Chuck Houser San Diego Collection

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ch16 - Quartz and Muscovite - $ 200
Pack Rat Mine, McCain Valley, San Diego County, California, USA

small cabinet, 7.0 x 4.4 x 1.1 cm
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Quartz and Muscovite from Pack Rat Mine, McCain Valley, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch16a.jpg]
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Quartz and Muscovite from Pack Rat Mine, McCain Valley, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch16b.jpg]
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Quartz and Muscovite from Pack Rat Mine, McCain Valley, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch16c.jpg]
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Quartz and Muscovite from Pack Rat Mine, McCain Valley, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch16d.jpg]

A neat combo piece, and actually a darned good muscovite for a County collection . Self-collected by Chuck during late 80's/early 90's while the mine was owned and worked by Fred Stevens.


ch19 - Elbaite (polished slice) - $ 300
Little Three Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA

miniature, 5.0 x 4.9 x 0.5 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser

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Elbaite (polished slice) from Little Three Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch19a.jpg]
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Elbaite (polished slice) from Little Three Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch19b.jpg]

Most Little Three tourmalines are very dark, though some have bright cores when cut like this one - old material, hard to obtain today.


ch40 - Stilbite, Lepidolite, Cleavelandite - $ 1600
Himalaya Mine, Pala, San Diego Co., California, USA

cabinet, 10 x 9 x 5 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser

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Stilbite, Lepidolite, Cleavelandite from Himalaya Mine, Pala, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch40a.jpg]
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Stilbite, Lepidolite, Cleavelandite from Himalaya Mine, Pala, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch40b.jpg]

A superb specimen for the locality featuring the best stilbites on a Himalaya Mine specimen I have seen out there for sale, with sharp, fat crystals to an inch long. OK, so most of us don't rank the Himalaya as the #1 spot for zeolites, but tha tmakes it all the more interesting in my book. The association is great, too....little srpinkles of pink tourmaline amidst the stilbite on one side; and on the backside we have a beautiful combination of lustrous and defined cleavelandite blades atop sparkling purple lepdiolite crystals so the piece looks good from either side.


CH27 - Morganite and Aquamarine on Albite "Pala Princess III" - $ 12500
Elizabeth R. Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA

cabinet, 15.2 x 9.1 x 7.0 cm
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Morganite and Aquamarine on Albite
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Morganite and Aquamarine on Albite
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Morganite and Aquamarine on Albite
Morganite and Aquamarine on Albite CLICK HERE FOR LARGER IMAGE:
Morganite and Aquamarine on Albite

On May 15, 1982, a famous specimen called the "Pala Princess" was unearthed by Roland Reed, mine owner. It was one repaired large plate consisting of a half a dozen pieces, 3 of them of some major consequence for the County and for US beryls in general. The piece was judged by John Sinkankas at the time to be the finest beryl specimen found in North America to date. This is the third of the larger plates that made up that piece, as shown in Sinkankas' updated book , Gems of North America, published shortly thereafter. Note he erroneously attributed the find to 1992, not 1982. In 2003, the plate was purchased from a private collector by Irv Brown and Stuart Wilensky; and disassembled into its parts, which were then trimmed and prepped individually to yield 3 major, unrepaired, (and much more) aesthetic morganite specimens. This is the third of those specimens, and it has never been for sale because Irv traded it directly to Chuck within the week. This piece would have comprised about 20% of the original surface area of the specimen, and features one of the larger crystals. You can see the unique nature of the piece, in its multiple coloration of both blue aqua and pink morganite, from the pics. In person, it is more obvious. This is a major County specimen, with incredibly neat provenance and history, the likes of which hasn't been mined since. Now, as opposed to having a too-large specimen with seven repairs and some damage about it, we have several MAJOR and pristine, unrepaired specimens which are individually of as much significance, I would think - but finer in quality.


ch32 - Muscovite pseudo. Tourmaline - SOLD
Pack Rat Mine, McCain Valley, San Diego County, California, USA

small cabinet, 6.3 x 3.5 x 3.4 cm
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Muscovite pseudo. Tourmaline from Pack Rat Mine, McCain Valley, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch32a.jpg]

Muscovite having crudely replaced a tourmaline crystal, self-collected by Chuck during late 80's/early 90's while the mine was owned and worked by Fred Stevens.


ch30 - Garnet on Microcline - SOLD
Rincon, San Diego County, California, USA

cabinet, 10.2 x 9.1 x 8.0 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser

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Garnet on Microcline from Rincon, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch30a.jpg]
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Garnet on Microcline from Rincon, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch30b.jpg]

Featuring a HUGE garnet, this is one of the best known specimens for the locality, a remote area on the Rincon Indian reservation!


ch29 - Schorl, Quartz, Cleavelandite - SOLD
Little Three Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA

cabinet, 9.5 x 8.8 x 8.5 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser

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Schorl, Quartz, Cleavelandite from Little Three Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch29a.jpg]
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Schorl, Quartz, Cleavelandite from Little Three Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch29b.jpg]
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Schorl, Quartz, Cleavelandite from Little Three Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch29c.jpg]

The Little Three is well known for large, equant, dark tourmalines....but few were ever found in association with good matrix, and with multiple crystals to boot. This is a very unusual and pretty matrix specimen, that is important for the locality.


ch28 - Barite - SOLD
La Zanja Canyon, San Diego, , San Diego County, California, USA

miniature, 5.2 x 2.6 x 1.7 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser
ex.  Leo Horensky

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Barite from La Zanja Canyon, San Diego, , San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch28a.jpg]

Another urban specimen from a developed part of town that is now covered by parking lots, thought to be the best crystal surviving! Complete and actually quite good on its own merits


ch10 - Stibiotantalite - SOLD
Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, San Diego County, California, USA

thumbnail, 3.2 x 2.1 x 0.6 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser

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Stibiotantalite from Himalaya Mine, Mesa Grande, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch10a.jpg]

This perfect, equant, textbook-quality crystal is a VERY SIGNIFICANT example of this rare species for San Diego, of which few better exist. I recall the handwringing it caused when Chuck traded this from Irv Brown in the mid-1990s. By any standard, this is a beautiful example of the species from any US locale.


ch33 - Samarskite - SOLD
Bird Rock Claim, Lawson Peak, San Diego County, California, USA

miniature, 4.8 x 2.7 x 1.6 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser
ex.  Leo Horensky

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Samarskite from Bird Rock Claim, Lawson Peak, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch33a.jpg]
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Samarskite from Bird Rock Claim, Lawson Peak, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch33b.jpg]

This one threw me for a loop and I had to ask...it has been analysed, by the way, to confirm it. It is an honest-to-god, bizarrely-crystallized samarskite from San Diego. It is the only one I know of, and is in form unlike any other samarskite I have seen. Leo was a major San Diego area collector, known for his breadth of local specimens.


CH38 - Lepidolite with Boromuscovite (boron-rich NEW SPECIES) - SOLD
Little 3 Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA

small cabinet, 10 x 8 x 7 cm
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ex.  Chris Korpi
ex.  Chuck Houser

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Lepidolite with Boromuscovite (boron-rich NEW SPECIES) from Little 3 Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch38a.jpg]
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Lepidolite with Boromuscovite (boron-rich NEW SPECIES) from Little 3 Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch38b.jpg]
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Lepidolite with Boromuscovite (boron-rich NEW SPECIES) from Little 3 Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch38c.jpg]

A REALLY fine and attractive lepidolite crystal cluster from anywhere, but especially from San Diego County. This is not just an aside or an association of muscovite here, but rather the new species boromuscovite (which, BTW, has since been granted species status) is present in abundance here as the white earthy stuff. It's a nice example, very rich. The large Lepidolite crystals in middle are 5 cm wide, and have a beautiful metallic lustre, almost a lavender color to them. These specimens came out of one pocket in the 1976 "New Spaulding pocket" and were extensively studied by Gene Foord, for their unusual chemistry. Recently, this muscovite variant has been formally accepted as a new species (thanks to Dr. Robert Lauf for clarifying this for me and correcting my earlier text)


ch39 - Kunzite - SOLD
Beebe Hole Mine, near Jacumba, San Diego Co., California, USA

small cabinet, 9.6 x 6.8 x 1.8 cm
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Kunzite from Beebe Hole Mine, near Jacumba, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch39a.jpg]

A doubly-terminated kunzite crystal with striking elongated-but-complete terminations from the famous find known as the Beebe Hole, hit by Loren Beebe while garnet-prospecting over 25 years ago in remote SD County! This one has excellent pink color for the find. It is large, and exceptionally translucent/gemmy. The Beebe Hole was hit by accident when Loren Beebe was prospecting for garnets (around 1976) in this remote area and stumbled on a spod shard loose on the ground. Exploration led to a SINGLE pocket which he collected in entirety and hoarded for several decades, selling primarily the cutting rough and keeping most of the better specimens until only recent years when they have been sold locally in the Southern California area. Spods of this quality are quite uncommon in San Diego county and most were found rather further north in the Pala area, so the Beebe spods are important in that they come from a different region of the County than the famous old turn-of-the-century Pala pieces.


ch31 - Topaz with Albite - SOLD
Maple Lode Mine, San Diego County, California, USA

small cabinet, 6.6 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm
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Topaz with Albite from Maple Lode Mine, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch31a.jpg]
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Topaz with Albite from Maple Lode Mine, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch31b.jpg]

A complete, equant, oddly terminated topaz that is extremely blue for a San Diego topaz! Mined by Roland Reed, this is the finest topaz Chuck or I or Bill Larson have seen from the mine. It is also completely verifiable as Maple Lode and not Little Three Mine (aside from the odd form), as it was mined personally by Mr. Reed , and not from earlier finds here. Very significant!


ch35 - Tourmaline with Albite - SOLD
Himalaya Mine, San Diego County, California, USA

cabinet, 14.2 x 3.3 x 3.3 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser
ex.  Irv Brown
ex.  John Barlow
ex.  William Larson

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Tourmaline with Albite from Himalaya Mine, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch35a.jpg]
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Tourmaline with Albite from Himalaya Mine, San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch35b.jpg]

A really outstanding crystal with exceptional gemminess for the size, and particularly good color as well. This is, for the size, equaled only by a few others I have seen in well known collections including that of Bill Larson, who collected it and sold it to Barlow in the early 1980s. It has one very, very clean repair. The clarity, condition, and intensity of this crystal all combine to make it among the top tier of tourmalines for the size; and you can see it was important enough in the Barlow collection to command a half-page spread, even amongst far more "valuable" but perhaps less important tourmalines from other locales. In person, the difference between this gemmy beast and the typical large Himalaya piece, rare already, os obvious. This one is in the top percentiles.


ch36 - Topaz on Cleavelandite - SOLD
Little 3 Mine, Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA

small cabinet, 8.5 x 7 x 6 cm
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ex.  Chuck Houser
ex.  Jesse Fisher and Joan Kureczka
ex.  Louis Spaulding

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Topaz on Cleavelandite from Little 3 Mine, Ramona,  San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch36a.jpg]
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Topaz on Cleavelandite from Little 3 Mine, Ramona,  San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch36b.jpg]
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Topaz on Cleavelandite from Little 3 Mine, Ramona,  San Diego County, California, USA [db_pics/pics/ch36c.jpg]

This is a piece I have always thought to be Chuck's treasure, the most fine by overall standards outside County, for the species. It is a MATRIX, DOUBLY-TERMINATED, GEMMY, blue topaz! The piece is totally pristine save for a small crack partway down the sides, revealing where a very tight repair has been made. It is extremely aesthetic, and an important example of topaz from San Diego, said by Bill Larson to be one of the top three such matrix crystals known along with his own specimen and one sold to the Smithsonian in the 1970s. The style of the crystallized matrix marks it as unlike anything from Brazil which might compete with it, and proves it to be San Diego despite the unusual quality. This piece had never been fully prepped and cleaned until now, despite being collected 30 years ago by the mine owner, Louis Spalding; who sold it to Cal Graeber, who sold it to Jesse Fisher and Joan Kureczka in whose collection it resided for many years before it ended up with Chuck.



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