Beautiful miniature of lustrous, red vanadinite crystals on bright, cream-coloured crystals of barite from Morocco. The largest vanadinite crystal measures 1 cm across. Nice space between the vanadinites makes for excellent contrast on this specimen. If you’d like to see more about the Mibladen Mining District, including photos of some of the vanadinite workings, see […]

Detailed Description Clear, glassy, honey-yellow crystal of barite perched up on the end of the matrix. The crystal measures 2.4 x 2.2 x 0.6 cm.  It’s like a pane of yellow window glass – so gemmy. Very nice parallel growth crystal faces down the right side. Gorgeous small cabinet piece! About These Barites The barites […]

This is a wonderful Ouro Preto hematite “iron rose”, fully terminated on both sides – a complete floater. I don’t know which side I like better! This specimen is in excellent condition (it has one incomplete crystal edge near the left on one side, only a couple of small nicks, and a crystallization feature on […]

This is a funky little specimen. The calcite crystals are zoned, with dark pink centres and pale pink exteriors. The terminations have nice lustre and the prism faces have a satin-lustre look. Full of character – really neat piece.

Sharp, mirror-bright hematite pair from Brumado. Black and highly reflective. The crystal faces around the edges are sharp and less lustrous. The crystals themselves are up to 0.2cm thick – there is one small nick in the upper edge of the left-hand crystal. Gorgeous crystal growth lines – the intricate triangles on the left crystal […]

Detailed Description Great specimen of star muscovite – good size for a display piece.  Nice glassy white translucent albites in association.  Not easy to measure the composite larger star at the back (too interconnected to figure out what to measure!) – for scale, the one on the right is 3.5 cm across.  There are minor […]

Detailed Description This great star muscovite specimen has two prominent features.  At the top there is a gorgeous 3.5 cm ball of muscovite stars.  And at the lower left there is a large star approximately 3.7cm across.  A few light rubs to tips, and minor spots of damage but the aesthetics of this piece make […]

Detailed Description Light golden muscovite stars clustered on a feldspar matrix.  The muscovites on this piece are very sharp.  A few light rubs to tips, but they are small and not distracting.  Beautiful small cabinet star muscovite. About these Muscovites Like most good mineral collectors, I have – once in a while – cursed micas. […]

Sculptural group of lustrous glassy rose quartz crystals. The quality of the rose quartz crystals is outstanding – most are transparent and the specimen is completely free of damage. However, it’s the crystal arrangement that makes this piece special. In particular, the group at the top of the piece and the one on the left […]

If you look at this crystal in normal display conditions, you see a razor-sharp, glassy tourmaline with brilliant lustre.  The first photo captures this. But if you only ever look at it this way, you’ll miss half the show. With good side/back-lighting as you examine it, this crystal glows with colour. It’s more blue than […]

This specimen is an attractive, aesthetic combination of dark tourmaline with lavender lepidolite crystals and white bladed albite crystals. The elbaite itself  measures 2.9 x 1.7 cm and might best be described as funky. The crystal morphology is such that the classic tourmaline triangle is clearly evident but truncated by the irregular development of the […]

This little gem is a gorgeous watermelon tourmaline crystal, with a greenish blue cap. The small find is recent (2013) and of the few crystals, this specimen is the best quality one I’ve seen – the termination is excellent quality with no damage. There is a chip to the backside of the crystal just below […]