The photos say it all, here. This is a spectacular specimen of upright, pristine and mirror-bright hematite perched on stunningly gem clear, bright, perfect quartz crystals, all on a granite matrix. The hematites are 3-dimensional and fat, not slender and brittle as so many can be. They show complex surface patterning, only marred by a few small specks of deep red rutile perched atop. Such specimens are quite nearly impossible to collect and find in the high Alpine clefts where strahlers literally risk their lives going after them. Many matrix pieces are repaired - this is not. Many matrix pieces are big and clunky - this has perfect aesthetics and is complete all around. The accenting cascade of small, mirror-bright hematites like a waterfall down the front-right adds to the eye appeal and sparkle in a case. Quite simply, for "American tastes" of perfection and display quality, this is one of my absolute favorite Cavradi pieces I have seen over the years. From a well-known collection in the US. Joe Budd photos

Looking very much like cactus growth, this ELEGANT calcite specimen features translucent, hematite included crystals to 7 cm in length. In addition, the piece exhibits chocolate brown color and the high luster that make the find unique. Old material, from the late 1980s - I remember as i owned one when i was a kid and they were coming out.

Aesthetically perched on an ocherous matrix are hematite-included crystals of equant, twinned calcite, to 3 cm across. The crystals are lustrous, partially translucent, and exhibit a rich brownish red coloration. Very pretty! This particular material tends to form flat plates, and a piece like this is hard to obtain for its aesthetics. from old finds here in the 1970s

A matrix of reddish-brown, massive hematite hosts a sparkling druse of brilliant little red calcites, all colored a solid red with hematite inclusions. Atop the sparkly layer, are several very sharp, very glassy, and slightly translucent calcite rhombohedrons to about an inch across. The crystals are heavily included by finely disseminated reddish hematite dust, which gives them their color. This is from classic old finds here. Some has also been found more recently, but not with such intense color as the best of the old material. And of this older material, VERY few pieces have such luster as this does...equally as important as the color. Also, the plate has no damage and is pristine (yet again, uncommon for the material)

This unusual specimen is not only a complete floater, with no visible point of attachment, but the intergrown, crystals of blocky, fluorapophyllite, to 2.0 cm across, have been infused by both, olive green, mozartite, a recently described, calcium, manganese, silicate and also by dark red hematite. This is definitely a different breed of Fluorapophyllite !

A stunning , glassy, sparkly example of this old English classic! This piece is a knoll of bright crystals, almost completely pristine on the display face, of calcite stained red by minute inclusions of hematite in oriented faces. I have seen many of these, but few seem to come up of this size with the quality here - in terms of lustre and condition. I collected calcites as a child, and always dreamed of owning a good one of this style (for color if nothing else), but they came up for sale so seldom and were always expensive. I have thus paid a lot of attention to pieces of this style when they DO come up, and this one for sheer beauty is one of my favorites of the examples I have handled in recent years - if not even the most expensive. It is just "prettier" than most - more sparkly, more bright. From the recently unveiled collection of Howard Belsky, a dealer who tragically passed away at an early age several decades ago. Joe Budd photos