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Mineral Specimens with Albite
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9.2 x 6.8 x 5.4 cm. A fine combination specimen from the mid-1980s finds at Stak Nala, Pakistan. Four intergrown, bi-colored tourmaline crystals, projecting upward like smokestacks and up to 8.9 cm long, are aesthetically wrapped in bladed cleavelandite accented with quartz crystals. The lustrous tourmalines are schorls with gemmy, teal-blue indicolite terminations. The striking, 4.7 cm, glassy, transparent to translucent quartz crystal is doubly terminated and is nearly pristine. The expanding base consists of many smaller tourmalines, nearly all with broken terminations and rich rosettes of cleavelandite blades. This is a fine, complete-all-around combination piece from this noted locale. Ex. Saller Collection.
16.8 x 11.0 x 10.4 cm. Some of the finest quality Aquamarine specimens come from the various pegmatites in the Pakistani Himalayas, especially in the Shigar Valley. Matrix specimens of Aquamarine are still fairly uncommon in the world, and to find an association piece such as this is amazing. The piece hosts a solitary, euhedral, gentle blue color, prismatic crystal of Aquamarine measuring 3.8 cm long which is protruding from a hefty matrix comprising sharp, well-formed, distinct, lightly frosted crystals of Smoky Quartz (some are doubly-terminated) which are associated with contrasting snow-white crystals of Albite and minor Muscovite. Rarely does one see Aquamarine on doubly-terminated Quartz crystal matrix from this area, but to have the addition of the white Albite is a nice bonus. The great color contrast, associations and overall size of the piece make it a superb specimen of this classic material.
4.8 x 3.8 x 2.6 cm. This is an extremely rare specimen, the best Chuck knows of, from one of the more interesting mines in San Diego County. It features a very equant, sharp, and surprisingly attractive crystal of the rare species Manganocolumbite perched aesthetically on matrix. Ex. Chuck Houser Collection.
3.6 x 3.5 x 2.3 cm. Rare green hydroxylherderite from a small find, or series of small finds, that has been out now for about 7 years. Very glassy, translucent, 3-dimensional crystal of approximately 2 cm perched on crystallized albite. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
8.0 x 6.5 x 3.9 cm. Stark, lustrous white albite forms the matrix for two lustrous, translucent, lilac-colored crystals of hydroxylherderite, to 3.3 cm in length. The contrast in colors is particularly nice. The hydroxylherderites are complete save for a small contact in back. This is a very impressive piece.
13.8 x 4.9 x 3.5 cm. A fine and very aesthetic cabinet tourmaline cluster from early-2000s finds at the Pederneira Mine. This gemmy and lustrous, polychrome crystal is double terminated and is strikingly accented by the crossed tourmaline crystal, a euhedral albite crystal (unusual) and a scattering of pink lepidolite crystals at one termination. The bodies of the two crystals range from a gorgeous teal-blue to emerald-green to multiple shades of green. The 3-sided, pyramidal termination is pristine, highly lustrous, frosted and black. The bottom termination is partially frosted, and very etched but complete. The lepidolites and the albite crystal are a nice compliment.
9.8 x 8.5 x 7.0 cm. The larger crystal measures 6.5 x 3 x 2 cm in size, and the smaller is about 4.5 x 3 x 2 cm. These robust, 3-dimensional crystals stick out dramatically from a matrix of albite, and with schorl in the background for contrast. The matrix is actually a portion of an albite crystal, not just massive rock. It has the most intense deep blue color I have seen before in an Erongo specimen, with a translucent and deeply colored body and a gemmy termination atop. The intense color, and large size, combined with lustre and a contrasting schorl association, all conspire to make this a special pocket considered by those who saw them recently at the 2009 Denver show to be among the best aquamarine finds here in about a decade of quite sporadic aquamarine mining.
7.6 x 7.6 x 5.5 cm. A straight-up 5.6 x 1.6 x 1.2 cm aquamarine, with intense blue color, is the dominant part of this specimen. It rises from a base of contrasting white albite nesting around the bottom termination, and contrasts then with the schorl and smaller aquamarines on the knoll of matrix which sits behind. The top of the termination is gemmy, and the whole crystal quite glassy by the standards of this locality. Some of the smaller flanking aquamarines (under 1 cm) are broken off at their tips, but this main crystal is pristine and also freestanding.
12.4 x 6.8 x 5.8 cm. Aquamarines and schorl combine here to make a very fine, contrasting, 3-dimensional specimen featuring 3 core aquamarines on which a nest of smaller aquamarines hang off. The larger two aquamarines in front are 5.5 and 6 cm long. The 5.5 cm crystal is doubly-terminated with both tips gemmy. The other crystal is partly doubly-terminated, with some of the bottom tip showing and the rest buried in white albite. The large crystal behind them is about 4 cm tall and 2.3 cm wide, notable for its gemminess, and glassy lustre. It is, in turn, crossed by a 4-cm-long doubly-terminated crystal hanging off its backside. All major crystals are pristine. All crystals have the robust blue which is characteristic of this pocket and much more lustrous, and less gray-blue, than most previous finds.
3.8 x 3.0 x 2.6 cm. A robust, very bright 2.5 x 1.7 x 1.2 cm aquamarine is here hanging off a sharp schorl, for a really nice contrast of color and geometry. The aquamarine is phantomed, with a clear internal core and a flat hexagonal termination down hidden beneath the glassy and pristine surface termination. This blurs together in the photo but is more evident in person. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
4.8 x 3.0 x 2.0 cm. This is a superb brazilianite miniature, with pristine condition and a perfectly balanced perch atop a small cluster of crystallized albite. It is complete on both sides, all around. This was recovered in a late 1990s mining project which Wayne Thompson and partners financed, yielding mostly larger specimens. This doubly-terminated crystal was, I am told, among the finest miniature-sized specimens and certainly ranks highly for aesthetics. These Linopolis brazilianites are markedly different in form and appearance from earlier material mined at the type locality of Corrego Frio. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
2.5 x 2.4 x 2.0 cm. This is a superb Pakistani topaz thumbnail, with utterly limpid 100% clarity and transparency, glassy lustre, and superb complex form. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
3.6 x 3.1 x 2.2 cm. An outstanding topaz, but with just normal color and good lustre. Ex. Laura and Stevia Thompson Collection.
8.5 x 7 x 6 cm. This 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, 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 Houser.
8.6 x 5.9 x 5.4 cm. Nestled in a matrix of snow white albite and quartz crystals is a 3.5 cm-plus jewel-like crystal of transparent, cognac-colored topaz. The transparency and color along with the matrix are just about as good as can be found in Pakistan.
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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com
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share specimen![Schorl, Tourmaline (Var: Indicolite), Albite (Var: Cleavelandite), Quartz from Stak Nala, Haramosh Mts., Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-255152a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-255152a.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Quartz, Albite from Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-255197a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-255197a.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Quartz, Albite from Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-255197b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-255197b.jpg)
![Columbite-(Mn), Albite (Var: Cleavelandite), Muscovite from Elizabeth R. Mine, Chief Mountain, Pala District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-256770a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-256770a.jpg)
![Hydroxylherderite, Albite from Chhappu, Braldu Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-256780a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-256780a.jpg)
![Hydroxylherderite, Albite from Chhappu, Braldu Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-256780b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-256780b.jpg)
![Hydroxylherderite, Albite from Barra de Salinas district, Barra de Salinas, Coronel Murta, Jequitinhonha valley, Minas Gerais, Southeast Region, Brazil [db_pics/mdpics/MD-256785a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-256785a.jpg)
![Hydroxylherderite, Albite from Barra de Salinas district, Barra de Salinas, Coronel Murta, Jequitinhonha valley, Minas Gerais, Southeast Region, Brazil [db_pics/mdpics/MD-256785b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-256785b.jpg)
![Elbaite, Albite from Pederneira claim, São José da Safira, Doce valley, Minas Gerais, Southeast Region, Brazil [db_pics/mdpics/MD-256816a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-256816a.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Schorl, Albite from Erongo Mountain, Usakos and Omaruru Districts, Erongo Region, Namibia [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257313a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257313a.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Schorl, Albite from Erongo Mountain, Usakos and Omaruru Districts, Erongo Region, Namibia [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257326a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257326a.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Schorl, Albite from Erongo Mountain, Usakos and Omaruru Districts, Erongo Region, Namibia [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257327a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257327a.jpg)
![Beryl (Var: Aquamarine), Schorl, Albite (Var: Cleavelandite) from Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257379a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257379a.jpg)
![Brazilianite, Albite from Linópolis, Divino das Laranjeiras, Doce valley, Minas Gerais, Southeast Region, Brazil [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257448a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257448a.jpg)
![Topaz, Albite from Dassu (Dasso; Dusso), Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257457a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257457a.jpg)
![Topaz, Albite from Dassu (Dasso; Dusso), Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257458a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257458a.jpg)
![Topaz, Albite (Var: Cleavelandite) from Little Three Mine (Little 3), Ramona District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257496a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257496a.jpg)
![Topaz, Albite (Var: Cleavelandite) from Dache (Dassu; Dasu; Haramosh-Dassu; Dacha), Haramosh Mts., Gilgit District, Northern Areas, Pakistan [db_pics/mdpics/MD-257497a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-257497a.jpg)