These old Japanese quartzes from which Japan law twinning was described initially, are classics of the late 1800s and early 1900s, rarely seen for sale in sizable specimens of quality today! This is an exceptionally large and complete specimen with no significant damage (only a few small and trivial dings). It is a superbly aesthetic, dramatic piece for Japan, with elegant display qualities you would wish in a contemporary quartz but seldom see in the really old pieces. Given this, and the historic importance of the piece, I think the specimen stands on its own merits with the history as a bonus to the value and the collector. I have had similar old pieces, though smalle rand not in as good a shape, reliably dated to 1914, though it probably came to that owner already in an old collection (as these came out even in the late 1800s). Courtesy of Alfredo Petrov: "mura" means village, "Kai" is now Yamanashi, so the label can be deciphered to be: Miyamoto village in Yamanashi Prefecture. 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.

From the surprising January 2008 find here, this is a symmetric, complete, undamaged crystal showing rich inclusions of the rare species ajoite. Interestingly, the quartz crystal has a "girdle" of sorts of included material which darkens the stalk and thus draws the eye all the more to the beautiful blue atop. NOTE THIS IS NOT POLISHED, as so many tragically were. Also, while many were found, few of this size with both good color and with perfect terminations were able to be recovered.

This stunning, unrepaired tourmaline specimen is one of the finest I know of in its size class and style, a greencapped habit which is at the least absolutely classic for this region, perhaps even the most stereotypic form of tourmaline for this region. The crystal is translucent and colorful, glowing with an internal color even with only minimal backlighting. Except for the tiniest of trivial dings, it is for all effects pristine - which is remarkable for a crystal so exposed form matrix. The combination of colors in the crystal make it a great tourmaline, but the placement and matrix arrangement make it a world class specimen overall. The contrast of the quartz form and geometry, vs. the tourmaline, and contrasted so starkly against the white cleavelandite - its just as if it were glued together in a dream. The photo used for the Westward Look show poster (2009) is by Jeff Scovil, and is the same one used in Smale's book on his collection. The other photo is a Joseph Budd photo which I had made for publicity once I obtained the specimen recently. It is a world-class level of tourmaline specimen. No question about it. The price is correspondingly high, but that is how it must be to acquire such a thing and to exchange it from the Smale collection when it fits his own taste so perfectly. This pieec was recently illustrated in teh Texas collectors book and is briefly available again as part of a potential deal.