This is a razor-sharp crystal with a termination so sharp you can literally cut yourself on it. The quartz hosts an internal phantom generation of quartz, that is richly included by powder blue ajoite. Now, often the inclusions are dispersed in the quartz , but seldom do you see a phantom within, concentrating the color as this one does. The crystal is complete all around, and shows extraordinary clarity looking through to the phantom zone within. I have seen literally hundreds of these, and in this size range, few have stood out to me as starkly as this piece, which I saw at the Munich show with a direct source. Moreover, it is complete and sharp, and shows off the inclusions without need of polishing. It really is one of the sharpest and finest in its size class. After cleaning, we found that it is technically a floater - rough at the bottom, but microcrystallized and complete.

Usually, papagoite is dispersed in veils, but in this piece it is extremely concentrated in richness and in color saturation, right at the tip! This is a phenomenal crystal with unusually vivid coloration. The termination is sharp and complete, unusually pristine. Note also the slight wisps of copper inside, dispersed in the zone of deep blue papagoite. A classic, unique to this locality, such crystals are highly desirable in this quality. Papagoite is much rarer, here, than the ajoite inclusions. MUCH better in person, this is one of the sharpest such examples that I expect to be able to offer. It is from new finds in late 2009.

A sharp, very beautiful example of the rare habit found in a single pocket here around 2005. These had been hoarded and slowly released to the market, but that stash is done now. Few remain to be had; and for the size range , this is an excellent miniature with top quality. The color is , as it looks, YELLOW on the termination (atop a pinkish-red body). The termination is ultra-glassy, about the glassiest you can ever see in a tourmaline! These things look Afghani in form and termination, in fact...rarely would you see such from Brazil. But the color is unique, not found anywhere else quite like this. And in combination with the crazy lustre and sharp terminations, these will be remembered as one of the best tourmaline finds of the decade, I am sure.

I had the good fortune to be able to run over to Evan Jones' booth real quickly at the start of the Tucson main show, and snag one good piece in the stampede to buy these. He was the only dealer-outlet and seller of this material, collected in a freak pocket at the little-known Carlota Mine on October 24, 2009. It was found on the 3460-foot-deep level. This was, to my eye on the prowl, the best large plate there for overall aesthetics and quality. It is a GORGEOUS, Tsumeb-intensity of blue color! The lustre is fabulous, in person. The piece has sharp crystals, to 1 cm or so in size. They LOOK like Tsumeb material at half the price they should be, but are from Arizona instead. Nobody expected this, and to my knowledge in nearly 100 years of on and off mining here, such have not been found before. This makes the odds of a repeat find, somewhat low in my estimation. In any case, this is a truly beautiful and fine azurite plate for any lcoality, particularly Arizona, priced cheaply in my opinion. More of the long history on this locality can be found at MINDAT: http://www.mindat.org/loc-61469.html. Again, if you saw this at twice the price, labelled Tsumeb, you would not blink an eye or think it improper...it could pass!

From the recent finds in Peru (January 2010), this is a hefty, 750-gram specimen of pink fluorite perched BETWEEN bright pyrite on one side, and stark, metallic galena on the other side! The contrasts are striking - I have never seen such a nice combo, with BOTH species side by side flanking the fluorite. The pyrite is in the form of small crystals, with brilliant lustre; while the galenas are bigger crystals with a strange waxy lustre and almost silky in appearance. The contrasts and sparkle factor are very pronounced , here. The pink fluorite measures nearly 5 cm across its bottom edge, so this is a sizable and significant piece. It is pristine as well. We saw a large part of this pocket, and I felt for the overall associations, this was one of the most interesting pieces among them.