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Two 3-cm fluorite crystals sitting side-by-side on the quartz matrix. Both have light purple color zones inside, razor-sharp faces and fine luster. 11 x 8 x 5 cm
Three isolated clusters of gemmy, intergrown fluorite crystals, to 3.4 cm along the edge. The overall form of this specimen is wonderful, with the three clusters centered and equally spaced down the stark white quartz matrix. The color is NOT the drab green of the volumes of fluorite that poured out of China in recent years, but a much prettier (and rarer) grass green. Better in person! 13 x 7.8 x 3.8 cm
11.4 x 6.7 x 3.1 cm. A superb cabinet plate of glowing, translucent, highly modified, green fluorite octahedrons aesthetically set on contrasting, sparkly, drusy quartz from recent finds at the Xiefang Mine of China.
2.1 x 1.4 x 0.9 cm. An aesthetic thumbnail specimen of two, bright, burnished, leaf gold "rabbit ears" octahedrons to 5 mm perched atop granitic quartz and accented with platy dark minerals from the unique 1990s St. John’s, Newfoundland find that we have got from the small lot. This is one of the few pieces in the lot that did not have the pink tinted granitic quartz and feldspar that is unique.
8.5 x 5.8 x 4.8 cm. A fine fluorite specimen from the Yaogangxian Mine of China. Two water-clear, lustrous, lightly etched, sea foam-green fluorite cubes with interesting, interior, purple phantoms, are aesthetically stacked on top of each other like stair-steps. The cubes rest upon a matrix of quartz and bladed ferberite.
2.4 x 1.2 x 1.1 cm. A unique and unusual thumbnail quartz crystal from near Lovelock, Nevada. A sharp, glassy, transparent quartz crystal is filled with inclusions of white stibiconite needles and a few black stibnite needles. Ex. Dick Jones Collection.
1.0 x 0.7 x 0.6 cm. A fine thumbnail of a arborescent or antler-like cluster of richly burnished, golden-yellow gold aesthetically attached to a transparent quartz crystal shard. This is old-time material from Grass Valley, California. The piece is in a magnifying perky box.
5.8 x 5.8 x 3.9 cm. A rare and unique combination specimen from the much less well-known Pack Rat Mine of San Diego County. A sharp, textbook, hexagonal, gemmy and lustrous, 4.5 cm, pastel-green apatite crystal is set in two, sharp, intergrown, glassy and transparent, lightly etched, smoky quartz crystals. The lower portion of the apatite crystal was broken by pocket forces, but is held in place by the smoky quartz. The apatite and smoky quartz are contacted on the side, but there is no damage, per se. It is a highly representative specimen. Older material from the Chuck Houser Collection.
8.4 x 6.4 x 4.3 cm. A very interesting hoppered/skeletal, metallic-bright, 4.3 x 4.0 x 4.0 cm, complex galena cube set on matrix with quartz crystals and tiny pyritohedrons. There are some very unusual forms on this galena crystal from recent finds at the Krushev dol Mine of Bugaria. Highly representative of the species and locale.
6.5 x 4.8 x 2.0 cm. A complete floater, terminated all around on all sides, of quartz from this classic locality in the Alps for quartz crystals. Note the brilliant lustre and intricate shape of the myriad hoppered faces, here.
8.6 x 5.8 x 3.5 cm. A nice, 3-dimensional cluster of the superb gem-quality smoky quartz which Alpine strahlers have been trying to collect for centuries, often risking their lives to do so. It is a typical example in style and habit.
12.8 x 8.5 x 5.9 cm. This is a unique specimen combining a druse of small sparkly quartz crystals with a druse of small sparkly roselites, in a naturally contoured pocket. The overlay of the quartz on the roselite creates a beautiful effect. This is not recent, and dates to probably 6-7 years ago, I am told. Ex. Eric Asselborn Collection.
16 x 10 x 6 cm. A most unusual, very colorful quartz specimen, which has not only display aesthetics but also locality value and provenance. It is a very large example of this rare style of quartz from Switzerland, considered a highly desirable part of any Alpine collection because of their striking color and are so unlike other Swiss quartz styles with which we are more familiar. The crystal is complete all around, a floater, with no points of attachment that is fully terminated on both ends. The color is unearthly, as if you took the iron and embedded it in layers to yield a rainbow of refracted colors - indeed, you see rainbows shimmering just under the surface on the main faces of the front. This is not citrine (where iron is part of the crystal structure unit cell), rather it is quartz with iron stain incorporated into the matrix but not part of the crystal structure. This specimen was purchased by Peter Bancroft in the 1950s or 1960s, he recalls. He sold it to a local quartz collector in San Diego area in the 1970s (Alice Walters), and there it remained until she sold her collection about 4 years ago. It then went into the most prominent collection of classic, cabinet-sized Swiss minerals in the US that I know of: that of Karl Kempf in Arizona (a longtime mineral collector specializing in this region). This collection was sold off by Wayne Thompson last fall. Original label in Bancroft's hand is included.
12 x 5 x 4 cm. This quartz crystal is like a natural cut jewel. The faces are so sharp and flawless, the edges so clean and razor-like, the internal clarity so limpid, it looks cut. The quartz is doubly-terminated, with a bit of lepidolite and a spray of cleavelandite at the bottom tip to give it the look of attached matrix although really the whole piece is a floater with no attachment point. It is the single finest quality quartz crystal I have seen from the Pederneira Mine, citrine or not. And it is citrine, having a distinct orange color when set against white background. The color is not intense, but it’s there. This specimen was in the collection of Pederneira mine partner Daniel Trinchillo, who sold it to Steve Smale several years ago. Steve collects fancy gem crystals of the highest perfection and quality - seldom a quartz. But this is one quartz that transcends, and holds its own vs. the fancier tourmalines and gem minerals of Brazil.
10 x 6 x 4.5 cm. This prospect is now a national park, and collecting is forbidden today - making it hard to obtain one for the new collector. This is an older specimen from the collection of Marty Zinn, acquired long ago. It features an unusually well-balanced central crystal on matrix, with superb equant form in its dimensions. The crystal is totally gemmy, pristine, and incredibly sharply terminated. It has a sharp internal phantom, which is rare for this location. All Content and Design ©1996-2012 The ArkenstonePowered by http://mineralwebsites.comMineral Specimens by species; or by specimen id. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
share specimen![Fluorite, Quartz from Xianghualing Mine (Hsianghualing Mine), Xianghualing Sn-polymetallic ore field, Linwu Co., Chenzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province, China [db_pics/mdpics/MD-22345a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-22345a.jpg)
![Fluorite, Quartz from Xianghualing Mine (Hsianghualing Mine), Xianghualing Sn-polymetallic ore field, Linwu Co., Chenzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province, China [db_pics/mdpics/MD-22349a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-22349a.jpg)
![Fluorite, Quartz from Xiefang Mine, Ruijin Co., Ganzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, China [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223815a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223815a.jpg)
![Gold, Quartz from Nugget Pond Mine, Betts Cove, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223830a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223830a.jpg)
![Gold, Quartz from Nugget Pond Mine, Betts Cove, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223830b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223830b.jpg)
![Fluorite, Quartz, Ferberite from Yaogangxian Mine, Yizhang Co., Chenzhou Prefecture, Hunan Province, China [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223855a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223855a.jpg)
![Quartz, Stibnite, Stibiconite from Trinity Mts, Lovelock, Antelope District, Pershing Co., Nevada, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223864a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223864a.jpg)
![Gold, Quartz from Grass Valley, Nevada City District (Grass Valley District), Nevada Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223867a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223867a.jpg)
![Apatite, Quartz (Var: Smoky Quartz) from Pack Rat Mine, Mt. Tule, Jacumba District, San Diego Co., California, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223880a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223880a.jpg)
![Galena, Quartz from Krushev dol deposit, Krushev dol mine, Madan ore field, Rhodope Mts, Smolyan Oblast, Bulgaria [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223903a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223903a.jpg)
![Quartz from Illiez Valley, Wallis (Valais), Switzerland [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223945a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223945a.jpg)
![Quartz from Illiez Valley, Wallis (Valais), Switzerland [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223945b.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223945b.jpg)
![Quartz (Var: Smoky Quartz) from Furka pass area, Goms, Wallis (Valais), Switzerland [db_pics/mdpics/MD-223962a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-223962a.jpg)
![Roselite, Quartz from Aghbar Mine (Arhbar Mine), Aghbar, Bou Azzer District, Tazenakht, Ouarzazate Province, Souss-Massa-Draâ Region, Morocco [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224141a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224141a.jpg)
![Quartz from Viaplana, Sils im Domleschg, Thusis, Domleschg, Hinterrhein Valley, Grischun (Grisons; Graubünden), Switzerland [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224145a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224145a.jpg)
![Quartz (Var: Citrine) from Pederneira claim, São José da Safira, Doce valley, Minas Gerais, Southeast Region, Brazil [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224146a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224146a.jpg)
![Quartz (Var: Smoky Quartz) from Lincoln Co., New Mexico, USA [db_pics/mdpics/MD-224147a.jpg]](db_pics/mdpics/MD-224147a.jpg)