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TUC102-001 - Phenakite - $ 1800 Jos, Nigeria miniature, 3.6 x 2 x 1.2 cm
A superb, complex crystal, totally gemmy and brilliantly lustrous! It is 3.6 cm tall, very well crystallized and robust, complete all around, and 11 grams. This is one of my very last phenakites from this small new find of august, 2009.
TUC102-002 - Phenakite - $ 900 Jos, Nigeria thumbnail, 2.6 x 1.8 x 1.4 cm
A superb, complex crystal, totally gemmy and brilliantly lustrous! It has a more cityscape look to it, a very geometric patterning. They are really quite unusual specimens fo the species and look for all the world like colorless garnets. It is 2.6 cm long, very well crystallized and complete all around. 7.5 grams. This is one of my very last phenakites from this small new find of august, 2009.
TUC102-003 - Prehnite (manganoan) with Grossular Garnet - $ 7500 SOLD Jeffrey mine, Asbestos, Estrie, Quebec, Canada small cabinet, 7 x 6.9 x 3.4 cm ex. Franco Spertini
This is a true rarity, the likes of which I had never seen or heard of before for the locale: PURPLE prehnite crystals, supposedly colored by the same agent (manganese) that also makes vesuvianite from here go purple occasionally. The crystals have a definite lavender color in person, and are perched on a plate of minutely crystallized grossular garnet matrix. At the edge of the plate, brilliant, deep green garnets to 2 or 3mm form a sparkling contrast to the prehnites. These sharply crystallized prehnites, to 3 cm long and tapered like chisels, are exceptional for the species and locality. And, they seem quite unique. This specimen is from the collection of Franco Spertini, the mine geologist during the heyday of this operation (now, sadly, defunct and closed). As a side note, we purchased a number of the specimens from this collection for a future update on this site...but there is no other like this.
TUC102-004 - Feldspar - $ 6500 SOLD Virgem de Lapa, Minas Gerais, Brazil large cabinet, 18 x 21 x 8.5 cm
A superb, textbook feldspar crystal. Not just is it big, but it is stark white, perched on a natural pedestal, and just an amazing display of perfection in symmetry in nature. The pics say it all. You do NOT see many feldspars of the quality you could put in a collection of fancy gem crystals and they hold their own. This one, though, does that. Ex Franz Saller collection of Bavaria, Germany; probably purchased in the 1980s . The piece is pristine, and complete all around - remarkably free of damage.
TUC102-005 - Tanzanite - $ 12500 Block D, Merelani Mines, Arusha, Tanzania miniature, 3.9 x 2.6 x 1.6 cm
This specimen is as jewel-like as you can get for an uncut tanzanite, with absolutely top glassy lustre, that looks polished, combined with a complex sharp termination and a rich natural color. This kind of clarity and perfection of form, combined with the freaky lustre and the color scheme here, has come out only in small amounts of crystals, generally of abou tthis size or smaller, from Block D in recent years. Admittedly, the material of this particular style is not the most intense blue, or purple, or red (on c-axis); but rather has more subtle pink/maroon coloring on the long axis and a lighter pastel hue of blue. It has not been heat-treated, which emphasizes and conforms the blue and purple hues to a standard , while squelching the natural red or pink color on the c-axis. It is pristine and complete all around, and displays like a Jewel in a showcase. This is , due to the lighter color palette, not the traditional "major" tanzanite of intense blue (and there, heat treated pieces are acceptable to me when disclosed as such), but rather a more rare and subtle crystal that to me is all the more desirable for its unique qualities. 32 grams
TUC102-006 - Tanzanite - $ 15000 SOLD Merelani Mines, Arusha, Tanzania small cabinet, 7 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm
This is an intensely-colored crystal of natural hues, which run to deep purple (front) and deep blue (side) on the A and B axes. It is NOT heat treated to enhance and conform the colors to gem industry standard. This crystal has outstanding lustre, like glass; and a sharp, interesting, bifurcated termination. The sharp form looks like that of a slab of blue glass, it is so equant and even on its faces. The piece is complete all around except for a few slight dings and a contact on the back side. What is really unusual about the piece is that the red/maroon color on the c-axis actually slips over and shows from the front, when it is lit strongly. Thus, you see red in the bottom of the front face, which should otherwise be a pure purple. The intermixing of the colors is not a common event i ntanzanites, and here it is very pronounced. Combined with the sharp, interesting termination (most have just a simple point), the intense colors make this a showy piece, of good size, at a price that seemed to me relatively low compared to others on the market today (and in fact I amortised this down from the original price my own source considers me to have paid for it).
TUC102-02 - Phenakite (twinned) - $ 2400 Mogok, Sagaing District, Mandalay Division, Burma (Myanmar) miniature, 3.2 x 1.6 x 1.4 cm
Out of all phenakite locales, these Mogok crystals stand in a unique place because of their sharp twinning about the long axis, easily visible in the complex spoked terminations. This is a superb, GEMMY, sharply twinned single crystal of phenakite, 12 grams in mass. The crystal here is exceptional in size and gemminess, and comes from the first trickle out of here in 2008 or so. Since that time, a few small pockets have been hit, sparse and intermittently worked. But no major or large find has turned up and these continue to be hard to obtain. This is a superb example, and quite distinct from phenakite from other locales.
TUC102-03 - Silver - $ 4000 Himmelsfurst Mine, Saxony, German small cabinet, 8 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm ex. George Holloway
An elegant, tapering, curvaceous wire silver from the classic old mines of the Saxony silver district! This is a superb example in its size and price range, with a complexity not just to the curving top, but a sinuous twisting complexity to the main rope itself that is unusual. IN PERSON, this is much more 3-dimensional and curves in volume, not just in 2 dimensions; and stands out from a large crowd. Formerly in the George Holloway collection, traded to me in the 1990s, and now back with me today. For the size range and price range, this has Style!
TUC102-04 - Quartz with Rutile inclusions (unusual large doubly-terminated crystal) - $ 12000 SOLD Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil large cabinet, 21 x 5 x 5 cm
This is a stunning specimen of rutile included inside quartz...rather, in a giant elongated , floater quartz crystal! THE RUTILE NEEDLES ARE 7 INCHES LONG! I have never seen a piece like this, with such large rutiles, included precisely along the c-axis so that their whole length is enclosed. Usually the inclusions are not lined up on the long axis, and so the quartz cannot possibly hold the full terminations (even of small rutile crystals). Here, we have rutile complete from tip to tip, 7 inches later. The color of the rutile is red-orange, a RICH hue, not the usual yellow-orange or brown shades of rutile. So, it really stands out to the viewer. The contrast of symmetries and color, and of the acicular rutile inside to the sharp faces of the enclosing quartz, is more dramatic than one normally sees (usually there is just no alignment, no symmetrical relationship). I have seen literally thousands of rutile in quartz specimens and few transcend to this level of import and interest to me. I showed it to other sophisticated colelctors who normally would not register a "common oddity" such as this , and all were equally impressed. In fact , I elicited a few choice phrases from one normally conservative and polite collector. The piece is 735 grams, and complete all around except for a small growth contact on one terminal face. A remarkable, rare quartz specimen of the top calibre to my mind. Apparently an older specimen kept in teh stash of a Brazilian source, this turned up at the Tucson 2010 show.
TUC102-05 - Quartz with Rutile inclusions (unusual tabular form) - $ 2250 SOLD Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil small cabinet, 9 x 7.5 x 1.5 cm
This rutilated quartz is unusual in that the quartz itself has a tabular shape, like a flattened parallelogram almost, that we call "tabular." Tabular quartz is seen often from some locales, and is rare from others. From the rutilated quartz localities, I simply have not seen such a piece before. The rutile is rich and bright inside, and the piece has good color overall. The contrast of the spraying needles inside to the flat faces outside makes the specimen appealing, visually; but the knowledge of the rarity of the tabular , elongated quartz habit also adds a level of interest to me (and I would not care as much if it were bashed or incomplete - but this IS a terminated-all-around floater in good condition, too !).
TUC102-06 - Smoky Quartz - $ 3000 Dodo Mine, Puiva Mount, Saranpaul, Prepolar Ural, Western-Siberian Region, Russia large cabinet, 18 x 9 x 8 cm ex. Daniel Trinchillo Sr.
Probably dating to the 1980s heyday here, this is a 2 kilo GEM crystal of alpine smoky quartz, of a quality normally only associated for brightness and clarity with the Swiss and French Alps. However, Russia also had a few! This locality, in its heyday, produced an exquisite suite of alpine cleft type minerals. The smokies were generally smaller, and more pale, smoky to gray in color. This bright quality and intense color, combined with gemminess, are a rarity. In excellent condition, this is complete all around with no significant wear, save only at the lower part of its base (and that is mostly contact, not damage). This specimen was exported from Russia by dealer Daniel Trinchillo in the 1990s, and was then appropriated/purchased by his father , a well-known quartz collector, before it ever hit the market. It has since been in the collection of Trinchillo Sr. Comes with custom lucite base In person, an imposing specimen!
TUC102-07 - Tellurium (native) - $ 2000 SOLD Emperor Mine, Vatukoula, Tavua Gold Field, Viti Levu, Fiji thumbnail, 1.8 x 0.6 x 0.4 cm
A stunning, superior crystal of native tellurium, quite simply so sharp it looks carved. I cannot imagine a better example of the species, on a gram per grambasis. This quality was found ONLY at this locality, and few specimens have ever been exported to our market over the years. A thumbnail so well-sized, so displayable, and pristine all around, is a thing of rarity and among my favorite of mineral specimens
TUC102-08 - Atacamite (unusual crystal habit) - $ 3000 copper mines of Naltagua, near Las Casas, Santiago province, Chile miniature, 4.8 4 x 2 cm
This specimen features SHARP, pseudo-octohedral crystals of atacamite (to 6 mm), robust and sharp on massive matrix. Most atacamite was found in the Antofogasta Region and not in the Santiago region of Chile. A very appealing, display-worthy specimen that is an unusual example for the species. For those who collect aesthetic display rarities,this is one sure to stump most people into guessing it is Libethenite or Malachite first. NOTE ADDED FROM CURATOR Pierre-Jacques Chiappero of the Parisian National Musuem: I write you about your specimen of atacamite TUC 102-08. I recognize immediatly the origin of this specimen. It belongs to the Vesignie collection. The name atacamite and the catalog number 2950 A had been written by him. Vesignie bought this specimen from the Parisian mineral dealer Deyrolle in june 1930 for 81 french francs. The initial handwriting give the locality in french that i can translate by from the copper mines of Naltagua near Las Casas in Santiago province, Chile. This specimen was obtained by the Museum in 1955. It was probably exchanged to a collector or a dealer during the sixties.
TUC102-09 - Syngenite - $ 300 SOLD Kaliwerk Niedersachsen, Wathlingen, Lower Saxony, Germany miniature, 4.4 x 1.3 x 0.6
A sharp, tapering crystal with a broad, chisel-like termination. Syngenite is a potassium, calcium sulfate, rarely forming good crystals in this size.
TUC102-10 - Tourmaline - $ 1200 SOLD Morro Redondo mine, Coronel Murta, Jequitinhonha valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil thumbnail, 3 x 1.3 x 1.2 cm
One of a very few tourmalines I found in an old collection with this classic combination from the 1960s or 1970s: incredible BRILLIANT lustre, glassy surface, intense color zoning, and a gem nodule inside the base. These are absolutely STUNNING in person, like nothing in recent finds from tourmaline. Mark my words, when you see it in person, you won't think its as overpriced as it seems to be. I pried these out of a tourmaline collector who bought them in the early 1970s and has owned them ever since, in Germany. A stunning thumbnail, that leaps out from others for its style and gemmy blue termination (totally transparent here). 8 grams
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