A strange combination piece featuring a 2-cm-long gem tanzanite impaling a giant, highly unusual, blue prehnite crystal. The prehnite is complete about 4/5 around, with only one break where it contacted attached matrix, on the back of the termination. This is a significant prehnite for the locale, and a unique crystal habit and style overall. The tanzanite is a nice accent, but the value here is in this crazy , interesting, prehnite with its unusual color and fat, tabular terminations. From a find of 2011.

A fine, symmetric tourmaline of 23 grams, complete all around....These were found in the wet rainy season of 2010, in a curious manner. Dr. Federico Pezzotta of the Milan Museum spends much time at the nearby demantoid garnet locality as a consultant, teaching mining technique and also buying the specimens from the locals whom he has helped to teach how to mine. He had a small home built uphill and in-tide from the flooded mangrove swamps of the demantoid locality. While digging a deep hole for the outside toilet, the workers ran into a pegmatite vein. It was deeply altered and kaolinized , meaning most of the original pegmatite pocket matrix had transformed to a soft mushy clay between the surrounding rocks. Almost immediately, they hit one collapsed pocket, which produced the crystals you see here. Hence the name, "Toilet Pocket." After the pegmatite vein was mined out, the toilet was installed as originally planned. Dr. Pezzotta's February 6, 2011 talk on exploring for minerals in Madagascar features a brief mention of this surprising find, and can be found on DVD here: http://shop.bluecapproductions.com/product.sc?productId=76&categoryId=2

A fine, symmetric tourmaline of 30 grams, complete all around....These were found in the wet rainy season of 2010, in a curious manner. Dr. Federico Pezzotta of the Milan Museum spends much time at the nearby demantoid garnet locality as a consultant, teaching mining technique and also buying the specimens from the locals whom he has helped to teach how to mine. He had a small home built uphill and in-tide from the flooded mangrove swamps of the demantoid locality. While digging a deep hole for the outside toilet, the workers ran into a pegmatite vein. It was deeply altered and kaolinized , meaning most of the original pegmatite pocket matrix had transformed to a soft mushy clay between the surrounding rocks. Almost immediately, they hit one collapsed pocket, which produced the crystals you see here. Hence the name, "Toilet Pocket." After the pegmatite vein was mined out, the toilet was installed as originally planned. Dr. Pezzotta's February 6, 2011 talk on exploring for minerals in Madagascar features a brief mention of this surprising find, and can be found on DVD here: http://shop.bluecapproductions.com/product.sc?productId=76&categoryId=2

A cute, complex single crystal of tourmaline of 18 grams, complete all around. It is formed of several parallel crystals conjoined together and sharing a termination, which is a bit unusual....These were found in the wet rainy season of 2010, in a curious manner. Dr. Federico Pezzotta of the Milan Museum spends much time at the nearby demantoid garnet locality as a consultant, teaching mining technique and also buying the specimens from the locals whom he has helped to teach how to mine. He had a small home built uphill and in-tide from the flooded mangrove swamps of the demantoid locality. While digging a deep hole for the outside toilet, the workers ran into a pegmatite vein. It was deeply altered and kaolinized , meaning most of the original pegmatite pocket matrix had transformed to a soft mushy clay between the surrounding rocks. Almost immediately, they hit one collapsed pocket, which produced the crystals you see here. Hence the name, "Toilet Pocket." After the pegmatite vein was mined out, the toilet was installed as originally planned. Dr. Pezzotta's February 6, 2011 talk on exploring for minerals in Madagascar features a brief mention of this surprising find, and can be found on DVD here: http://shop.bluecapproductions.com/product.sc?productId=76&categoryId=2

A crystal of tourmaline composed of two conjoined crystals sharing a common termination so that from the front it looks like a single fat crystal, of 240 grams. Dark but nicely colored when backlit, with unusual yellowish hues. It is nearly complete all around , with just a small shallow bit of damage on the right side, atop of the termination.NOTE: the photos are shown only moderately backlit except for the first 2 photos, which show the good internal green/yellow colors when strongly backlit by a flashlight. The color spectrum is quite unique!...These were found in the wet rainy season of 2010, in a curious manner. Dr. Federico Pezzotta of the Milan Museum spends much time at the nearby demantoid garnet locality as a consultant, teaching mining technique and also buying the specimens from the locals whom he has helped to teach how to mine. He had a small home built uphill and in-tide from the flooded mangrove swamps of the demantoid locality. While digging a deep hole for the outside toilet, the workers ran into a pegmatite vein. It was deeply altered and kaolinized , meaning most of the original pegmatite pocket matrix had transformed to a soft mushy clay between the surrounding rocks. Almost immediately, they hit one collapsed pocket, which produced the crystals you see here. Hence the name, "Toilet Pocket." After the pegmatite vein was mined out, the toilet was installed as originally planned. Dr. Pezzotta's February 6, 2011 talk on exploring for minerals in Madagascar features a brief mention of this surprising find, and can be found on DVD here: http://shop.bluecapproductions.com/product.sc?productId=76&categoryId=2.

A fat, symmetric tourmaline of 173 grams, complete all around. Dark but nicely colored when backlit, with unusual yellowish hues.NOTE: the photos are shown only moderately backlit except for the first 2 photos, which show the good internal green/yellow colors when strongly backlit by a flashlight. The color spectrum is quite unique!....These were found in the wet rainy season of 2010, in a curious manner. Dr. Federico Pezzotta of the Milan Museum spends much time at the nearby demantoid garnet locality as a consultant, teaching mining technique and also buying the specimens from the locals whom he has helped to teach how to mine. He had a small home built uphill and in-tide from the flooded mangrove swamps of the demantoid locality. While digging a deep hole for the outside toilet, the workers ran into a pegmatite vein. It was deeply altered and kaolinized , meaning most of the original pegmatite pocket matrix had transformed to a soft mushy clay between the surrounding rocks. Almost immediately, they hit one collapsed pocket, which produced the crystals you see here. Hence the name, "Toilet Pocket." After the pegmatite vein was mined out, the toilet was installed as originally planned. Dr. Pezzotta's February 6, 2011 talk on exploring for minerals in Madagascar features a brief mention of this surprising find, and can be found on DVD here: http://shop.bluecapproductions.com/product.sc?productId=76&categoryId=2.

From a late 2011 find, at this inactive old mine, these are just incredible crystals for the species! They are large, and have incredible luster to them. The piece looks more like a scolecite from India, because of the size and brightness, and it is hard to relate to other generally small and dull-lustre examples of this species I have seen from other localities. A very surprising find, for rarities that appeared at the Tucson 2012 show. This was one of the larger specimens with good crystals. Note it has pockets sticking out all around.

I was shown a small lot from this apparently recent find, at the Tucson 2012 show, in which two large examples stood out dramatically from the others. This was the largest specimen in good condition, and it shows well the hematite crystal habit of the original crystal, which has since been replaced by a solid meshwork lattice of needle-like, glittering, rutile crystallization. Atop this replaced hematite, which now glistens with deep red, needle-like rutile, another generation of larger and more glassy, lustrous rutile crystals was later deposited. These crystals, to 5 cm, are entirely different in form. Overall a really interesting piece with complex symmetry contrasts, and unlike any rutile example I have seen before.

This is a HUGE, remarkably complete, sceptered crystal of the tourmaline varietal Dravite, from its classic locality. It is over 2 kilos, at 2100 grams mass. Crystals from this mine have graced collections for a long time as examples of stereotypical crystal habit, and of big tourmaline. But this monster is in a class of its own, with exceptional form and luster. These do not sell for a fortune, I admit, but this one I think is worth a lot more...very impressive, in person!

A remarkable specimen of hematite from one of the old iron districts here in the USA, that is so large and fine that it could easily be mistaken (via a lost or assumed label ID) as a classic old English hematite "horsetooth", which would of course be valued at a multiple of the price. This lesser known mine (at least to me as a collector) was near the more famous Montreal Mine, and yielded the majority of the iron ore shipped from the Gogebic Range to market in the mid 1900s. The mine was shut down by 1965. This specimen was collcted in 1958 by a miner named Dante Bruneau of Hurley. It remained in his family until recently, when it was sold to a collector (i have a signed document to this effect from the family). The piece is remarkably preserved and frankly, I am stunned at this one and I think belongs in a museum to important US ore localities. It is large and hefty, at 900 grams (over 2 pounds).

The photos say it all - this is a MAJOR acanthite for any Canadian locality, let alone from the cobalt mines where few large specimens were ever found and saved. It is dramatic and well crystallized, with several habits present on the specimen. It was found in 1963 and sold by the miner to John Durkos: From the noted collection of John Durkos, who built the best-documented and most extensive collection of silvers and silver species from the Cobalt area mines during their times of operation. His collection was particularly noted for detail such as when the specimens were collected, which he tracked down with care in buying directly from the miners. His collection passed on to Richard Hauck in the 1990s, who sold this to a silver collector at that time. It has not before been offered for public sale and is, in my opinion, an important and historic Canadian specimen. This specimen masses 788 grams, or about 2 pounds in weight. ILLUSTRATED IN THE NOVEMBER-DECEMBER MINERALOGICAL RECORD ISSUE ON COBALT.

Eitelite is an EXTREMELY rare carbonate mineral species, found in masses of grains or smears at a very few locales (see MINDAT: http://www.mindat.org/min-1360.html). Interestingly it was named after the scientist who first made it in the lab, rather than a natural crystal or example. Thus, natural, large eitelite specimens are unprecedented, even more than with most rare species, and this surprise new find released at the show was a big surprise for those who collect the rarities. These attractive specimens seem to be true crystals of eitelite, though grown in conjoined, lamellar masses. The top may be a contacted termination, where it grew against a constricting matrix of the pocket.