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from the TUCSON and MUNICH shows
TUC10-16 - Topaz - CAN$ 2079 Zapot pegmatite, Gillis Range, Fitting District, Mineral Co., Nevada, USA miniature, 4.5 x 4.1 x 2.2 cm
The Zapot (topaz spelled backwards…) is a small prospect in the middle of nowhere in Nevada. Harvey Gordon worked it on and off for many years, before finally hitting one glory hole of beautiful, intense blue topaz. This is, for my taste, the finest specimen on a gram for gram basis that I have seen from the find. I still recall the whole pocket on exhibit in Tucson, one year around 2000 or so. Most are a steely gray-blue color. This specimen is VIVID blue, with color an dlustre comparable to old Brazilian material, although with a unique crystal habit. It is complete on the front and sides, contacted in back, and extraordinarily gemmy for material from this find. I rank this highly, as a US classic, and there are simply very few Nevada topaz specimens that get me so excited, even though many were much larger an dpricier.
TUC10-17 - Mimetite - CAN$ 104 SOLD Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 3.8 x 3.1 x 2.4 cm
Beautiful beige spherical aggregates of botryoidal mimetite, from a summer 2009 discovery. Unusual locality, and good contrast , make these highly interesting
TUC10-18 - Mimetite - CAN$ 286 SOLD Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 5.0 x 3.3 x 1.7 cm
Beautiful beige spherical aggregates of botryoidal mimetite, from a summer 2009 discovery. Unusual locality, and good contrast , make these highly interesting
TUC10-19 - Mimetite - CAN$ 146 Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany small cabinet, 5.9 x 4.3 x 2.4 cm
Beautiful beige spherical aggregates of botryoidal mimetite, from a summer 2009 discovery. Unusual locality, and good contrast , make these highly interesting
TUC10-20 - Mimetite - CAN$ 312 Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 3.6 x 2.5 x 1.7 cm
With botryoidal spherical aggregates to 8 mm, this specimen hosts some of the largest balls I have seen from this recent find, of summer 2009.
TUC10-21 - Mimetite - CAN$ 104 SOLD Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 3.8 x 3.5 x 1.8 cm
Beautiful beige spherical aggregates of botryoidal mimetite, from a summer 2009 discovery. Unusual locality, and good contrast , make these highly interesting
TUC10-22 - Mimetite - CAN$ 156 SOLD Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 4.6 x 4.3 x 3.9 cm
Beautiful beige spherical aggregates of botryoidal mimetite, from a summer 2009 discovery. Unusual locality, and good contrast , make these highly interesting
TUC10-23 - Mimetite - CAN$ 156 SOLD Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 3.9 x 3.4 x 2.3 cm
Beautiful beige spherical aggregates of botryoidal mimetite, from a summer 2009 discovery. Unusual locality, and good contrast , make these highly interesting
TUC10-24 - Mimetite - CAN$ 52 SOLD Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 5.1 x 2.4 x 1.9 cm
Beautiful beige spherical aggregates of botryoidal mimetite, from a summer 2009 discovery. Unusual locality, and good contrast , make these highly interesting
TUC10-25 - Mimetite - CAN$ 156 Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 4.7 x 2.6 x 2.1 cm
With botryoidal spherical aggregates to 7 mm, this specimen hosts some of the largest balls I have seen from this recent find, of summer 2009.
TUC10-26 - Mimetite - CAN$ 208 Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 4.8 x 3.3 x 2.8 cm
With botryoidal spherical aggregates to 7 mm, this specimen hosts some of the largest balls I have seen from this recent find, of summer 2009.
TUC10-27 - Mimetite - CAN$ 52 SOLD Haus Baden Mine, Badenweiler, Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Germany miniature, 5.4 x 3.7 x 1.7 cm
Beautiful beige spherical aggregates of botryoidal mimetite, from a summer 2009 discovery. Unusual locality, and good contrast , make these highly interesting
TUC10-28 - Galena and Siderite on Quartz - CAN$ 12995 Neudorf, Harz Mts, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany cabinet, 13.2 x 9.0 x 5.4 cm
Crystals of sharp, lustrous, complex galena cover a matrix of quartz and are associated here with the desirable brown, tranclucent siderite that is classic for this old historic locality. The galenas are typical Neudorf style, extremely lustrous with sharp terminal faces and complex sides, sometimes in elongated crystals, here to 4 cm. This MAJOR German galena specimen was purchased by a prominent German collector from American dealer Rick Smith in 1970. This was the same era in which he was trading many old specimens out of the American Museum collections, and in any case it is certainly from an old source as this habit and style is characteristic of the most sought-after Neudorf specimens, from the mid to late 1800s. Such large, robust specimens are very hard to find today on the market. They ONLY come from major old collections, and the occasional museum deaccession. The piece is in remarkable condition with only trivial and peripheral edge wear, and one area near the bottom of broken galena (although it may simply be contacting and not true damage there as parts of that irregular area look crystallized on a micro scale). Even so, I have seen few CABINET sized examples of any quality; and we regard this as a major specimen.
TUC10-29 - Euchroite (huge crystal) - CAN$ 2599 Cramer Creek, northeast of Missoula, Montana, USA miniature, 3.5 x 2.2 x 0.5 cm ex. bart cannon
This is a ridiculously large euchroite crystal that perhaps is the largest American example of the species, according to some who I have shown it to. I have not heard of or seen any larger ones. It was collected by Bart Cannon, a well known collector of NE US minerals, in the 1970s and traded out of his collection sometime after. It is a unique, deep , vivid blue color that is hard to describe, but not similar to the euchroite from Europe in color or crystal form, by ay stretch. The piece is repaired in the middle and the photos show it at its worst, head-on right at the line of repair, to be honest about it. However when you look at it on a shelf, from an angle up or down, you do not see this crack as much. Now, it COULD be made into a truly incredible thumbnail specimen simply by undoing the repair. The result would be an arrowhead-shaped thumbnail crystal of 2 cm tall, 2 cm wide, and 4mm thickness. The lustre, and color, and habit, all make it leap out. It would be a world class thumbnail (without the repair) and in any case is a major US specimen in either size category. If it doesn't sell, I think I will have to donate to the Smithsonian as its the kind of rock that belongs there.
TUC10-30 - Kammererite - CAN$ 2027 Kop Krom mine, Kop Daglari, Erzurum Province, Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey miniature, 4.3 x 3.5 x 3.0 cm ex. Irv Brown
This beautiful miniature specimen features a GEMMY 1.7 cm crystal atop, which is of quite rare size for the species. More than that, it will literally cut a large stone, again a rarity for the species. This was in the Irv Brown miniatures collection in San Diego, in the mid 1990s, and was then sold as he switched from miniatures to larger specimens. At the time, I recall that the local gem cutter (aka Mark the Butcher of Good Crystals) offered him $1200 for the piece as (wholesale) cutting rough. Irv and I were both mortified! But, that speaks to the rarity of cut gems of this incredibly intense purple color, of any species. Funny enough, I had forgotten about the piece for over a decade and just came across it , to reacquire it, recently. I recognized it immediately of course, as there is so much mediocrity available for these old finds (mostly came out over 30 years ago), and this one was exceptional.
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