A beautiful emerald with the vibrant green color and glassy lustre characteristic of La Pita Mine, 3.6 cm tall, contrasted nicely on its matrix. Recently mined in early 2011, this is a most unusual specimen in that the emerald is perched on, rather embedded IN, a large rhombohedral calcite crystal. The emerald is uncracked and unrepaired, remarkable for one of this size - they usually show stress fractures at this size. It is not a thin crystal either - you can look into its depths and see it goes into the calcite. The calcite is sawed on the bottom and back, where it had to be cut out of surrounding hard rock- this does not show from the display face, in any case. What is particularly nice about this piece, is that it is very , very difficult to get anything like this display size in an emerald, without breaking the bank. While there is a compromise in that the crystal is embedded in the calcite, you get a lot of emerald and a lot of green flash in a larger piece than one might expect, for the money. Joe Budd photos

A stunning single , gemmy, sharp, pristine calcite rises majestically from this matrix of deepest purple amethyst. The contrast is striking. To get it I had to buy the 93-pounder amethyst cathedral it was trapped in and have it trimmed out at some large expense...well, I just had to have it! Both are common minerals, but the association and stark display qualities of this hand-sized piece make it stand out from the crowd. I thought it was, frankly, one of the best Brazilian calcites I have yet seen and long kept it.

Pics say it all here...this is a GLOWING PINK, NEON-COLORED CLUSTER OF CALCITE! The cobaltian inclusions here are rich, and the calcite itself naturally bright and lustrous , multifaceted. The piece just sparkles. This is a large and showy example from the finds of the late 1980s that simply still are among the most colorful mineral specimens ever found in my book. Except for the periphery, the piece is damage free on the display face. In person, it is more 3-dimensional and obviously exceptional for its color but also its condition for the size. I collected calcite since I was a junior level collector, and worked my way up. Along the way, I bought every good one of these I could afford at the time when they were coming out in the 1980s and put them away, so this one was in my collection for some time. Comes with custom base.