A large cabinet scheelite on a muscovite matrix.  The crystal has an intermediate color, though it is undamaged with all points intact, and it reasonably large.

The Mt. Xuebaudong locality has undoubtedly produced the world’s best scheelite (and kesterite, and some pretty decent aquamarine and apatite).  The locality was most productive in the early 90’s, and while specimens continue to trickle out, these days the quality and quantity are relatively low.  Matters are not helped by remoteness of the mine (which unlike many other Chinese mines is not a large-scale ore operation), the fact that it borders a Panda reserve, or the 2008 earthquake.

 This is a large cluster of crystals with decent color.  The back is paler, so you would probably want to display it vertically as shown in the top right image.  I cannot find a point of attachment anywhere on the specimen.  There is no damage. 

Mina Palomo, Julcani Dist., Huancavelica Dept., Peru

A very beautiful large cabinet hosting hundreds of quartz crystals, multiple very bright galena crystals, and a large sphalerite cluster.  What sets this apart however are the thousands of small seligmannite crystals that seem to have dusted the entire specimen, particularly over the galena and sphalerite, but also over some of the quartz.

 It is a very large, aesthetic, and pristine specimen.  I like it just for its visual appeal, but the plentiful seligmannite is an added bonus (though one which requires a close look to see)

All the details get jumbled up in the pictures; it is after all a nearly 15 cm specimen being compressed down to a fraction of its size in the pictures.

A terminated, light purple kunzite crystal from Afghanistan.  This crystal is a pretty respectable size, and displays the pleichroism typical of kunzite: when the crystal is viewed along the main axis, the light purple color becomes more pronounced.  The crystal is rather cloudy, but when you hold it you can still see your fingers through it.  Sawn base.

It is bargain priced for a crystal over 10 cm. 

I have received several e-mails requesting additional alabandite specimens, so I got in touch with some people in Peru to see what was available.  Unfortunately there are no new specimens, but one of my good friends was gracious enough to let me select pieces from his personal stash, which he had cherry picked and held back.  I selected the best of those, and am offering them here.

 This piece is notable for the distinctness of its crystals.  In virtually all the others I have seen, the crystals have no discernable matrix and are best described as “clumped together.”  On some of the better ones, there is a thin Rhodochrosite crust that creates the appearance of separated crystals, but that Rhodochrosite is really only on the surface.

 The largest crystal measurs 2.3 cm.  By the standards of the find (and without a doubt by the standards of the species) this is quite aesthetic.  Compared what other dealers are asking for inferior alabandites, I would say this piece is quite a good deal.

I don't usually use blue backgrounds, but for black alabandite, it works.  Please note that the rhodochrosite is closer to white than what is shown... for some reason my camera made it look more pink than it really is.

I have received several e-mails requesting additional alabandite specimens, so I got in touch with some people in Peru to see what was available.  Unfortunately there are no new specimens, but one of my good friends was gracious enough to let me select pieces from his personal stash, which he had cherry picked and held back.  I selected the best of those, and am offering them here.

This is a rich cabinet specimen hosting numerous crystals, including several twins.

I have received several e-mails requesting additional alabandite specimens, so I got in touch with some people in Peru to see what was available.  Unfortunately there are no new specimens, but one of my good friends was gracious enough to let me select pieces from his personal stash, which he had cherry picked and held back.  I selected the best of those, and am offering them here.

This is the best and most pronounced of only a few alabandite specimens with a fluorite association that I am aware of.  Please not that there are a couple cleaves to the fluorite.

 This is also the best fluorite specimen that I have seen from Uchucchacua.  While it is nothing compared to the fluories from Huanzala, I would argue that it is an important specimen for Uchucchacua, a locality well known among collectors for its rhodochrosite, silver, and silver sulfosalts. 

A nice alabandite specimen with numerous lustrous crystals on matrix,

I don't usually use blue backgrounds, but for black alabandite, it works.

I don't usually use blue backgrounds, but for black alabandite, it works.

A nice miniature alabandite specimen from Peru.  On the back are several light pink rhodochrosite rhombs.

I don't usually use blue backgrounds, but for black alabandite, it works.

A beautiful combination specimen one of North America’s  most important localities (probably THE most).  This specimen, in typical St. Hilaire fashion, combines at least a few species: hundreds of small rhodochrosites, some albite, and a single sphalerite crystal are all nestled on a pair of terminated black aegirines.

 Where it differs from most though, is that it is not a huge mass of minerals.  For all the rare and amazing things that come from this locality, surprisingly few do not come as jumbled masses.

 As a side note, Mindat lists 384 species as being found at this location, of which it is the type locality for a staggering 58 species.  For comparison, Gebhard’s Tsumeb II lists 242 species at Tsumeb (Mindat gives 264, with 61 type localities.)  As I said earlier though, the stuff from MSH isn’t quite as flashy as what Tsumeb produced… one of the reasons why most people have more specimens from Tsumeb than MSH (micromounters excepted…)

Thanks to a couple California dealers, there has recently been a wave of benitoite specimens available from this now closed locality.  This one of those specimens, prepared from material collected a few years ago.

 This specimen features a 1.2 cm, doubly terminated (it almost made it to triple… but not quite) benitoite crystal sharing its matrix with a couple terminated black nepunites.  It’s a very good miniature, and an example of material that will only get rarer (and more expensive) with time.

Thanks to a couple California dealers, there has recently been a wave of benitoite and neptunite specimens available from this now closed locality.  This one of those specimens, prepared from material collected a few years ago.

This a decent large cabinet specimen, measuring over 7 1/2 inches, and an example of material that will only get rarer (and more expensive) with time.  There is damage, but I feel that the price more than takes this into account.  After all, plates this big are not common.

A very pretty miniature specimen, with numerous white barite crystals clustered on a pyrite octahedron.  I purchased this specimen in Peru in 2009. 

 The vast majority of the bulk pyrite on the market comes from Huanzala—virtually all the “fool’s gold” samples sold at gift and rock shops originated there.  I was told that the miners “sneak” the pyrite out in 50 kg sacks… something to look forward to at the end of a mining shift.  I’m guessing this piece got more careful attention, because it is not damaged.

Pyromorphites from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania are American classics.  The mines in the area operated from the mid-1800’s to about 1920, and numerous field collectors have combed the area since.  The newer specimens tend to be crusts of microcrystals, so I am confident that this piece was unearthed pre-1920.  As the mines were most active during the 19^th century, it probably dates to sometime in the 1800’s.

Bulgarian sulfides are not something I usually buy, but this one appealed to me.  This piece consists of a cluster of sphalerite crystals with some galena cubes nestled in among them.  

There is a natural hole in the center which is the reason I liked it, as (to my mind) it imparts a delicate and sculptural appearance.

FS19 SilverChañarcillo, Copiapó Province, Atacama Region, Chile

A rare old silver from Chile showing some the typical spinel twining that the locality was known for, and a very nice, dark patina.  I don’t know how old this is, but it was probably found sometime in the 1800’s…  This is a great thumbnail of really hard to find stuff! 

A nice, pale, icy green  fluorite on matrix.  A beautiful “toenail”/ miniature..

FS22 Glaucodot

Håkansboda, Lindesberg, Västmanland, Sweden

Glaucodot is a rare sulfide of cobalt, arsenic and iron. Whenever you see one of these, it is probably from the 18th or 19th centuries:  mining at Hakansboda commenced in the 1400's, with the most output occuring from 1702 to 1853  

This crystal is double terminated, with the bottom termination partially covered by a bit of sulfide material.  There is some edge wear, but given the age of the specimen, it is to be expected.

You would not believe how incredibly hard it is to obtain one of these.  In my opinion, this is probably one of the most difficult macroscopic sulfides to obtain.  

For some reason, European field guide authors love to include glaucodot in their books (D&K, Simon& Schuster) but the chances of running into one are exceedingly slim.  I would know, because when I first started collecting my goal was to obtain an example of every species in the Simon & Schuster's field guide....  Glaucodot took the longest to find.  In fact, I think I've seen examples for sale at shows and online fewer than 8 times in the last 12 years.... maybe I just didn't see them?

Two light pink, translucent and very thin crystals of vayrynenite.  This is probably one of the rarest (but still obtainable) minerals from Pakistan, and I have seen single crystals of comparable quality selling for more than the price of this set of two.

Both crystals are a decent size.

A decenly sized copper crystal from one of the more obscure Michigan copper mines.  Please note that it can only be displayed from the front.

The Northwestern Mine was worked intermittently  from 1846 to 1865.  This piece was collected from one of the dumps that remain.

Conglomerate Lodes, Houghton County, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, USA 

10.5x 7.6x 4.2 cm

$185

A copper "skull" from northern Michigan, showing a very nice patina.

These "skulls" are the result of copper forming around rounded stones, and then somehow being detached by natural processes.  The general shape of the stone remains, and the copper takes on a bowl-like shape.

It is admittedly difficult to tell from the pictures which side is concave and which is convex. The top right image is the concave side, and bottom right image is the convex.