Papagoite seldom occurs so intensely, so brightly, and so well dispersed in the quartz from this classic locale. Recent finds have really redefined standards, yielding huge crystals with excellent coloration. However, most are large crystals, generally singles or clusters. ry finding a killer miniature against the crowd of larger pieces! There just are many largre pieces, now, but few this size range for the miniature collector. This is one of the finest smaller quartz crystals I have seen for clarity, sharpness, and completeness (it is a doubly-terminated floater). It is invested with Papagoite, both rich and of the highest color saturation for this material. Overall, just an exquisite specimen that is so much brighter and more colorful than most. .Joe Budd Photos

A rare example of seemingly octohedral crystals of alabandite, from the Chiurucu Mining area and NOT from the Ucchuchaccua rhodochrosite mine in Lima Dept. The large 2.5-cm (an inch!) crystal is complete and sharp despite an internal fracture that started but did not continue through the piece. This is a huge crystal by any standard for the species and among the largest fine crystals from this smaller find (certainly the best that we saw of the lot...) ! An association of gemmy quartz really makes the specimen aesthetic. A small bit of rhodonite on the bottom is present as well. Only one dealer had a very few of these specimens at the Tucson 2011 show alongside pieces from the Uchuchaccua Mine. What are the odds of two new finds of the best alabandite crystals in the world coming out of different mines in Peru at the same time, after decades of nothing like this? near zero? I am very sure of this locale, though: one of these specimens has a smidge of rhodonite on the bottom of the matrix, confirming its mine of origin. Joe Budd photos

Every now and then, you see a large matrix piece which just screams "fake" at you. It just seems too contrived to be real. That is what I thought of this specimen, when I first saw it in a dealer advertisement over 5 years ago. When I saw it in person though, I immediately realized that it actually is the real thing, with three isolated and pristine tourmaline crystals shooting out in 3 different directions. Remarkably, there are no repairs! The piece has been through my preferred preparation lab to confirm that fact. The fact that a single matrix piece can have two totally different habits of tourmaline has always impressed me about how these things form. It is rare, but it happens. Still, usually that exceptional case refers to two tourmalines of the same color, but perhaps different terminations on the same matrix. Here, we have both of the really stereotypical habits of a Paprok tourmaline, totally different in color and symmetries, perched on the same piece. The classic multicolored red-green crystal is 5 inches tall. Again, it is NOT repaired, despite its perch and freestanding nature. The hot pink crystal to the left is fully 2 inches long, and shows a totally different termination. We call this style the "bubblegum pinks" and it is also classic for the locality. I simply am NOT aware of another specimen which combines both of these particular styles of tourmaline, let alone with such pizzazz. This is a major matrix tourmaline, by any standard. Joe Budd photos

These sharp amethysts are known for clarity and lustre, but even so this is in a very high percentile. The quality is through the roof, just glassy as you could wish for and brilliantly colored with an "internal sparkle" that is hard to convey. Intense grape-juice colored amethyst phantoms inside such limpid clarity, make these unique among the world's amethyst finds. This is a superb example in every way with top quality transparency, color and color contrast, and lustre. It is from the well-known Charlie Key quartz collection (Charlie was a longtime dealer there, and built this collection over decades). Joe Budd photos

An oldtime Japanese specimen from the collection of the American Museum. The piece has brilliantly lustrous sphalerites of several crystal forms, perched on contrasting white quartz matrix. Some crystals are translucent. It was labeled "Echigo" which is an old name for Niigata Prefecture, today. This probably came out at the same time as some well-known sphalerites from the Burrage collection, also labelled "Echigo " or "Yechigo" on the contemporary labels from that period (and shown on MINDAT now). No telling which mine for sure, but the region seems to have produced good sulfides in the 1800s. This specimen was formerly in the AMNH collection and , most recently, in the Conklin collection.. Joe Budd photos

A cherry-red, translucent rhomb of rhodochrosite is the center of this superb, display-quality miniature, which is both aesthetic and significant for the size and price range. The crystal is 4 cm across, and the associated hubnerite is 1.6 cm long. The rhodochrosite is complete all around, 360 degrees, and shows sharp stepped growth which is rather unusual in rhodo crystals of this size from Sweet Home. The result equates to more faces, and more reflections. The whole crystal is translucent and glows when backlit. Moreover, the edges are actually see-through gemmy. For balance, color, size, it would be VERY hard to find a miniature as choice and special as this one, in the price range. Most specimens sold today are simply mediocre miniatures, just an "example" of a rhodo. This piece, I have always felt was special. It was formerly in the private collection of a retired mineral dealer. Joe Budd photos.

This fluorite crystal is transparent, colorful with subtle zonations, and RAZOR SHARP. The edges are to 4 cm in length, and you can cut your finger on them, they are so perfect. The crystal is completely transparent in person, and shows subtle cubic phantoms inside that are hard to capture with the camera. The piece is a complete floater, as the fluorite rests on a shard of quartz from which crystals pop out on either end of the plate to accent the fluorite. This is a superb specimen in every sense of its aesthetics, from the noted China collections of Steve Smale.. Joe Budd photos

I first saw this unusual cubically crystallized cuprite crystal perched in its unusual quartz "cave" in the late 1990s when dealer Cal Graeber purchased it from the estate of collector Gerald Herfurth. I did not then have the money to buy all I wanted from his purchases. I always regretted not buying it then, as I had never seen a cuprite quite like this , and the aesthetics are just unique. I always remembered it and imagine my surprise when I saw it again recently! The cuprite (approx 1.1 x 0.9 cm) is sharp and interesting in form, and is perched nicely in what seems to have been a quartz filling of a cavity in between blocks of rock matrix, now removed. The quartz "pocket" itself is a floater, contacted and showing the pattern of the constraining matrix it grew between at the base and around the periphery. Where space allowed, the quartz crystallized into brilliant crystals of high lustre. Only one cuprite crystal seems to have nucleated within the pocket and, unlike others I have seen from this very same mine, it has a shape that is either truly cubic or pseudocubic. To be honest, the location of Shangulowe Mine has come down with the specimen but quartz is not reported from this mine, as I see it on MINDAT. Yet, quartz is also not reported from Mashamba West Mine, where so many of our cuprites come from. I believe this to simply be from a unique old mining claim or mine, probably an old vein in Shangulowe or a small dig nearby. The piece was sold by Graeber to Dr. Ed David, in whose collection it remained for nearly a decade before being exchanged into the collection of Larry Conklin, from whom I in turn obtained the specimen last year - about 10 years after seeing it for the first time! As a side note, the price now has been able to be the same price as it was then, due to teh various trades involved, and that I got it in a larger exchange I amortised, myself.  Joe Budd Photos

For Brazil., this is a crazy thing!!! I have never seen a gwindel of this magnitude from Brazil, and this comes from the collection of a prominent gem dealer who lives in the region, and whom I trust completely as to its provenance. The ironic thing, of course, is that a large gwindel of this quality would cost MORE if from the Swiss Alps. The piece is 5 inches tall by 4 inches wide and 3 deep, as it sits on a custom base. It is dramatic and good from both sides. Complete all around, with a very pronounced twist, this is a major piece! It comes with well-known gem dealer Brian Cook's handwritten notes about it on his business card, where he says there were 8 found, in 1985-1987 at this location. It has been in his private collection for 25 years until now. Joe Budd Photos

From famous finds here in the early 2000s, this is a brilliantly lustrous and sparkly specimen with sphalerite perched on translucent, stumpy quartz crystals. The color is very unique and interesting - glowing red-orange sphalerite with yellow highlights. Totally unique find and appearance! This specimen looks good from several angles and is one of the finer pieces I have seen turn up again recently. Joe Budd Photos

I purchased this piece in 1992 from an intinerant mineral dealer from Guanajuato, a really nice guy who split his time between running minerals up to the States, and US citizens down to his ranch in Gjto to meditate and explore nature. He sold me part of his own personal collection of Gjto minerals at the time, to help fund the development of the "meditation retreat" they were building. Since I collected calcite , I jumped all over this specimen and owned it for nearly 10 years before somebody pointed out that it my hopeful wishes occluded my judgement in specimen identification: it is quartz, not calcite! The quartz replaced the original calcite, somehow creating this sandwich effect of colored layers. To this day, I have not seen another such piece except for those in that original flat of material he showed me, which I was told came from a single pocket in the late 1980s. (I did buy the rest, for resale, and sold them cheaply as calcites at the time!) Joe Budd photos