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from the Charles Locke Key Collection
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ex. Charlie Key
A really sharp, eyeatching specimen with a triangular crystal termination perched, floating like off a launch pedestal, atop a normal schorl stalk! This crystal is complete on 3 sides, contacted only at the back edge (shown), Like most of Charlie's schorl collection (which is vast at over 200 good pieces), this one is special and carefully selected. It will stand out dramatically in any case.
ex. Charlie Key
A rare locality specimen of Namibian phenakite! This specimen is just covered with gemmy, lustrous crystals all over its surface, perche on crystallized dolomite matrix
ex. Charlie Key
Extremely rare both for this locality or for ANY location, this association just amazed me when Charlie identified what it was for us during packing of the collection. Like the above specimen, it is not the best of species, but it IS significant nonetheless for its proof of the complexity of minerals to be found here and to any Erongo suite others may be assembling. Charlie spent a LONG TIME there...and he was pretty impressed by these.
ex. Charlie Key
This odd specimen seems at first like just another overpriced fluorite, but in person you can see that the color intensity is really so shocking that it stands out dramatically from about 2000 other Erongo fluorites i have seen. its almost neon. Hence the price which does at first seem high, is not really when you consider the rarity of such an intensely colored piece. out of all the fluorites in the collection there is only one like this. The fluorites are perched on a contrasting muscovite matrix.
ex. Charlie Key
Charlie had a whole pocket of these strange fluorites, like no others I have personally seen on the market at any time from the area. This is the largest piece from his stash, and is very much more dramatic in person. It features highly modified crystals of fluorite with (for lack of a better word) "bubbly" cubic fluorite outgrowths from oriented faces of an underlaying octahedral fluorite. They are green and gemmy with purple highlights. The piece as a whole is sparkly due to a thin coating of bright little calcites.
ex. Charlie Key
Charlie had only one flat of this very unusual association, which he said was found at the end of the 1990s here. The fluorites here are mattte-green, but translucent, and they sit on contrasting amethyst crystals to 1 cm in size. The largest fluorite on this plate is 2 cm.
ex. Charlie Key
Gemmy, transparent, lavender-colored fluorite crystals perched on the edge of a quartz cluster make for a really distinct specimen, here.
ex. Charlie Key
Charlie had only one flat of this very unusual association, which he said was found at the end of the 1990s. The fluorites here are mattte-green, but translucent, and they sit on contrasting amethyst crystals to 2 cm in size. The largest fluorite on this plate, which is also our largest specimen of the pocket, is 3.6 cm. These are octahedral, translucent crystals and on the edges have oriented outgrowths of minute cubic faces. I cannot think of a fluorite on amethyst association from any other locality (can you!?).
ex. Charlie Key
An absolutely ugly fluorite cluster serves host to some absolutely fantastic locality ferberite crystals, that are sharp and well formed from any place but particularly rare in the suite of minerals found in the Erongos. Charlie valued this highly and took care to point it out to us in the collection. These ferberites, he said, were the best he was ever able to obtain and frankly i had NEVER even heard of such crystals being reported from the region so i was shocked.
ex. Charlie Key
An exquisite specimen, one of my absolute favorites, featuring a sharp, VERTICALLY upright aqua perched on matrix of crystallized msoky quartz. From Erongo, the smoky quartz association is uncommon but you find it from time to time. Pakistan occasionally has aquas in association with smoky quartz, but generally not with aqua of this calibre. The aqua itself is pristine and measures 2.5 cm tall (1 inch!) x 2 x 1.5 cm. When we got it from Charlie, it was coated by a thick layer of iron oxide "rust," which has been removed to reveal the perfection underneath - the caoting kept this exposed crystal pristine! Also, unusual for the Erongo aquas, this has a wonderfully bevelled termination AND extraordinary gemminess. Most Erongo aquas, although pretty and good blue in color, lack this kind of solid gemminess to them...hence , this is an exceptionally premium quality crystal on its own merit, aside from its matrix association.
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![Phenakite from Stiepelman Mine, near Spitzkopje, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-135a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-135a.jpg)
![Xenotime on Fluorite from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-134ba.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-134ba.jpg)
![Xenotime on Fluorite from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-134bb.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-134bb.jpg)
![Xenotime on Fluorite from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-134bc.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-134bc.jpg)
![Fluorite (intense color!) from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-126a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-126a.jpg)
![Fluorite (intense color!) from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-126b.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-126b.jpg)
![Fluorite on Quartz from Orange River , near Rimevasmaak, South Africa [db_pics/pics/k-128a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-128a.jpg)
![Fluorite on Quartz from Orange River , near Rimevasmaak, South Africa [db_pics/pics/k-128b.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-128b.jpg)
![Fluorite on Quartz from Orange River , near Rimevasmaak, South Africa [db_pics/pics/k-128c.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-128c.jpg)
![Fluorite on Amethyst from Oranje River, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-130a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-130a.jpg)
![Fluorite on Amethyst from Oranje River, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-130b.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-130b.jpg)
![Fluorite on Amethyst from Oranje River, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-130c.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-130c.jpg)
![Fluorite on Quartz from Oranje River, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-131a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-131a.jpg)
![Fluorite on Quartz from Oranje River, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-131b.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-131b.jpg)
![Fluorite on Quartz from Oranje River, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-131c.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-131c.jpg)
![Fluorite on Amethyst from Oranje River, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-133a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-133a.jpg)
![Ferberite on Fluorite from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-134a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-134a.jpg)
![Ferberite on Fluorite from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-134b.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-134b.jpg)
![Ferberite on Fluorite from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-134c.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-134c.jpg)
![Aquamarine from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-198a.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-198a.jpg)
![Aquamarine from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-198b.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-198b.jpg)
![Aquamarine from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-198c.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-198c.jpg)
![Aquamarine from Erongo Mountains, Namibia [db_pics/pics/k-198d.jpg]](db_pics/pics/k-198d.jpg)