Mixed Minerals
Forsterbachtal, Rauris, Pinzgau, Salzburg, Austria
Size: 5.3 x 2.6 x 2.2 cm
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This single crystal specimen strikes with exceptionally high luster and good clarity from bottom to top. The bottom is partly contacted, partly crystallized but nowhere broken. Around the tip there are some abrasions but the rest is in top condition. Very nice crystal with sceptre character and great overall quality!
Teufelsmühle, Habachtal, Pinzgau, Salzburg, Austria
Size: 16.1 x 10.5 x 9.6 cm
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An impressive skeletal quartz specimen from the famous emerald-locality Habachtal. The piece is rather massive, very much transparent and nicely lustrous. While the backside still shows the prismatic shape of the original crystal, the front is way too heavily etched. There is no visible damage anywhere!
Rare and imposing with a sligth smoky tinge, this is an unusually well specimen from this famous locale!
Shigar Valley, Skardu District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
Size: 5.5 x 4.9 x 4.4 cm
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It's a wonderful Shigar Valley paragenesis that combines white albite with surrounding silvery muscovite and a rich number of sparkling red spessartine crystals, distributed over the whole specimen. The bottom is contacted but the rest is in flawless condition all over! The little garnets with sizes up to 8mm are bright red, well defined and lustrous. Very aesthetic and elegant!
Val Gronda da Cavrein, Vorderrheintal, Graubünden, Switzerland
Size: 15 x 8.6 x 7.6 cm
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Typical for the cavrein valley and still unusual. The crystals of this piece are nicely grown on a matrix of greenish byssolite and are free of damage. On the left side of the specimen you see a zone of interaction between quartz and calcite, which is indeed typical for this locale. While the calcite is dissolved, the quartz remains and offers an insight in its pattern of growth. A fascinating piece for the locale.
Monte Prosa, Central St. Gotthard Massif, Tessin (Ticino), Switzerland
Size: 3.2 x 2 x 1.7 cm
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The largest iron rose on this tightly packed specimen is 2 cm in diameter, shows distinct hexagonal shape and brilliant luster! It is accompanied by several smaller, 3-dimensionally arranged rosettes of matching perfection. The backside is a cover of white feldspar, wraped around the hematite like a thick winter-coat. This is a superb thumbnail specimen of best hematite quality in perfect condition!
Prehnit Insel, Kratzenberg, Habachtal, Pinzgau, Salzburg, Austria
Size: 7.3 x 3.8 x 1.4 cm
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This is a sparkling and glossy cluster of prehnite, crystallized very well. The crystals are pretty gemmy and have a bright ivory color.
Camissinone Mine, Zogno, Brembana Valley, Bergamo Province, Lombardy, Italy
Size: 6.5 x 5.4 x 2.7 cm
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A perfect floater, etched all around and completely flawless. The crystal is mainly colorless with a soothing purple core. Inside the crystal you can see small spots of yellow matrix that add some interesting color-effect. All in all this is a piece of simple beauty, perfectly shaped by mother nature and totally unblemished.
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This gold is from a very old find. We have a label that dates to 1958, but the specimen itself could even be older. Very appealing, looming like a sculpture, this remarkable piece is a cleft specimen with even some crystallized calcite visible. The gold is very shiny and emerges from the matrix on all sides, which adds a distinct 3-dimensional character. Very nice and rare from this classic locale!
Altai Mts (Rudnyi Altai), Eastern Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan
Size: 9.6 x 6.9 x 5 cm
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Honey yellow calcite of beautiful design and arrangement! The main crystal of 5.1 cm scalenohedral calcite sits at the very center of this vivid, 3-dimensional specimen. It is well defined, flawless and of great luster and transparency! All around extends a landscape af sparkling calcite. A really excellent specimen from an uncommon locale that shows best quality and aesthetics alike!
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Instead of "just" being a single crystal, this tourmaline is set on a kind of tourmaline shard, a piece that obviously was part of a larger crystal that broke off and completely re-healed on all sides. The bi-colored crystal is gemmy and lustrous with a flat termination. It is completely free of damage. An unusual specimen from this famed locale!
Cavradi, Val Curnera, Tujetsch, Graubünden, Switzerland
Size: 6.1 x 3.7 x 3 cm
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A brilliant combination of thick and lustrous hematite with small rutile scattered about its surface, all perched on a glassy quartz crystal. While the quartz itself might not be quite perfect at the back, it is doubly terminated and shows a beautiful termination at the bottom of the specimen. I love this kind of combination especially on such a beautiful specimen of sharp contrast and good quality.
Val Giuv, Tujetsch, Vorderrhein Valley, Graubünden, Switzerland
Size: 14.5 x 11.1 x 8.6 cm
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Large and massy yet very lively and 3-dimensional, this combination of two smoky quartz gwindel and accompanying prismatic crystals is a real stunner! The quartz shows a very intensive, warm brown color and is completely clear at the inside. The surface has a somehow "dusty" look but is otherwise lustrous and well, with no actual damage. Only one or two minor dings are visible but surely acceptable on a major piece like this. The smoky quartz gwindels from Val Giuv are among the worlds very best, which is obvious when you see this fantastic specimen.