesthetic a matrix as this one! Also, it has NO repairs. The GEMMY red/green zoned tourmaline crystal, which is doubly terminated as it sits hanging in its hidey-hole, measures 6 x 3 x 2.5 cm and perches gently in the hollowed-out cast of cookeite replacement of a larger, previous generation of green tourmaline. In person, it is really quite a bit more colorful and gemmier than it appears, and the contrast to the off-white matrix is striking. The upper termination is freestanding and complete, etched as most BdoS tourmalines are; but nevertheless showing a beautiful and colorful tip with good gemminess. Note that the BOTTOM termination of the tourmaline is also fully terminated in a series of trigonal stepped prisms, which is quite obvious in person. It is Complete and undamaged! This specimen comes with a custom-made lucite base. I owned this last in 2008 and was happy to be able to get it back by exchange. It still remains, so far as I have seen, unique on the market. Joe Budd photos

In 1978, the Jonas Mine produced what is probably the most famous single pocket of tourmaline crystals of all time. This is a rare floater cluster of SOLID TOURMALINE from the Jonas Mine, with the famous cranberry hue and excellent lustre . It is just very unusual in its form and size. Though it has the "Jonas Color" and smaller offshoot crystals here are translucent, it is not as a whole particularly gemmy (although it is somewhat translucent). It amazes me that such a piece can form complete and crystallized on ALL sides, and I have not seen one quite like this before ?!!? Mass is hefty at 237 grams! This is from the collection of Jack Halpern, to me by exchange a few years ago. I sold it and recently got it back after a few years out. The piece is quite impressive for sheer size and mass, for what has been on the market from this famous find . Joe Budd photos

A superb spray of very sharp, robusty colored amethyst crystals from this classic locality. The piece was mined in 1991 and was long in the Hubert Monmonier collection, which was bequeathed to University of Arizona. Sold in their recent deaccession/fundraising, this piece cleaned particularly well. It is nearly pristine, with just a tiny ding on the top. It has a great 3-dimensionality that you seldom see in these clusters, and it looks good from any direction. Joe Budd photos

This large, 550-gram crystal is brilliantly lustrous, like glass; and has stunning internal brightness and clarity. It is very hard to capture with photos, for these reasons, and so will be better in person. The edges are razor sharp and almost pristine (which very few are in this size range). The crystal shows the typical etching on the sides, but whereas in most crystals that etching creeps around and mars the front or top faces, here those faces remain perfectly sharp and smooth. The piece is actually a floater, complete all around, with the bottom covered in a blanket of white lepidolite.Joe Budd photos