An unusually glassy and very gemmy tourmaline for this classic old locale! Seldom do you see crystals with such transparency and glassy lustre. The entire crystal is translucent at least, with over 2.3 really considered transparent. The color is a little more pink than maroon, for the pegmatites here. For a miniature, one usually can only get skinny singles or flattish crystal tips from this location. This piece, robust and a full miniature, really jumped out at me. 105 grams. Joe Budd photos

These sharp amethysts are known for clarity and lustre, but even so this is in a very high percentile. The quality is through the roof, just glassy as you could wish for and brilliantly colored with an "internal sparkle" that is hard to convey. Intense grape-juice colored amethyst phantoms inside such limpid clarity, make these unique among the world's amethyst finds. This is a superb example in every way with top quality transparency, color and color contrast, and lustre. It is from the well-known Charlie Key quartz collection (Charlie was a longtime dealer there, and built this collection over decades). Joe Budd photos

Tyrolite is normally just crust on a rock , or small acicular crystals, from most locales that I have seen. This piece, however, features huge, intensely green crystals on matrix, and is probably from the early 1900s. It is attractive and incredibly rich for the species. ex Conklin collection, and formerly in the American Museum of Natural History. NOTE this piece is stabilised on teh backside, with glue (old). Joe Budd photos

These unique mineral replacements of fossils are quite rare and hard to come by as anything more than thumbnail sized examples. This is a full miniature, beautifully excavated to reveal choice, mostly complete replacements of the fossil snail shells by red quartz, variety agate (some call them true jasper). From the pseudomorph collection of dealer and collector, Ken Roberts. This is the best example I have personally seen for sale. Joe Budd photos

Stephanite and other silver species were found long ago in the early 1900s at this old silver district. I have never actually seen one for sale, until this came by. It was exchanged out of the reference collection of Cal Tech to me recently, and comes from one of their donor collections. Sharp stephanite crystals form a dramatic ridge atop the matrix of this historic specimen. Joe Budd photos

Collector Peter Lyckberg shocked us a few years ago (in 2004) when he brought out a widely-reviewed small pocket of etched gem heliodor crystals from this remote mine. Only a few ever hit the market, and this was a superb miniature he kept back in his private collection before parting with it in exchange to me at the Munich show in around 2006-2007. I sold it right away, and got it back recently as that collector's tastes are changing. Hefty at 108 grams, there is sizable carving value here. It is a beautiful and unique heliodor with glowing color. See MINDAT for more reference on this obscure locality: http://www.mindat.org/loc-21777.html. Joe Budd photos

Crystallized turquoise is for some reason a true rarity in nature and occurs only at a VERY few localities worldwide. This one, in Virginia, is the most famous of them. While the crystals individually are sub-mm, this piece overall has an incredibly rich and pristine coverage area that is loaded with them, making it an important specimen. This is an old, defunct occurrence now. We have had few examples of such size. This one is ex Robert Whitmore collection. Joe Budd photos

This is an extremely fine example of a rare pseudomorph from this locality, and I think not common from any locale for that matter. The complex, reticulated twins of cerussite have been entirely replaced by its cousin species, the more sturdy and stable (and nicely sparkly!) anglesite. The piece is beautiful for its combination of geometry and sparkly coating. I have seen others, usually clunky, but have simply not seen such a nice example for sale, for aesthetics. ex Robert Nowakowski collection, and an old classic. Joe Budd photos.

Colorado zircon is mentioned in old US mineralogy books, but seldom do you see a really good one. This specimen comes from the Harvard Museum collection via the Lawrence Conklin collection, and we guess dates to the early to mid 1900s. It is numbered 21612 and "Reese exchange" on the Harvard label. It features relatively lustrous, sharp, somewhat translucent crystals on matrix, and is complete nearly all around. Joe Budd photos

A robust, very hefty and dramatic cluster of fat, barrel-shaped pyromorphite crystals from the famous finds here of the early 1990s. The color is due to rich arsenic content in the crystals, makign these finds unique compared to earlier finds here in the 1980s with generally smaller crystals. Complete all around 360 degrees. These are now classics, seldom seen on the market in this size. Many specimens were found which were crusts, but 3-dimensional, thick clusters like this were never common. This is from the collection of mine owner, Bob Hopper, who recently passed away although I got this from him several years ago. Joe Budd photos

At 10.73 carats, this is a MAJOR diamond thumbnail specimen for its lustre , sharpness, and color saturation. The color is fancy intense, not just a medium yellow. The lustre is bright and glassy, not just average. And, the geometry is more appealing than most such simple, single crystals. Moreover, most diamonds in this size show rolling dings or worn edges from natural proceesses or from damage in handling. This is a razor sharp quality for a cluster, which tend to be rounded. The locality is probably from the Miba Mine, based on style, though my source was not sure of that detail. In any case, it is a SUPERB crystallized fancy diamond crystal that stands out from the usual white and colorless singles ! The crystal measures 1.1 or 1 cm on edges, and 1.5 cm tip to tip as it stands up. Joe Budd photos

At 12.2 carats in size, this is a very respectable and fine brazilianite cut from old rough, found in the 1940s-1950s from this , the type locality for the species. It is exceptionally clean for a large brazilianite gem. This specimen was featured as part of a rough and cut set in the exhibition "MINERAL DREAMS: Brazilian Gem treasures" at the Munich show of 2010. (video now available from BlueCap Productions).. Joe Budd photos

A rare example of seemingly octohedral crystals of alabandite, from the Chiurucu Mining area and NOT from the Ucchuchaccua rhodochrosite mine in Lima Dept. The large 2.5-cm (an inch!) crystal is complete and sharp despite an internal fracture that started but did not continue through the piece. This is a huge crystal by any standard for the species and among the largest fine crystals from this smaller find (certainly the best that we saw of the lot...) ! An association of gemmy quartz really makes the specimen aesthetic. A small bit of rhodonite on the bottom is present as well. Only one dealer had a very few of these specimens at the Tucson 2011 show alongside pieces from the Uchuchaccua Mine. What are the odds of two new finds of the best alabandite crystals in the world coming out of different mines in Peru at the same time, after decades of nothing like this? near zero? I am very sure of this locale, though: one of these specimens has a smidge of rhodonite on the bottom of the matrix, confirming its mine of origin. Joe Budd photos