A glistening, brilliantly lustrous plate of really good quartz, serves as matrix for a jackstraw cluster of elongated brown pyromorphite crystals on this rare locality piece. I had personally never even seen any pyro from this mine, and here is not only a rich cluster (6 cm across), but on beautiful quartz matrix?! It is an oldtime specimen from the well known collection of John Marshall.

This is one of my favorite such combo pieces out of literally hundreds seen in the last decade or so. It is a strinkingly 3-dimensional, sparkling, jewel-like specimen with beautiful sharp spessartines of intense color, covering all but the points of glassy and gemmy, transparent smoky quartz crystals. Rarely do you get such elegance and color in both species of the combo, and in pristine condition as well. This remarkably well-trimmed specimen is pristine AND complete 360 degrees all around. Although common in principle in smaller sizes, such superb pieces in this size just are not out there. From a major dealer's personal collection, this was cherrypicked from his many years of travel in China during the heyday for this locality in about 2004-2007 (production now is much reduced). It is a stunnign specimen, and the photos simply do not fully convey its full impact in person.

Aesthetic, undamaged, unrepaired matrix specimens are EXTREMELY uncommon from this locality. This particular specimen is a very aesthetic cluster, complete all around, and showing quartz of several styles on one piece. It has phantoms and inclusions that make it more interesting. The grape-jelly purple color is all the more intense when contrasted to the crystal-clear, colorless tips. (and in fact, this deposit is known for such phantom crystals). It is pristine, razor-sharp, all around. The more you look at the piece, the more complexity you see; but first of all the impression is of condition, and color. Matrix amethysts are hard to pry from the tough rocks of these mountains, and despite a huge interest in collecting there today , few come out. Usually, to get a piece like this, one would have to remove a large block of matrix with a diamond chainsaw, to minimize vibrations and damage in collecting. Trimming later is admittedly risky, but necessary to produce a piece like this of good size and balance. They just do not "come out" like this! It is a superb piece literally in the top percentile for its size amongst thousands of other specimens to come from these mountains in recent years. It seems expensive, I admit - but to my eyes it stands out so dramatically from the crowd, that it IS a premium piece. Aesthetic, undamaged, unrepaired matrix specimens are EXTREMELY uncommon in this quality level and size, despite increasing use of diamond chainsaws to extract them. The deposit just doesn't cooperate in making them. Formerly in the noted collection of Marc Weill.

Tourmaline from the Himalaya Mine is known for its exhibitions of break-healing and growth interruptions, which sometimes create "bent" crystals. This particular specimen shows another style resulting from the disruptive environment of this pegmatite. When found in the early 90's, this was referred to as the "healed pocket" because nearly all the crystals, which are beautifully intergrown with nice lustrous quartz points, showed broken terminations that had then been "healed" by a later phase of tourmaline growth. So there was no extension and regrowth of the crystal afterwards, but just a soft covering of the broken tips, resulting in a weird flowing look to the terminations here. On close inspection, they look scallopped, as if composed of many small multiple terminations. Although rare for this or any other mine, this is how 90% of the pocket was , when found. The top crystal in the cluster, though, shows a completely normal, sharp, flat, termination for contrast (do not ask me how that could have happened!). Overall, a VERY interesting piece, of some elegance, from a highly unique pocket at this famous mine. ex Larry Conklin collection.Joe Budd Photos

Found by Skip Szenics over several years of collecting here, this is a miniature from his persoal collection which was first sold to me at the Springfield show in the early 2000s. After trimmign it up, I sold it to a collector and it ended up with a dealer, who traded it back to me all these years later. Chrysocolla from here forms thin sheets, usually. These large spheres (this one is an inch) are very rare, and are the most desired of style from this mine. The best pieces have this intense blue color, and a thin layer of drusy quartz that gives it a sparkle ; and also a "crackling" pattern that further makes it look like a blue disco ball. The combination effect is stunning! This is one of the very best balls I have seen from here over the years, all coming out through one person. I believe he sold this piece only because it was in a big ugly rock at the time, and I had to make a risky trim of it..Joe Budd Photos

This older specimen has the most intense glassy luster, high transparency, and internal limpid brightness that you could ever imagine in a Mexican amethyst. Its grape juice color has a clean and sharp "feel" to it, that just places it at the absolute top of its game. I have handled a thousand Las Vigas amethysts, and yet this one stuns me every time i hold it. It is really bright and stunning in a case. This piece is perfect and complete all around. It was in the collection of Bryan Sage, who left his collection by bequest to the University of Arizona in the 1990s. For its size, it is among the best examples I have seen of this otherwise common material.Joe Budd Photos

Quartz matrix hosts an intense crystal with HOT PINK color, just flaming bright and more "neon" than Himalaya Mine produced by a slight bit. Atop, it is capped by a clear zone topped by several millimeters of intense purple zoning (when viewed from the side). The tourmaline has extraordinary glassy lustre and is complete all around! The quartz matrix is actually a crystal fragment, even if broken on most faces, and serves as a nice contrasting pedestal. This is old material, and crystals with such color saturation are hard to obtain today. From the well-known tourmaline collection of Klaus Neumann. Also, this was formerly in the F John Barlow Collection (dispersed in 1998).Joe Budd Photos