Mixed Minerals!

A beautiful example of tourmaline from Stak Nala, featuring a doubly terminated crystal with the characteristic zoning, perched on another doubly terminated quartz crystal-- it appears to be a floater.  Most of the Stak Nala pieces you see these days have green caps, and the ones that have pink caps have mostly been irradiated-- you can tell by the extra saturation of the pink band.  This is an older piece, and the light pink cap and colorless band below it indicate that it is, in fact, untreated. It also does have a thinner green cap on the bottom termination.

A beautiful cluster of cerussite crystals from Morocco.  It is actually mostly complete on the reverse as well, and could easily pass for a Tsumeb piece.

Although this location has recently produced a small amount of material, this is a classic piece with  a label dating it to at least 1968.  The incredible wet luster of the wulfenite crystals also attests to its age-- that was the general period when this location produced its best examples.  There are a couple crystals with a bit of minor edge rubbing, but overall it is an excellent example and displays exactly as pictured.

A rather large, deeply colored calcite from the Berry Materials Quarry in Indiana.  The American Midwest is home to numerous quarries that produce everything from frac sand to food grade lime.  Many of these locations also happen to produce interesting calcites, and the habits often vary substantially from quarry to quarry.  Perhaps the most distinctive (and certainly my favorite) are the examples from the Berry Materials Quarry-- they tend to be a bit more rounded in appearance, have better color, and are often quite lustrous.  This one is a bit larger (and also more elongated than most) and is a particularly nice example.

A very nice (and old) example of Calcite from Iowa.  Apart from the pieces recently produced at the Linwood Mine, not very many minerals come from this state. This piece dates to the 1960's, and features a spray of calcite prfectly positioned on a dark matrix covered with smaller calcites.  There are even a number of tabular yellow barites sprnkled around.  There is a smaller cluster on the lower front that is broken (pictured.) 

A nice cabinet sized example of plumbogummite after pyromorphite, from the find made approximately 2-3 years ago.

A nice cabinet sized example of plumbogummite after pyromorphite, from the find made approximately 2-3 years ago.

A large cabinet specimen of rare clinoatacamite, on druzy covered malachite and chrysocolla.  This is from the find made approximately 3 years ago.  There is clinoatacamite sprinkled throughout, but the best crystals are on the lower portion of the specimen.

A very bright green cluster of pyromorphite crystals, form China.

A nice, doubly terminated aquamarine with good blue color, on a bit of albite matrix.

A very dramatic cluster of epidote from Mali.  Epidotes from this location are usually unremarkable in and of themselves, and on most specimens are usually just an accessory or matrix for the prehnite that they are often associated with.  This is a beautiful specimen in its own right, with two stacked, yet slightly (and aesthetically) offset crystals backed by a number of smaller ones.

A nice cabinet sized specimen featuring a lavender purple fluorite octahedron on a sulfide rich (mostly arsenopyrite) matrix.  Purple was always one of the less common fluorite colors from this location-- colorless was probably the most common, followed by pink, then purple and green. A pretty specimen from finds made several years ago at the Huanggang Mine.

A rich, cabinet sized specimen of this strontium carbonate from the Illinois Fluorspar District.  Although the area was best known for its fluorite specimens, it also produced a number of rare (relatively) carbonates-- alstonite, benstonite, witherite, strontianite, etc.  

A cabinet sized specimen of medium purple "grape" agate from recent finds in Indonesia.

A very old calcite specimen from one of the oldest localities in the Tri-State District-- the last mine in the greater Tri-State area closed in 1967, but the mining activity around Webb City took place mostly between 1870 and 1930, with nearly 700 active mines in the area at its peak.

A nicely colored blue ("indicolite") tourmaline from Brazil.

A beautiful thumbnail of pink and green tourmaline from somewhere in Minas Gerias-- I don't know exactly where, but with the rising popularity of tourmaline, I'm guessing there are at least a few of you out there who can match this to a particular mine.

A beautiful thumbnail of pink and green tourmaline from somewhere in Minas Gerias-- I don't know exactly where, but with the rising popularity of tourmaline, I'm guessing there are at least a few of you out there who can match this to a particular mine.

A decently sized cyclic twin of chrysoberyl forming a nice sixling.  

An excellent thumbnail of twinned alexandrite, with a nice sixling sitting on a bit of matrix.  A very well balanced thumbnail.

A well formed, thumbnail sized alexandrite sixling from Brazil.

A nice thumbnail sized example of Brazilian alexandrite, consisting of a nice sixling perched atop another smaller crystal.

A nice thumbnail sized example of an alexandrite sixling from Brazil.

A large molybdenite crystal from Australia.  As you might expect from such a soft mineral, the edges are a bit rounded, but it shows excellent overall form.  I think the price is very good, considering the size and what I usually see dealers trying to sell them for (and not surprisingly, not selling them.)

"Why," you ask, "is he trying to sell an unremarkable galena for $300?  Because it is a spinel twin!?"

A very nice example of cobaltite from Canada, dating to at least the 1970's.  There is some chipping on the top edge, visible from the side where the crystal is more well exposed.  All in all, it is a pretty decently sized crystal from the locality-- the only other contemporary location (that I am aware of) that produced good specimens was Hakansboda, Sweden, also around the 60's and 70's.

A large relatively isolated andradite garnet crystal from Mali.  These are usually more jumbled,  This does have some contacting the reverse, but displays as shown.

A sharp uranininte cube on a reddish matrix, from Canada.  This is an older specimen, the locality is scribbled on the back of a business card from "The Mineral Inn" out of Roanoke, Illinois, along with the date 1971.  Matrix uraninite crystals are not very easy to find-- the most common (relatively) examples tend to come from Topsham, Maine and are almost always off matrix.

A rare matrix example of uraninite, this one is a slightly rounded cubic crystal associated with calcite, apatite and mica.

A rare matrix specimen of uraninite, with a cubic crystal associated with calcite, apatite, and mica.

A large, etched crystal of petaline from Pakistan. Nearly all the crystals I have seen in recent years have come from Burma, and some from Italy. For whatever reason, wherever they come from, they are nearly always etched to some degree.  This one very large in comparison to most I have seen, and Pakistani examples are also significantly harder to find than pieces from the other main locations.

A beautiful, wonderfully balanced thumbnail with a bright orange ball of sphalerite crystals that is also lightly iridescent.

A beautiful thumbnail sized specimen of orange sphalerite with rather strong iridescence, from Ohio.  Unusual material that is seldom seen outside of the American Midwest.

A beautiful thumbnail sized specimen of orange sphalerite with decent iridescence, from Ohio.  Unusual material that is seldom seen outside of the American Midwest.

A beautiful thumbnail sized specimen of orange sphalerite with iridescence that is mainly visible when light is shined from a particular angle, from Ohio.  Unusual material that is seldom seen outside of the American Midwest.

A beautiful thumbnail example of an octahedral cuprite crystal that has pseudomorphed to copper.  These were found around 2011, and were far less abundant than the cuprite crystals that flooded the market.