A neat boxed group of 4 calcite crystals, in a Riker mount. The crystals are very thin (a few mm) but show incredible elongation and complexity on their other axes of growth. This is a classic style from Acushnet, but rarely seen so well developed. The quarry is now inaccessible for specimens, and these are old pieces. Ernie Schilchter collected them on October 1, 1982, on the 10th level of the open quarry.

It is hard to get large dioptase specimens today in any kind of condition unless you want to pay a bloody fortune, six figures in several cases i have seen the last few years. However, I was able to get this as a fixer-upper from an older collector who had obtained it in the 1970s and never prepped it to remove the peripheral damaged parts which were distracting, that I had trimmed down to remove damage and enhance the display...and so now I can offer it for under 50k. I have never had a large diop of this quality, this price . They just have to cost more, almost a priori, normally. This is a massively large specimen to be in such good condition, almost 5 inches across and with dozens of crystals that are almost pristine with just a few teeny dings or damaged spots of no significance. It is the most desirable style in that they diops are both isolated and on white calcite. moreover, the calcite is crystallized and not just druse. I cannot tell you how many diops I have seen that do not possess these qualities! To make this really top, it does have the absolutely highest lustre you could ask for. The crystals are even translucent when backlit.

We have all seen a lot of carrollites from the glory hole finds of around 2000-2002, and a few trickling out later. However, this piece for me has ALWAYS been one of my very favorites, since the day I first bought it from the Gobin brothers in Tucson before the show opened, in 2001. I sold it immediately to Ed David, in whose collection it remained until recently. There were larger crystals (then, not available now still). There were more exposed crystals. But there were VERY few crystals of such mesmerizing surface detail, and of this sharp octohedral habit, even amongst the whole breadth of the find. Of those few, this was the best in the size range available at the time and it remains one I always compare other examples of the species to. It is decidedly unusual, as most people consider a more complex crystal to be the sterotypic habit. Yet it is this unusual simplicity of the overall form, combined with subtle complexity on the faces and bevelled edges, that makes this unique and special even amongst the relatively few larger crystals. Moreover, very few specimens, probably only a few dozen in all, had this level of quality and were perched without repair in accenting calcite matrix. So, overall, I feel that this is one of those specimens that has the qualities of superb examples of its species; but enough individuality to also stand on its own merits as something so far off the normal spectrum as to be in its own category for desirability. I have hoarded it away since I bought the Ed David collection in 2006, and this is its first time presented for sale. Joe Budd photos

This piece formed from geothite casting over and partially replacing selenite crystals in parallel cluster, which then dissolved (they are water soluble, after all). So, it is hollow and light in weight, though it looks massive somehow, to the eye . We have all seen a lot of this material creep to market over the years, though I suspect much of it actually was a lot older, found in the 1970s and prior. But THIS piece has always stood out to me for many reasons: its sheer sharpness, intense jet black (not gray or brownish) color saturation, wet-looking lustre to the geothite, and that wonderful association with sparkling, colorless calcite atop! I obtained this in an old collection in 2003, and sold it into the Dave Stoudt Mexico collection shortly after. It remains my personal favorite amongst all such examples of this particular material I have handled. Joe Budd photos