The San Diego County Mineral Collection of Pala International/William Larson

The San Diego County Mineral Collection
of Pala International/William Larson

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PALA-323 - Tourmaline - CAN$ 617
Pala Chief Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
small cabinet, 7.5 x 4.9 x 4.3 cm

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A fine, sharp schorl crystal from this old classic locality. Unusually it is accented by a few quartzes on the side. 265 grams

PALA-318 - Sapphire - CAN$ 3599
San Jacinto Peak, San Jacinto Range, Riverside Co., California, USA
large cabinet, 17.0 x 7.2 x 5.5 cm

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Sapphire from San Jacinto Peak, San Jacinto Range, Riverside Co., California, USA [db_pics/new09mix/sd318c.jpg]

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Sapphire from San Jacinto Peak, San Jacinto Range, Riverside Co., California, USA [db_pics/new09mix/sd318a.jpg]

A dramatic, large, example of these strange sapphires collected in the mid 1990s by the Gochenour brothers, in Riverside County (OK, strictly speaking not in San Diego County but hey, its close enough and the same basic geology!). This crystal is very aesthetically placed, and displayed in the matrix. It has, as most do, a few clean repairs stabilised by glue, but the price is also adjusted accordingly and in context all of them were like that. These are significant and unusual big sapphire crystals for a US locality! It is one of the bigger ones... 17 cm tall and among the finest found in this remarkable onetime find !!! ex Larson collection

PALA-317 - Goshenite with Schorl on Albite - CAN$ 926
Cryo-Genie Mine, Warner Springs, San Diego County, California, USA
miniature, 4.6 x 2.8 x 2.8 cm

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An unusual goshenite specimen from this briefly-mined claim, now sadly exhausted (at least for practical purposes, and without a lot of dynamite). The CG produced a huge variety of gem crystals in its brief lifetime in the late 90s and early 2000s, among them this fine miniature from the "goshenite pocket" . A stoudt single crystal is accented by schorl tourmalines here. Unusual!

PALA-309 - Spodumene var. Kunzite - CAN$ 977
Pala Chief Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
small cabinet, 8.5 x 2.3 x 1.0 cm

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Spodumene var. Kunzite from Pala Chief Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/new09mix/sd309a.jpg]

A classic old kunzite from one of the earliest locales in the County. 40 grams.

PALA-307 - Tourmaline - CAN$ 771
Little Three Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA
miniature, 5.2 x 3.6 x 2.8 cm

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A very fine little three tourmaline with uncommonly good sharp form, and more translucency than usual for the material. Probably from the 1970s-1980s

PALA-151B - Feldspar - CAN$ 1285
Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, San Diego County, California, USA
large cabinet, 15 x 7 x 6 cm

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Feldspar from Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/new09/0610-02a.jpg]

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Feldspar from Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/new09/0610-02b.jpg]

This is an unusually elegant and large, pristine, complete 360-degree feldspar crystal from this important locality. At 1.8 pounds, it has heft but is not so massive and heavy that it is hard to display, and should be a great companion piece of some importance to a Himalaya suite with many tourmalines.

PALA-151A - Feldspar - CAN$ 3085
Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, San Diego County, California, USA
large cabinet, 9 inches tall

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This is a whopper, a HUGE and miraculously pristine, complete 360-degree cluster of giant feldspar crystals from this important locality. At 12.8 pounds, 9 inches tall, it is dramatic and impactful. Even more, it is a floater cluster of two large xls with no attachment points, complete all around. It is partially covered with cleavelandite and with a nice smoky quartz crystal for accent

PALA-105 - Morganite - CAN$ 32908
Vandenburg (Vanderberg) Mine, Hiriart Mountain, Pala, San Diego Co., California, USA
large cabinet, 18.2 x 11.8 x 11.4 cm

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This several-kilo specimen has a HUGE 9 x 8 x 7.5-cm morganite crystal perched atop a matrix of quartz and cleavelandite. It is one of the most impressive large and dramatic County pieces I have laid hands on, and was a cornerstone of the Larson/Pala collection case. The thing GLOWS with color more intense and strong than any other San Diego morganite I have seenin person, especially when backlit. When found , it was the size of a basketball and it remained so for nearly 70 years until now, reduced to a more manageable size by trimming (i have a photo, to prove i did the right thing - it needed it!). Even ungainly large and untrimmed/uncleaned, it was a prized specimen in several major collections and a museum. This specimen was piece #2 in the collection of Arch Oboler, a major Los Angeles area collector of the early-1900s who was a writer for radio shows like the Shadow; and built a collection of uniformly fine and important specimens. You can read more about him at this link on the Mineralogical Record Archives: http://www.mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=791. Today , very few documented specimens from this private collection turn up on the market. His collection was sold to the famous dealer Martin Ehrmann in 1968, who sold it on to Marion Stuart, the heiress to the Carnation milk fortune (her rather early number, 358, shown on her card). She owned the piece for over 30 years, until about 2001 when the collection was sold to Wayne Thompson. During that time, it was on longterm loan as a display specimen to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. When the collection sold, it was one of Larson's first choices and went immediately into his own San Diego County collection. Thus in what is probably over 60 years since it was mined, it has had only 3 owners and been in a museum for some chunk of that time, as well.

PALA-102 - Aquamarine - CAN$ 2571
Audrey Lynn claim, San Diego County, California, USA
miniature, 5.2 x 3.8 x 3.1 cm

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A beautiful, very glassy, gemmy aquamarine crystal from this small claim. At 86 grams, we are confident that this is one of the larger and finer aquamarines recovered from the locality. It always held a valued place in the collection, certainly. The crystal has a small bit of albite attached in back, and some contact along the left side, but is undamaged otherwise. For San Deigo, where aquamarine is rare, this is a significant crystal.

PALA-150 - Quartz (floater shard) - CAN$ 1543
Carmelita Mine, Warner Springs District, San Diego Co., California, USA
large cabinet, 30.3 x 17.9 x 4.5 cm

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A huge, floater , shardlike quartz crystal that is not just big and beautiful, it is big and beautiful and from County! It is the kind of thing you would expect to see from Brazil, not from San Diego! A large museum-sized specimen,quite impressive in person

PALA-149 - Quartz included by Montmorillonite - CAN$ 1028
White Queen Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
large cabinet, 24.5 x 18.7 x 5.7 cm

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Going together with item PALA-148 as a set, this is a beautiful cluster of unusually large quatz crystals, richly included with the pink mineral montmorillonite. The White Queen is as well known for this combination, as for its famous morganites. This specimen is a level of magnitude higher than most others, in that it is large, beautiful, and complete. It was sawed down the middle, and each half mounted so they could be displayed to show the inclusions and the form to maximal visual effect. The reverse sides are complete, by the way, showing the outer milky quartz. Each weighs about 7 pounds. This half of the quartz cluster has several (old) repairs with old glue. It can be redone more cleanly if desired but as is, makes a fine display piece anyhow

PALA-148 - Quartz included by Montmorillonite - CAN$ 2571
White Queen Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
large cabinet, 24.5 x 18.7 x 5.7 cm

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Going together with item PALA-149 as a set, this is a beautiful cluster of unusuallylarge quatz crystals, richly included with the pink mineral montmorillonite. The White Queen is as well known for this combination, as for its famous morganites. This specimen is a level of magnitude higher than most others, in that it is large, beautiful, and complete. It was sawed down the middle, and each half mounted so they could be displayed to show the inclusions and the form to maximal visual effect. The reverse sides are complete, by the way, showing the outer milky quartz. Each weighs about 7 pounds. It is incredible to me that this specimen came out in one piece and was not repaired. Amongst many others in the Pala collection, this was the finest large example (and remains the finest i know of)

PALA-147 - Smoky Quartz - CAN$ 1028
Dawson Prospect, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
large cabinet, 25.1 x 14.7 x 11.8 cm

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A HUGE, 13-pound , transparent smoky quartz crystal from the County, highly unusual! Also, it happens to be good, too. It is complete all around and has a fine termination with almost no edge wear at all, despite its size and heft.

PALA-141 - Epidote - CAN$ 206
Murrieta, Riverside County, California, USA
small cabinet, 5.9 x 3.1 x 2.4 cm

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An unusual locality specimen of epidote, in bundled crystals, taken from a small seam in Murrieta by Ken and Dana Gochenour. The largest crystal has a wonderful, broad, equant termination!

PALA-142 - Tourmaline - CAN$ 926
Lithia Dike Mine, Cahuilla Mountain, Riverside Co., California, USA
small cabinet, 6.1 x 4.4 x 4.2 cm

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A 230-gram, rare , rather large crystal for the locality. This crystal is translucent green when backlit, and really glows when backlit. For the locality, this is an excellent specimen that adds breadth to the County collection of more common tourmalines.

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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com

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