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This is an unusual specimen in that it is a complete floater: a crust of translucent, pastel pink, inetergrown fluorite octahedrons to .5 cm across, COMPLETELY covers one face of a flattened, gemmy, light smoky, quartz crystal. The quartz crystal measures 8 cm across and again, is complete all around. The fluorite is preferentially only on one side, while the back of the specimen is the flat major face of the quartz crystal. VERY RICH AND COLORFUL with lots of pink for the price!
This combo piece features several cubes of fluorite, to 2.8 cm across , which have been coated by drusy, lustrous pyrite crystals. All this is aesthetically perched on a lustrous, radiating knoll of quartz crystals, reaching 1.0 cm across. COMPLETE ALL AROUND and brighter in person! An unusual yet interesting Moroccan piece!
On a matrix of sparkling white, drusy quartz, which has a very nice sculptural quality, is a crust of rich pink, lustrous, intergrown, platy crystals, of rhodochrosite, which have formed flower-like, rosettes. The largest rosette measures .7 cm across. The crystal quality is extremely high for the locality! Note that the paler hue of pink in the second photo, the closeup, is more accurate.
This remarkable combo specimen features a super-gemmy, SHARP, 100% terminated topaz embedded in the arms of a diverging quartz termination. The topaz is 4 cm in length and actually is doubly-terminated, with its bottom or rear end wrapping around a sharp, perfect, 4-cm-long schorl which lances out at about a 90-degree angle from the topaz, perfectly in plane, emerging through the OTHER side of the quartz at that same 90 angle of separation! It is very sharp, very exquisite, and much better in person. Th3e whole cluster is damned near a floater, with just a small bit of albite matrix attached at the back, near the junction of all 3 minerals. Otherwise, this is complete all around, and undamaged, as well.
An exquisite combination piece with sharp, gemmy brown anatase perched all over a nice fat quartz point! Classic, but rare in such a nice aesthetic specimen!
This amazing combination specimen has absolutely NO REPAIRS (i assure you on this)! This is almost impossible, you'd think, given the apparent exposure of the crystal to the elements. It came out in a very large piece, which was then trimmed down to size, preserving the central core and the protected crystal. The crystal measures 11 x 2.5 x 2.25 cm in size, or about 4.5 x 1 x 1 inch! It is very interesting in its own right, aside from the sheer insanity of the combo aesthetics. This crystal is the product of complex solution events that have given it a very interesting pattern, like a cityscape, around all the hexagonal faces of the side. The top termination, however, is unaltered in form , though it seems to have a secondary oriented coating of micro-aqua that gives matte finishes to some alternating faces. It is hard to describe, but I think the pics do it best anyhow in this case.
At the Munich show, a part of Namibian collector Heini Soltau's collection of Erongo material was privately being sold off, and among that lot were three remarkable, absolutely mesmerizing specimens to me...sharp crystals of zeunerite to 7mm perched on complete smoky quartz crystals. They come from a small pocket found in 2003 in granite , East of Tubussis (see NAMIBIA book, page 650). This specimen is infact ILLUSTRATED in the magnum opus NAMIBIA book which cam out last year in Germany (page 650, bottom). I think this was the best one for sale, and I was happy to get it. I understand that only a handful, perhaps less than a dozen specimens, came from this onetime pocket. This is a choice miniature of display quality for the species or for any Erongo suite. It can be displayed either vertically or as shown, though I prefer the crystals atop myself.
ex. Martin Zinn
A super example of rare natural citrine from Mexico, with juicy, amber-colored, fat crystals in a stunning knob! This is a very rare, and really good, example from a small batch brought to market by Doug Wallace at one of Marty's Hotel shows in Tucson about 4 years ago. BETTER IN PERSON!
ex. Martin Zinn
A tremendously elegant, pristine, 3-dimensional, complete-all-around amethyst from this classic locality. This specimen is particularly good because it has dominant crystal aesthetics instead of being jumbly like so many of them are, and because the matrix remains attached whereas many clusters are popped off. Amethysts from Mexico of THIS quality are NOT common at all, especially in today's market
ex. Martin Zinn
Totally bounded by faces, this translucent and partially hollow specimen, occurs as the non crystalline center of certain agates. Definitely not a common occurrence in the stock of mineral dealers. I have never seen one of these from anywhere but Brazil. From California ?!?! NOTE FROM A FRIEND: These polyhedrons occurred in a Tungsten mine near Bishop, California. The correct spelling is "Pine Crik", according to Ed Weber (Weber’s Minerals of Encinitas). I got mine from Ed, who had them in his geode collection. According to Ed; these were found in the late 60’s through the early 70’s. - Russ Rizzo
ex. Martin Zinn
This is one of the finer specimens of this mineral combination I have seen in recent years. Lustrous, deep blue-black crystals of anatase, to.75 cm, are aesthetically arranged on a transparent, gem crystal of colorless quartz, which measures 4 cm, in length. There is a minor ding on the back side of the termination, but, it is hidden when the specimen is viewed properly.
ex. Martin Zinn
Translucent, rich pink rhombs of rhodochrosite, the largest of which is 5 cm across, are studded with stunning, gemmy, light-purple, cubes of fluorite to .6 > also accenting the red color are 1 cm, sparkling, colorless quartz crystals. There is only trivial edge wear and a small 4 mm spot of minor damage to the very rear edge, at the visual periphery of the large rhomb and to the back from its front angle of display; but that is to be expected for such a soft mineral and a crystal of such size. There are no repairs or plastic fill, which is notable and also quite unusual for a specimen of this size and exposure. The crystal is very 3-dimensional, and perched as if upon a natural pedestal of smaller crystals and a big of galena-rich matrix. The overall effect is stunning , and there is a lot more sparkle and color flash to the piece in person than you gather from teh picture. Now that the Sweet Home Mine is closed permanently, specimens of this quality are rapidly escalating in price and i CANNOT replace a piece like this at ANY price. Frankly, they are like money in the bank which is why I now post so few of my stash of these critters, and accumulate others to save in the bank. As far as any mineral I have ever seen. good Sweet Homes are an appreciable asset to high degree.
Translucent, rich pink, rhombs of rhodochrosite, to 1 cm across, and colorless quartz crystals, to 1.5 cm in length, sit nicely on a matrix of massive quartz. With the mine permanently closed, look for an increase in prices every year from here on out....
ex. Martin Zinn
Twinning in quartz, especially when well-formed in good crystals, is very beautiful. In my opinion, the most spectacular twinning in quartz is the Japan Law twin. This superb specimen exhibits sharp twinning and is transparent throughout, illustrating the habit about as well as you could ask - especially for a US specimen (they are more common from Brazil, or even old Japanese locales in this quality). For Montana in particular, this is just a buttkicker of a crystal. In addition, this pristine specimen is a doubly terminated floater complete even around the bottom where you'd normally expect a broken point; and with accenting inclusions of schorl near the base to give a little more visual interest to the piece without detracting the eye from the sharp symmetry. Hands down, one of the best examples of this material I have ever seen. Not surprising, since Marty almost certainly got it from his friend Dave Bunk, who also lives in Denver and happens to be the one who controls the production and marketing of these quartz twins. All Content and Design ©1996-2012 The ArkenstonePowered by http://mineralwebsites.comMineral Specimens by species; or by specimen id. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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