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K270 - Calcite - € 660 Wessels Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa cabinet, 11.6 x 10.1 x 8.4 cm
A cluster of GEMMY, transparent calcite rhombohedra to 5 cm, just brilliantly lustrous and clear. Note how some are sharp rhombs and some show modifications on the long faces, extra bevels you can see in the closeup photo - lower right. These crystals rival calcite from anywhere, and large specimens like this are uncommon from the Wessels Mine. All the major crystals here are in good shape except for a slight contact to the bottom of the bottom-most. In person, it is a much brighter and sparklier specimen, as well.
K273 - Hausmannite on Calcite - € 1165 Wessels Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa small cabinet, 6.6 x 5.0 x 3.5 cm
This specimen is nice because you seldom see a large hausmannite perched in isolation, on any matrix! Here we hafve a 4 cm hausmannite crystal perched upon a mound of lustrous, sparkling calcite. There is also minor sturmanite and garnet attached. The hausmannite is complete 360 degrees and has excellent form, good lustre, and classic jet black color. The 4 cm-tall hausmannite is actually, now that i look more closely, a compound crystal with one sharp octohedron perched upon a larger one, making for a continuous cluster. It is very aesthetic !
K274 - Rhodochrosite - € 97 SOLD NChwaning Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa thumbnail, 3.3 x 3.1 x 2.1 cm
A gorgeous , hot pink hemispherical cluster of bladed rhodo crystals.
K272 - Inesite - € 738 SOLD Wessels Mine (1980's), Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa thumbnail, 3 x 2.5 x 2 cm
This is a cherry-red, lustrous, somewhat gemmy inesite from the famous early 1980s pocket that yielded the best quality of inesite found at these mines. Today, the pieces from this pocket are recognizably more lustrous and red than from other finds, and carry a premium. This is a super thumbnail example from the find!
K275 - Barite - € 116 SOLD Wessels Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa thumbnail, 3.3 x 2.6 x 2.4 cm
A very cute hedgehog-shaped cluster of lustrous, acicular barite crystals. Most unusual! Complete all around.
K276 - Tourmaline (floater) - € 1747 SOLD Otjua Mine, Karabib, Namibia miniature, 3.9 x 2.6 x 2.3 cm
A non-Kalahari Key piece that got into this update by mistake, but I'm going to leave it in...this is a super quality , bluecapped tourmaline crystal from small old finds at the Otjua Mine. This crystal is a floater, complete all around and even terminated on the bottom in a series of unusual crosshatched crystal growth patterns. It is gemmy throughout, with very complex color changes. I have never seen one as good, and Charlie says they are quite rare. This is the best one he had obtained and kept.
K277 - Poldervaartite - € 1398 NChwaning Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa cabinet, 10.2 x 5.5 x 2.2 cm
A rich vertical plate just covered with gemmy, sparkling poldervaartite crystals to over 1 cm! This piece gives you a lot of visual area for the money, and large specimens in this quality were never common even when found. Note the presence of both crystal forms, elongate crystals and spherical aggregates.
K278 - Poldervaartite - € 1242 NChwaning Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa miniature, 4.7 x 3.6 x 3.4 cm
It is hard to imagine any more dramatic example of this style, a lone single crystal , sitting there so starkly perched against the contrasting, black manganese ore. This poldervaartite crystal is 2 cm across and is pristine!
K279 - Ettringite on Brucite - € 699 SOLD Wessels Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa small cabinet, 9.2 x 8.3 x 6.2 cm
A beautiful large combination specimen of pastel yellow ettringite perched like sprinkles on rounded aggregates of brucite crystals. I think the blue brucite from this mine is highly unappreciated, and frankly undervalued.
K280 - Sturmanite - € 1863 NChwaning Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa miniature, 5.4 x 1.8 x 1.3 cm
A stunning, well-terminated, elongate crystal of sturmanite without damage. It has a muted yellow color to it, as they typically do in shades of yellow-brown-orange. However, it has a phenomenal , almost metallic, lustre to it that IS very unusual and gives the surface a sparkle and sheen that is hard to convey in pictures. The crystal is internally bright and has gemmy highlights, It is certainly more translucent in person than it appears here. Comes with custom-mounted lucite base for display.
K281 - Andradite garnet pseudo. Rhodochrosite with Gaudefroyite - € 738 Wessels Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa miniature, 5.6 x 2.1 x 1.3 cm
We had only two such specimens in the whole collection of thousands of pieces, of these strange cast pseudomorphs of minutely crystallized, sparkling, andradite garnet that have replaced twinned rhodochrosite crystals. I had only ever seen 2 others , before. These look just like the famous pseudo-triangular crystals one saw from Mt St Hilaire in Quebec, in the 1980s. But, made of garnet! This one is shaped like a shield, very tapered, with the interior completely lined with crystals of gaudefroyite that stick out to one side.
K290 - Andradite garnet pseudo. Rhodochrosite with Gaudefroyite - € 1359 SOLD Wessels Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa miniature, 5.5 x 5.3 x 1.7 cm
We had only two such specimens in the whole collection of thousands of pieces, of these strange cast pseudomorphs of minutely crystallized, sparkling, andradite garnet that have replaced twinned rhodochrosite crystals. I had only ever seen 2 others , before. These look just like the famous pseudo-triangular crystals one saw from Mt St Hilaire in Quebec, in the 1980s. But, made of garnet! This one is shaped like a 3-dimensional map where there are folds up and down to illustrate heights. It is very aesthetic, and more impressive in person! It is complete all around and made up of garnet on the front display, with the backside completely lined with crystals of gaudefroyite and a few minor ettringites. There is a coating on the backside, but the gaude's sticking out to the sides are, luckily, clean and lustrous, and serve to nicely accent the flanks of the rhodo crystals.
K282 - Poldervaartite on Calcite - € 1359 SOLD NChwaning Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa cabinet, 15.0 x 11.7 x 3.0 cm
A large plate with waxy-lustrous, beige polder crystals richly covering an undeerlaying matrix of bright and sparkly calcite! It is hard to get such nice large plates in good condition! This was found 5-6 years ago and I can say that large plates of the calcite intermix are particularly hard to come by, as they were snapped up for the beauty of the contrast. The poldervaartite in this style and association is not red like the styles shown above, but the calcite association makes up for it and gives quite a different look to the specimens in terms of visual appeal.
K283 - Hydroxy-Apophyllite - € 155 SOLD Wessels Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa small cabinet, 8.6 x 6.7 x 4.7 cm
A very showy, 3-dimensional specimen with lustrous, brigh tapophyllite crystals to 9mm in size. This is not fluorapophyllite, but rather the more rare form, hydroxy-apophyllite.
K284 - Sturmanite - € 970 SOLD NChwaning Mine, Kalahari Manganese Fields, South Africa small cabinet, 6.6 x 4.9 x 3.0 cm
This is a VERY 3-dimensional specimen with 3 large 2-cm , disc-shaped crystals perched atop. It is more impressive even in person because the third crystal is behind the first and shows more readily as you'd look down on the piece compared to a straight-frontal photo. These crystals are pristine and well formed, and show a classic hexagonal form. They are perched attractively on a natrual pedestal of matrix, with smaller accenting crystals, also undamaged.
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