San Diego Collection

This is the company collection of the well-known dealership responsible for bringing the Himalaya Mine to fame, Pala International-The Collector of Fallbrook, California. This collection was assembled starting in the late 1970s under the joint guidance of Bill Larson and Ed Swoboda initially. It began as an educational and investment-style reference collection of local San Diego County minerals, housed in the showroom of The Collector, the iconic store founded by Bill Larson and Ed Swoboda following their discovery of the Tourmaline Queen bluecap pocket in 1972. They went on to mine the Himalaya Mine, which Bill Larson continued to mine until closing it in 2002. By the late 1970's, Bill Larson had bought out Ed's ownership in the store and business, retaining and growing over the years this collection to fill a large trophy case that remained in the store on exhibit over the years.

When I moved to San Diego in 1995, this was the first County collection I saw. Seeing the Larson collection was the pilgrimage for advanced collectors visiting the hotbed of Southern California as far back as the 70's though, and this collection was right there through it all. The goal was to show, in a mix of sizes and species (and quality levels), a broad array of the mineral species occurring in San Diego County with emphasis on historic locales. Particular emphasis was placed on obtaining locality pieces from small pegmatite workings and unusual finds, and pieces from old museum collections: the kind of things that would inspire local collectors (and add value greater than the sum of the parts to this collection as a significant locality suite at the same time). I never thought this collection would be for sale and now I am proud to offer this historic collection here. My thanks to Bill Larson for his help in labelling and providing history on his specimens.

I have finally been able to get cleaned, prepped, and posted the second installment (another 50+ specimens!) from my 2008 acquisition of this fine and large collection of San Diego County minerals. Stay tuned for update III, a final 50-60 specimens, by end of 2009.

Click here for a photo of the collection in its original home:
PALA INTERNATIONAL COMPANY'S SAN DIEGO COUNTY locality collection!

31 specimens selected...
US$    € EURO    ¥ YEN    £ POUND    CAN$    AUS$
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PALASD-63 - Spessartine Garnet on Albite - $ 3750
Little Three Mine, Ramona, California, USA
miniature, 2.9 x 2.7 x 1.8 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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This is a stunning, unusually large crystal of spessartine for the locality which is miraculously NOT etched all to heck like so many are. It sits on a pedestal of cleavelandite matrix, and is exceptional for its display quality. The crystal is complete all around, though shows a contact on the back where it grew in the pocket against a schorl that left an impression. The crystal, at 1 inch, is as large as all but the few biggest specimens from here evre reached and is remarkable for its pristine form. Most large garnets fro mthis mine were etched in situ and turn into spongy but sparkly masses that are absolutely gorgeous, but retain few of the natural garnet crystal faces the crystal started with. To get a crystal surviving in this condition, so sharp and lustrous, and completely unetched at all, is almost unheard of. If this were on a bigger matrix, it would be treble the price. As is, it is a fine miniature worthy of competition in any collection showcasing US classics or garnet. Within the San Diego collecting community, owning a garnet of this calibre is one of the highlights of any collection. Few can be had, though> This one, Bill Larson obtained in the early 1980s from mine owner Louis Spalding Sr.'s collection.

PALASD-16 - Kunzite - $ 2000
Elizabeth R Mine, San Diego County, California, USA
cabinet, 15.9 x 3.6 x 2.7 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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A BRILLIANTLY lustrous, utterly glassy kunzite crystal showing extreme elongation. It sparkles off the many subfacets you can see. In person, it is a nice medium pink color, and would be considered both fine and large for the mine to have such clarity and color both. Mined in the 1990s by Roland Reed, Mine owner.

PALASD-19 - Smoky Quartz - $ 950
Audrey Lynn Mine, Cahuilla Mtn., Riverside County, California, USA
cabinet, 9.5 x 6.2 x 5.6 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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A REALLY GOOD, gemmy, transparent, equant, smoky quartz from this small recent mine! From the miner, Philip Osborn: I dug the crystal in the mid 90's and I also faceted the stone out of material from the same pocket. Its an outstanding American quartz in any case, and of rare gemminess. The gem is 2 cm across and 22 carats.

PALASD-06 - Quartz included by Montmorillonite - $ 750
White Queen Mine, San Diego County, California, USA
cabinet, 14.2 x 5.9 x 4.5 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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A classic of San Diego pegmatites, these odd pink-colored quartzes are colored by dispersed inclusions of Montmorillonite , and historically were often sliced and diced for sale in pieces to the locals. This is a really large, relatively elegant piece of good quality.

PALASD-22 - Tourmaline - $ 2500
Little Three Mine, near Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA
small cabinet, 6.5 x 5.7 x 5.3 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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A classic, very fat, dark green tourmaline from the Little Three Mine. These are for some reason the characteristic style of large tourmaline from this location - very dark, but a glowing neon green when strongly backlit. They were very popular for carving rough in the old days! This is a particularly good crystal for the size for its condition, and color saturation. 393 grams

PALASD-03 - Spodumene - $ 2500
Pala Chief Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
cabinet, 13.1 x 5.4 x 2.0 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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A VRY LARGE, rare spodumene crystal from the main dike of the Pala Chief Mine, accoridng to Bill dated sometime before 1960. It is large, complete, and has a pleasing faint green color in person. If you didn't knwo if was from THIS collection, I admit you would certainly at first think this is an Afghani specimen. But, instead, its an amazing piece from San Diego County, large and gemmy and quite reflective in person from its many facets.

PALASD-60 - Tourmaline Blue Cap Pocket - $ 8500
Tourmaline Queen Mine, Pala, California, USA
small cabinet, 6.3 x 6.1 x 5.5 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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This equant, intensely colored crystal is from the famous Blue Cap Pocket of late December, 1972. It is an honest-to-god real "BlueCap" from this most famous tourmaline pocket in US history and one of the few tourmaline finds ever to achieve literally godlike, romanticized status among worldwide collectors. Only under 100 pieces were found, of any quality. They were quickly dispersed and only turn up again occasionally. This is a nice, typical example of what would have been the middle quality level of smaller size range from the pocket, which Larson and Swoboda kept for the company locality collection. It is not pristine (it has some edge wear as you can see in the lower-right photo; and the termination has an odd tapering off to one side where it is contacted, having grown against matrix), but it displays well and has a good presence to it. The blue cap is blue, not gray (as with some crystals from a followup find in 1974). Interestingly, the lustrous termination has striations in it, where it grew against a bladed mineral species (cleavelandite, probably). At the time the pocket was found, this respectable sized crystal wasn't so expensive and was sold to noted collector John Sinkankas , from whose collection it was exchanged back to Bill Larson in the late 1990s about 20 years later, for the company collection as a keeper. Is it the best in the world, no of course not. BUT it is a very impressive piece visually and for size (374 grams), and is one of the few large bluecaps any mortal will ever get to own as these are all in collections now, and most cost upwards of 25k even for small singles - that may be more perfect, but lack a display "punch" for the price. Bluecaps are notorious for being pricey, but then again they are one of the two iconic tourmaline finds in the last 100 years, the best find ever in the US most people would say, and few are to be had. 377 grams

PALASD-1-03 - Tourmaline - $ 9500
King Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
small cabinet, 8.1 x 5.6 x 4.7 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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This piece was probably mined around 1900, and is the kind of material once sent to the Empress dowager of China when San Diego was a gem export center for the US, pre-WWI, and the Chinese carving market drove gem mining efforts. Few documented, bona fide King Mine specimens can be said to be in private hands today. Moreover, this is simply a really unusual and interesting cluster of bright pink tourmaline with blue pyramidal terminations atop, and an odd volcano caldera-like ingrowth that lends depth and dimensionality to an otherwise typical termination. There is some slight wear, but its not visually detracting, around the rim. This specimen was exchanged by Bill out of the Smithsonian with Paul Desautels as curator, in a large exchange in the late 1970s. Bill has owned it ever since in this collection, and regarded it as a very uniquely styled specimen with distinct character. Weight is 255 grams.

PALASD-56 - Tourmaline - SOLD
Tourmaline Queen Mine, Pala, California, USA
miniature, 5.2 x 4.3 x 4.2 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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Wow! I NEVER KNEW such good, gemmy, fat indicolites came out of this mine! Yet, Bill did and he hoarded them when they turned up. Apparently they were found in the 1960s and collectors in San Diego pretty much kept them amongst themselves. This robust crystal has great color and with moderate backlighting only, it glows. With strong backlighting, it goes translucent. It is complete on the front, though has some edge damage on back faces (you can see this in the 2nd photo, right edge which is simply the rear in the first orientation shown). This is a most unusual, totally unique style for any tourmaline from the US , so far as I can think of, and reminiscent more of Afghani material than anything you expect to see from California. If you saw it outside of this context, you WOULD swear it was Afghani, not Californian. 184 grams

PALASD-15 - Kunzite - SOLD
San Pedro Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
cabinet, 16.2 x 5.0 x 2.3 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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A significant large kunzite from the county, from a very small mine in the Pala pegmatites. This crystal is complete, big, and gemmy. It has a uniquely pastel color to it, quite a bit lighter (but not colorles) than the traditional old Pala material. Comes with a custom base fo rdisplay, on which with good lighting you can see subtle hues of color gradient. Mined in the 1980s.

PALASD-62 - Morganite on Cleavelandite with Quartz - SOLD
White Queen Mine, Pala, California, USA
small cabinet, 8.8 x 6.6 x 5.5 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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This oustanding specimen from the 1960s-1970s heyday here is both aesthetic and fine in quality. It is not repaired. It features a rich pink 4 x 3.5 cm crystal of GEMMY morganite, perched on contrasting white matrix. Not only is it on contrasting matrix, but it is on contrasting CRYSTALLIZED matrix. Some morganites from here are embedded in lumpy matrix of massive cleavelandite , not this one! The contrast to teh bladed cleavelandite and the prismatic quartz is striking, geometrically, and gives the composition of this piece a boost from "just nice" to the level of a very high quality. The pink color in this crystal is exceptional for the mine and comparable to modern morganites from Pakistan in color, whereas most White Queen morganite, even teh famous Houston piece, is a bit paler in comparison. The upper photos contrast the piece (minimally) backlit and sitting in flat room lighting. As you can see, not much light at all is needed for an internal glow to be dramatic. The crystal is gemmy, pristine, and complete save for contact on the back where it grew agains tmatrix we removed to trim the piece down in size from the way it has sat for the last 30 years. Larson obtained this from the mine owner, Norm Dawson, in the 1980s.

PALASD-18 - Morganite - SOLD
Tourmaline Queen Mine, Pala, San Diego County, California, USA
small cabinet, 8.8 x 6.0 x 4.6 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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Wow! Any large hexagonal crystal of morganite from San Diego is a rarity, and desired. Few come from any mine but the White Queen during the mid to late 1900s. But this one comes from a mine generally known only for tourmalines, and thus this was a freak find there (dug by Edward Swoboda and Bill Larson in the early 1980s and kept for their company collection). It is the only one like it I have seen, and is really quite a distinct, 3-dimensional crystal in person. It has a rich pink color. The surface is mildly etched, but still retains clear hexagonal symmetry and has great lustre - the etching just makes it more reflective in a case. 361 grams. NOTE THIS CRYSTAL is etched on the bottom, but completely a floater now because of that dissolution growth under it...complete all around!

PALASD-20 - Tourmaline - SOLD
Little Three Mine, near Ramona, San Diego County, California, USA
small cabinet, 9.0 x 3.7 x 3.5 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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An unusual yellowish-green tourmaline from the Little Three, obtained in teh 1970s from Louis Spalding Sr., This crystal is complete all around, oddly tapered to multiple terminations at the bottom. It is quite gemmy when very strongly backlit though without such light, appears dark (typical for the mine). 178 grams

PALASD-59 - Tourmaline - SOLD
Stewart Mine, Pala, California, USA
small cabinet, 9.1 x 7.7 x 7.7 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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This is a VERY impressive 805-gram (about 2 pounds!) beast from the turn of the 1900's workings at the Stewart. People living in San Diego today simply do not realize that the avenues leading to Pacific Beach were named after minerals because of the rich mines in the mountains, that led to booming business selling exactly this quality of tourmaline carving rough to the empress dowager of China (until about WWI). In San Diego today, I was shocked to be told that I was mispronouncing the street name Garnet (main drag to the beach) as the mineral name (GAR-net), instead of as the supposedly proper "gar-NET" which the locals today call it by. All the more ironic, because John Sinkankas lived at the end of that road, too! . Tourmaline, Beryl, Feldspar streets continue the trend. This piece is a survivor, and a rare one, of those early California tourmaline mining days. I need to note that the specimen, while nearly pristine on the front (and quite aesthetic as you can see!), has some damage on the backside and to some few of the small accessory/accent crystals. This does not detract in context, I feel. However, and the reason this isn't $50-75k, apparently Mr. Warner had a lapidary hobby as well and he gave the termination a polish back in the old days, so it is not a fully natural termination (though from pitting and trace cracks we can tell the polish is on the natural surface, and not a sliced surface). It is from the famed collection of Pasadena playboy millionaire, Thomas Warner, who bequeathed his collection to Cal Tech (from which Bill traded this out in the 1970s). Few survive because, just as then, they have INTRINSIC and very high carving value. This piece weighs 800 grams. It is the choicest old hot pink color. At carving rough prices, i can sell it today for $20,000 to the asian market to be turned into a pink lotus, or a tourmaline buddha. I did NOT take that offer, because it seems a travesty. So, here's hoping it finds its way to a new mineral collection home after Warner, Cal Tech, and larson in the last 90 years or so.

PALASD-58 - Tourmaline Green Cap Pocket - SOLD
Himalaya Mine, Pala, California, USA
miniature, 5.1 x 4.8 x 4.4 cm share specimen

ex.  William Larson

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This equant, intensely colored crystal is from the famous Green Cap Pocket of 1988, collected by John McLean working for Pala Intl. This is the crystal they kept for their own collection, amidst only a dozen or so good singles of this size. Pieces today are almost impossible to come by - I don't think I have seen more than 4 or 5 and only seen 2 for sale in any case (the last one, which was twice this tall, and perhaps also twice the mass, sold for 30k in 2004 and for more than that when it changed hands in Europe in 2007). These crystals , in person, have a more intense green cap and sharp definition of color bands than some seemingly similar material found in the older days of the Himalaya Mine (which is duller in color and has a less defined cap). Frankly, if you did not know any better and had not seen others from this ONE single pocket, you would swear this was from Afghanistan. The crystal has only very minor edgewear and is as pristine as you could really hope to get. It is a good, impressive size (large miniature/small cab borderline) and shows dramatically in a case. 225 grams

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