Thumbnails!

Whether at a small show or on a foreign buying trip, I always keep an eye out for a good thumbnail-- sometimes that means trimming a bigger piece, and sometimes it's already sized perfectly.  I mount hundreds of these, this is a small group that for whatever reason, I thought were particularly nice.  

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TNM01 Topaz
Municipio de Villa de Arriaga, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
3.0x 1.8x 1.6 cm
$85

A nice little pair of intersecting topaz crystals from Mexico. The appearance of this cluster is closer to examples from Utah, than the typical Mexican piece-- the mexican ones tent to have flattened terminations and reddish inclusions.  I bought a bunch of these as a group, this was my favorite.







TNM02 Pearceite
Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon Province, Lima Department, Peru
2.5x 2.0x 1.4 cm
$225

A very good thumbnail of this rare copper, silver, arsenic sulfide from Uchucchacua.  Pearceite is the arsenic rich member of the The majority of these form much, much smaller crystals at this location-- this one is rather sizable and shows good form.  There are a couple tiny chips, but its still remarkably complete (and again, large for Uchucchacua!)  







TNM03 Barite
Linwood Mine, Buffalo, Scott Co., Iowa, United States
3.5x 1.8x 1.1 cm
$85

A very nice, doubly terminated gemmy crystal of barite from the Linwood Mine.  This is about as good as thumbnails can get from here.... yet still relatively inexpensive.







TNM05 Beryl var. Aquamarine
Shigar Valley, Baltistan Pakistan
2.8x 2.8x 2.8 cm
$135

A nice gemmy aquamarine crystal on a bit of matrix.







TNM05A Rhodonite
Chiuruc, Huallanca Dist., Dos de Mayo Prov., Peru
2.1x 2.3x 1.3 cm
$175

A nice specimen of fairly saturated pink rhodonite. To the best of my knowledge, the main rhodinite finds at this location took place once around 1989, and a second time around 2006.  This piece comes from the 2006 find.

There are really only 4 localities form which you can (have a  reasonable chance of) find(ing) good rhodonite: Chiuruc (where this one is from), Conselheiro Lafaiete in Brazil (the most recent find), Broken Hill, Australia, and the old pieces from New Jersey. 







TNM06 Calcite
Linwood Mine, Buffalo, Scott Co., Iowa, United States
3.1x 1.8x 1.5 cm
$100

A very beautiful colorless and reasonably transparent calcite crystal from the Linwood Mine.  Most of the examples from this mine tend to be very large-- to find such a perfect thumbnail takes a bit of looking.  You could probably get a much bigger (and more imperfect) example for this price.... but I really like this one.









TNM06B Realgar
Palomo Mine, Castrovirreina Prov., Huancavelica Dept., Peru
2.4x 1.7x 1.4 cm
$85

A nice specimen of realgr from Peru, showing the bright red color and excellent form.  There is a chip near the top.

I have coated this with a UV absorbing spray.









TNM07 Andradite var. Demantoid
Antetezambato, Ambanja Dist., Diana Region, Antsiranana Prov., Madagascar
2.9x 2.1x 1.3 cm
$185

 A cluster of large, semi-flattened olive colored garnet crystals on a bit of matrix.  The matrix is actually an aggregate of micro demantoid garnets-- not sedimentary material as was originally thought.

The story behind these is that a fisherman spotted a few small glistening gems in a mangrove swamp.  Within a matter of weeks, the place was overrun by artisanal miners looking to strike it rich-- and needless to say the mangroves were destroyed.  Miners would come and go with the tides, pausing and resuming work as their claims were flooded on a daily basis.  Digging went on for a couple years, and is now finished.







TNM08 Chalcocite
Flambeau Mine, Ladysmith, Rusk Co., Wisconsin, USA
2.9x 1.5x 1.6 cm
$85

A nice thumbnail of chalcocite from Wisconsin.  The main crystal is not terminated, though this is nor readily apparent, and it shows better crystal faces than most of these, which tend to look kind of messy.  Not bad for the price. 







TNM09A Pyrite
Huanzala Mine, Huallanca District, Dos de Mayo Prov., Peru
3.0x 2.2x 1.5 cm
$70

A very beautiful little thumbnail of pyrite from Huanzala.  In previous years, this stuff came out by the ton, sometimes in gigantic chunks.  This one is just a beautiful little mini-- with excellent luster, sharpness, and form.  There is minor edge chipping visible under magnification, but to the naked eye it is quite beautiful.









TNM10 Calcite
Irving Materials Quarry, Anderson, Madison Co., Indiana, United States
1.8x 1.8x 1.4 cm
$65

A beautiful twined crystal of calcite from the Irving Materials Quarry.  Along with the rounded examples from the nearby Berry Marterias Quarry, these are my favorite American calcites, even if they are smaller and less well known that examples from, say, Elmwood. 

The American midwest is home to various aggregate quarries, many of which produce their own unique habits of calcite.  Most of these don't make it to the international shows, being largely the domain of local field collectors. 







TNM11 Cerussite
Tsumeb Mine, Otjikoto Region, Namibia
2.1x 2.0x 1.0 cm
$75

A nice cyclic twin of cerussite forming a nice little sixling or "snowflake" from the classic Tsumeb Mine.







TNM12 Barite
Brookcliffs, Grand Junction Area, Mesa Co., Colorado, United States
3.3x 1.6x 1.9 cm
$60

A nice sample of barite from colorado, with a single, water-clear crystal on a bit of matrix.







TNM13 Tourmaline var. Elbaite
Gilgit, Northern Areas, Pakistan
2.0x .2x 0.5 cm
$80

A beautiful terminated green crystal of tourmaline, from Pakistan.







TNM14 Cerussite
Touissit , Jerada, Oriental Region, Morocco
2.8x 2.3x 1.6 cm
$135

A nice (older) cerussite thumbnail from Morocco.  This locality is more known for its cerussite V-twins, cyclic examples such as this one are harder to come by from this location-- usually originating from Taouz (the pretty "snowflakes") or Mibladen (elongated twins usually on barite.)









TNM15 Calcite
Linwood Mine, Buffalo, Scott Co., Iowa, United States
3.0X 1.75X 1.5 cm
$50

A beautiful little thumbnail of calcite from the Linwood Mine.  These tend to be offered as larger specimens, to find a perfect little thumbnail takes a bit more looking.









TNM16 Clinoclase
Majuba Hill Mine, Pershing Co., Nevada, United States
2.7X 1.8X 1.1 cm
$95

A very rich little thumbnail from the Majuba Hill Mine in Utah.  After the old Cornish specimens (that are nearly unobtainable, and much more expensive) these are probably the best ones around.... and this is a particularly good thumbnail.









TNM17 Millerite
US 27 Roadcut, Halls Gap, Lincoln Co., Kentucky, United States
2.8x 2.0x 1.6 cm
$125

A very rich thumbnail specimen of this absurdly delicate mineral from Kentucky.  Ships with insurance.









TNM18 Chalcocite
Daye Copper mine, Daye Co., Huangshi Prefecture, Hubei Province, China
2.9x 2.3x 1.5 cm
$125

A beautiful iridescent example of stalactitic chalcocite coated with djurleite.  The djurleite gives it a beautiful metallic blue/ purple that is especially vivid on this piece.







TNM19 Powellite
Nasik Area, Maharashtra State, India
2.5x 1.6x 1.6 cm
$100

A rare thumbnail example of powellite, scheelite's rarer cousin.  Powellite is one of the rarer minerals from the Indian basalt traps, and although is found in association with zeolites in this area, is not a zeolite itself.







TNM22 Wulfenite
Villa Ahumada, Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, Mexico
2.3x 2.2x 1.3 cm
$90

A nice blocky wulfenite crystal on a bit of matrix. A very pretty and well balanced little thumbnail from older finds at this location.









TNM23 Smithsonite
Kelly Mine, Magdalena District, Socorro Co., New Mexico, USA
3.1x 2.0x 1.2 cm
$55

A nice thumbnail of good blue smithsonite from the Kelly Mine-- blue examples from this mine are considered among the most collectible.  Contacted on the right.







TNM24 Adamite
Mina Ojuela, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico
2.7x 2.6x 0.1 cm
$135

A nice pinwheel crystal of light yellow adamite from Mina Ojula.  The color is a bit light, but the form is great.  This was likely found in the 1970's, these days what tends to come out are smaller crystals scattered on limonite, or filling seams.







TNM24A Beryl var. Aquamarine
Shigar Valley, Baltistan Pakistan
3.1x 2.2x 2.2 cm
$145

A terminated, very lightly colored aquamarine crystal on matrix, with an interesting dome-shaped termination and etched lateral faces.  This comes from a pocket unearthed in 2006.









TNM25A Cerussite
Mina Ojuela, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico
2.4x 2.4x 1.8 cm
$125

A choice thumbnail of cerussite from Mina Ojuela.  From any other location this would not be particularly special, but cerussite is notoriously difficult to find from this prolific location.  This piece comes from a small find made about 2 years ago-- most were large, chunky, and very ugly.  This was one of the few good thumbnail sized specimens I was able to salvage from larger masses of junk.









TNM27 Hematite
Rio Mine, Elba Island, Livorno Province, Tuscany, Italy
2.6x 2.0x 1.6 cm
$65

A nice thumbnail sized sample of lustrous, stacked hematite crystals from Italy.







TNM28 Anglesite
Touissit , Jerada, Oriental Region, Morocco
2.7x 1.6x 1.1 cm
$90

A nice (and older) thimbnail-sized of this lead sulfate, from Touissit.  It is somewhat difficult to find good thumbnails of this material... most tend to be a bit larger in size.







TNM29 Tourmaline var. Elbaite
Gilgit, Northern Areas, Pakistan
2.7x 1.0x 0.85 cm
$75

A nice thumbnail sized sampple of green tourmaline from Pakistan.







TNM30 Malachite ps. Azurite
Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Sonora, Mexico
2.7x 2.1x 2.1 cm
$75

A nice thumbnail sized specimen of malachite after azurite from Milpillas.  The arrangement on this one is pretty good for the location-- for whatever reason these psudomorphs tend to end up looking somewhat jumbled and messy... the main crystal on this one however is nicely distinct.







TNM31 Malachite ps. Azurite
New Cornelia Mine (Ajo Mine), Pima Co., Arizona, USA
2.6x 2.0x 1.6 cm
$65

A nice thumbnail of azurite after malachite from Arizona.







TNM32 Chrysoberyl
Novello Mine, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
2.6x 2.5x 1.6 cm
$90

A decent reference thumbnail of chrysoberyl from Zimbabwe.  I'm not selling this as an alexandrite, but there is definitely some color shift from a dull green to a brighter one when the specimen is observed in incandescent vs. daylight equivalent light.









TNM33 Pyromorphite
Friedrichsegen Mine, Bad Ems, Nassau, Germany
3.2x 2.6x 1.5 cm
$75

A nice thumbnail-sized example of pyromorphite from a classic German locality.  It's hard to imagine the mineral market without Chinese pyromorphite, but before 1999 your main options for a good example would have been a piece from Les Farges, Cordoba, Bunker Hill, or one of these German pieces.







TNM34 Galena
Tri-state District, Oklahoma, United States (pre-1967)
3.0x 2.5x 1.8 cm
$50

A nice lustrous galena cube isolated on a bit of chert matrix, from pre-1967 finds in the Tri-State District (1967 is when the last mine closed.)

Tri-State galenas are my favorites-- the contemporary Viburnum Trend (on the opposite, eastern side of Missouri) always seem messier, with their compound faces and breccia matrixes. 







TNM35 Arsenic
Akadani mine, Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, Chubu Region, Honshu Island, Japan
1.35x 1.25x 1.2
$110

A nice spherical cluster of arsenic CRYSTALS from the only locality I know of where this element has been collected as samples with visible crystals-- it's always massive or botryoidal from everywhere else.







TNM36 Calcite
5 Mile Point, Eagle River, Keweenaw Co., Michigan, United States
2.4x 0.7x 0.4 cm
$60

A nice reference thumbnail of water clear, unusually elongated calcite from this little-known Copper Country locality. These tend to look more like quartz than calcite.







TNM37 Copper ps. Aragonite
Corocoro District, Pacajes Province, La Paz Department, Bolivia.
2.4x 2.2x 14 cm
$135

A very sharp and well formed thumbnail of copper after aragonite from Bolivia. This was selected from a lot of a couple hundred.... the size, sharpness and clear form make it an excellent thumbnail of this material.







TNM38 Copper ps. Aragonite
Corocoro District, Pacajes Province, La Paz Department, Bolivia.
2.7x 2.6x 2.7 cm
$100

At Corocoro, these copper after aragonite pseudomorphs are primarily found in two forms: single hexagonal crystals, and spherical aggregates of them.  This is a very nice example of a the latter, reasonably well shaped with the individual hexagonal crystals somewhat visible.  There is even a bit of redish patina, likely a micro dusting of cuprite. 







TNM39 Pyromorphite with Cerussite
Daoping-Yangshuo Orebody, Guilin Prefecture, Guangxi Zhuang A.R., China
2.6x 1.38x 1.8 cm
$165

A nice little sample of this highly sought after, and very scarce combination from the Daoping Mine.  We've all seen a billion Daoping pyromorphites, and a handful of cerussites from there... but both together has always been an elusive combination.

This one has a bit of yellowing (iron oxide, maybe?) but is still a good example of this material, hosting a nice "snowflake" of reticulated cerussite.







TNM41 Scheelite
Huanggang Mine, Hexigten Banner (Keshiketeng Co.), Ulanhad League (Chifeng Prefecture), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
2.3x 2.2x 2.3 cm
$115

A singly terminated thumbnail of scheelite from Huanggang.  It's hard to find thumbnail sized examples of this material (especially on matrix.)  This one has exceptionally good luster and sharpness-- they tend to have suffered various degrees of etching.







TNM43 Fluorite
Auglaize Quarry, Junction, Paulding Co., Ohio, United States
1.9x 1.4x 1.4 cm
$85

A nice sample of fluorite with a purple phantom, from the Auglaize Quarry in Ohio.  Older material.  The 1.9 cm dimension is the diagonal.







TNM44 Fluorite
Auglaize Quarry, Junction, Paulding Co., Ohio, United States
2.8x 2.7x 2.4 cm
$185

A very good thumbnail of fluorite from the Auglaize quarry, with a very clear phantom.  Older material.







TNM45 Fluorite with Calcite
Auglaize Quarry, Junction, Paulding Co., Ohio, United States
2.2x 1.7x 1.8 cm
$95

A nice thumbnail of fluorite with a clear purple phantom, with a little calcite perched on its edge.  Older material.  The 2.2 cm dimension is the diagonal.







TNM46 Fluorite
Auglaize Quarry, Junction, Paulding Co., Ohio, United States
2.0x 1.4x 1.6 cm
$95

A nice thumbnail of fluorite from the Auglaize quarry, with a purple phantom.  Older material.  The 2.0 cm dimension is the diagonal.







TNM47 Pyrite
Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Sonora, Mexico
2.2x 1.4x 1.2 cm
$37

An interesting pyrite from Milpillas-- for what I've seen, they tend to either form gigantic cubes that get broken during extraction, or these very cool polyhedrons that appear rounded because they have so many faces.  It's an interesting pyrite habit that I haven't seen from other locations.







TNM48 Uraninite
Gatineau Park, Hull, Quebec, Canada
2.1x 1.7x 2.2 cm
$155

A decently sized partial octahedral crystal uraninite.  You can celarly see the octahedral shape from one side (facing upwards, as mounted) though its a bit less clear from the others... the pictures should give a good idea.  Either way, it is a  rather sizable *crystalline* example of this material from a less frequently seen locality-- I think nearly all of the uranininte crystals that make it to the market come from Maine, and are usually smaller. 







TNM49 Thorite
Mogok, Myanmar (Burma)
2.7x 0.7x 0.65
$90

An elongated crystal of thorite from Mogok.  This locality is best known for its gem species (rubies, sapphires, spinels, etc.) but is also the source of a number of interesting rare species, including rare earth bearing minerals.  This is a good, terminated thorite crystal, the only other locality you are likely to see decent crystallized samples of this thorium silicate from, is the Kempf Prospect in Canada.







TNM50 Powellite
Nasik Area, Maharashtra State, India
2.0x 1.6x 1.5 cm
$85

A rare thumbnail example of powellite, scheelite's rarer cousin.  Powellite is one of the rarer minerals from the Indian basalt traps, and though is found in association with zeolites, is not a zeolite itself.







TNM51 Pearceite
Uchucchacua Mine, Oyon Province, Lima Department, Peru
1.7x 1.2x 0.8 cm
$115

A good thumbnail of this rare copper, silver, arsenic sulfide from Uchucchacua.  Pearceite is the arsenic rich member of the The majority of these form much, much smaller crystals at this location.







TNM54 Fluorite
Mogok, Myanmar (Burma)
2.8x 2.6x 1.65 cm
$80

A partial fluorite octaheron, notable mainly because it is from an unusual locality for the species-- Mogok is known for amny minerals, but fluorite is not one of them.  I have only seen a few examples of this material.







TNM55 Cerussite
Touissit , Jerada, Oriental Region, Morocco
2.2x 2.1x 1.3 cm
$90

A nice (older) example of reticulated cerussite from Morocco.







TNM56 Potosiite
San Jose mine, Oruro City, Cercado Province, Oruro Department, Bolivia.
2.5x 2.5x 2.3 cm
$95

A crystal of this rare franckeite variety clearly visible in a matrix of smaller (regular) franckeites.  It was originally thought to be a separate species, then reclassifies as a variety of franckeite.







TNM57 Quartz (Herkimer Diamond)
Herkimer Co., New York, USA
3.3x 2.8x 1.5 cm
$55

A nice thumbnial sized sample of a "herkimer diamond" on matrix.  They tend to pop off their host rock, so finding matrix examples is a bit harder.







TNM58 Titanite var. Sphene
Alchuri, Shigar Valley, Skardu, Pakistan
2.7x 1.4x 0.5 cm
$60

A nice apple green thumbnail of twinned titanite from Alchuri, in Pakistan's far northern areas.







TNM60 Fluorite
Huanggang Mine, Hexigten Banner (Keshiketeng Co.), Ulanhad League (Chifeng Prefecture), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
1.7x 1.65 1.4 cm
$50

A nice little thumbnail of pink fluorite from Inner Mongolia.







TNM61 Andradite Garnet
Marki Khel, Nangarhar Prov., Afghanistan
2.9x 1.8x 1.8 cm
$90

An excellent thumbnail example of demantoid garnet from a locality situated in one of the most politically "hot" provinces in the region.  This one is well balanced, with a very sharp and lustrous crystal nicely positioned front and center.







TNM62 Cerussite
Touissit , Jerada, Oriental Region, Morocco
2.25x 2.05x 1.4 cm
$68

A nice (and older) cyclic cerussite twin from Morocco.







TNM63 Corundum var. Ruby (Trapiche!)
Mogok, Myanmar (Burma)
0.7 cm
$70

A set of 4 trapiche rubies from Mogok, all have at least one polished face.  The largest one measures 0.7 cm across the diagonal.  Trapiche emeralds are fairly common, but trapiche rubies are harder to find.







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