Aesthetically perched on a gray-green schist, this dramatic, textbook-sharp almandine garnet crystal displays perfect dodecahedral form. Although opaque, these dark reddish-brown crystals exhibit surface coloration of a wine-red hue. This is a classic and important locality for garnet dating back hundreds of years! Since they have to be physically picked out of the surrounding matrix, the surfaces are usually dull and are, almost always, given a very slight buffing to imrpove the luster. This one surely was lightly rubbed, again as nearly all are; but here it was only very minimally done as opposed to the outright polishing we have sometimes seen. Nature of the beast...to get them out, and make them pretty, they just need a little help afterwards. The crystal is freestanding on its pedestal of matrix, and measures approx 6.5 cm across at widest tip-to-tip measurement. Joe Budd Photos.

A hot pink plate of sharp, rhombohedral smithsonite crystals. These crystals have a richer, more saturated pink color than one usually sees in this style of smithsonite from Tsumeb, which tends to be either darker or less colorful. This is a large and showy piece, as well. Probably collected in the 1970s to early 1980s, this was in the Tsumeb collection of noted dealer Rob Smith. Comes with custom lucite display base. Joe Budd Photos.

A complete floater, all gemmy and bright, from famous old finds here of the early 1980s. Formerly in the collection of Dr. Steve Smale, this is a gorgeous, display-quality small cabinet piece that can be shown from a number of angles. 170 grams. Joe Budd Photos.

This was one of two of Steve Smale's cabinet sized rose quartzes, which he bought out of a collection in Brazil in 1990 (though it was from the older finds, documented in Bancroft's Gem & Crystal Treasures Book, chapter 47 -page 222); and then he kept it for nearly 20 years. Nothing of such quality as that original find for sheer intensity in these arcing arrays of colorful crystals, has come out since that era, not in any size like this. Steve used to be a practitioner of cibachrome photography and I have his original hand-made 20-inch cibachrome print of the piece. Steve was THE CONSUMMATE collector of Brazilian fine gem crystals for a high standard of taste, and spent 50 years building one of the best collections of them ever put together in the US. He started breaking it up and trading before his move, a few years ago, to teach in Hong Kong (at age 80! ). I got this out of him ONLY as part of a large trade for the famous English bournonite in the Ikons book, in 2008. It is a rarified level of quality in Rose Quartz, which is actually more rare than one would think. The color is intense and hot pink, with excellent "sparkle." It is a specimen with an overall appearance that has long met the tastes of one of the strictest and most persnickety of collectors, and I believe it is worthy of any fine collection. Joe Budd Photo.

A classic Russian sapphire specimen of this very unusual roseate habit, which looks like a flower. We see many partial examples, or pieces, but few so complete as this one from here. It has, in person , more of a robust blue color in fluorescent lights. Joe Budd Photos.

From the early 1980s, 1980-1982, a flood of pyromorphite flowed out of this now classic, defunct locality. Most was yellow in color, or some off-shade related. In this find, relatively few were of the arsenian-rich, fiery-orange color. In the mid-1990s, reworking here found many pockets where the orange variety was found, but in very different crystal habit, to this ; and the two finds are readily distinguishable. This piece exemplifies the best qualities of that earlier find, with intense luster and satured orange-red , fiery color. The brightness is hard to convey in photos, as it really relies on the reflections of light, when seen in person, from so many subtle little curves and crevasses in the crystal clusters here. Although at first glance the surface here looks "rounded" , it is instead composed of hundreds of discretely crystallized crystal clusters , intergrown together in a rich carpet over rolling matrix. This specimen was in the Sandor Fuss collection in the 1990s, before disappearing for awhile (he was known for his collection of fine small cabinet and cabinet sized specimens, now sold off). It comes with a custom lucite display base. Joe Budd Photos.

A modern classic from the now-famous mine in Russia which has produced the most surprising cuprite find , and one of the best new finds, of recent years. The mine is winding through the oxide zone and its lifetime is now verylimited. The last truly great pocket of cuprites of this quality was found in december of 2010, I am reliably told (and this comes from that find, a "holdback" by a dealer there). The crystals are exceptionally bright and splendent, slightly translucent and of a deep red color. The piece is complete 360 degrees around and displays DRAMATICALLY from several angles, with about the brightest lustre of any that were found here; and unusually good aesthetics. Joe Budd Photos.

A remarkable Alpine fluorite from the single greatest pocket of modern times, which was worked by French field collector Frederic Eva from 2006, for a few years. Many crystals from this pocket had mattte faces or more pink color, with less saturation. This piece is lustrous on all major octohedral faces. This piece practically GLOWS with intense pink-red color, very saturated throughout and with no pale zones. IT IS MUCH BETTER IN PERSON, DESPITE ACCURATE PHOTOS, AS THE CAMERA CANNOT SEE HTE INTENSITY AND DEPTH OF THE EYE. THIS IS NOT JUST "ANOTHER" PINK FLUORITE, BUT A STEP BEYOND MOST. The crystals are complete all around 360 degrees, and have absolutely no damage whatsoever. They are fat, robust, and just plain "juicy," for lack of a better word. The combination of those qualities with an overall aesthetic display, is rare. The piece has a small amount o fmatrix granite still attached at the bottom, as well. Taken together, this is a rarified level of quality, and I was shocked to have been able to buy it dirty all these years after it had been mined and set aside in a French collection, still with pocket material on it that needed to be cleaned off in preparation. Joe Budd Photos.

This is a completely unique specimen in my experience, such as I have never seen. It looks fake at first glance. At second glance, it looks like a Godzilla caricature stomping on Tokyo. This specimen features a perfect, gemmy, champagne-colored topaz of a habit more common from Brazil than from Pakistani pegmatites, perched ON a cluster of classic Stak-Nala style, green-tipped tourmaline. I cannot recall even seeing a good topaz of such habit from this locality before, let alone one stuck on a tourmaline cluster. As well, the topaz style seem sreally unique compared to other Pakistani topazes I have seen. The piece not only has the great contrast of color, but of symmetry and form, between the two gem species. Also, it is complete all around, 360 degrees. It is in fact hard to decide which side to call the front. This was mined in the fall of 2011 and premiered at the Tucson 2012 show where I quickly grabbed it. Joe Budd Photos.

The holy grail of pyromorphite collectors is a truly great Les Farges pyro of this classic, waxy-wet , dark evergreen color. They are "magically delicious" to collectors, and almost never seen on public sale, for that reason. These came out a long time ago and are now almost impossible to find on the market. This is the top and most desirable style for the material. I have seen a number of them over the years in major old collections, but only a handful have ever come up for sale. This specimen is a superb large miniature with outstanding aesthetics. It is almost pristine, with just a few trivial breaks amidst over a hundred fine crystals. Few are so 3-dimensional. This is complete all around and looks good from all sides! It is a superlative old classic and would be nearly impossible to replace, if you wanted a fine miniature example of this famous find. I have seen much lesser pieces at $10,000 already; and have seen at least one fairly comparable piece sell recently for slightly more than this amount. This is a top level miniature and fit for any collection of classics with beauty and aesthetics as a conjoined target. Joe Budd Photos. From a prominent European Collection.