Treasure
Rucheng Mine, Caoija, Chenzhou, Hunan Province, China
Size: 14 x 10.2 x 5.9 cm
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This is a superb sphalerite from China! The matrix consists of beautiful crystallized quartz in assoziation with some small galena, which is typical for this locale! The sphalerite is absolutely stunning, where many crystals of high quality are present on this piece! They are up to 6 cm in size, partially gemmy and have a bright orange/red color. The piece is pristine all around and just some very trivial contacts are present, which is very hard to see at all. The crystals are well balanced and single isolated located on the matrix, which makes the spectacular aesthetics of the piece! Hard to get and very impressive!
Berbes Mining area, Ribadesella, Asturias, Spain
Size: 14.4 x 10.5 x 6.2 cm
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Highly aesthetic and stunningly beautiful, this is a combination of brilliant pink to purple fluorite cubes with tabular barite on matrix. I call it the "fluorite crown" due to its unique composition of jewel-like fluorites shining atop that crown-shaped matrix. The fluorite cubes of size up to 2.5 cm on edge are translucent to transparent with fine multistepping modification, all emanating an appealing, intensive purple color. The contrast with the iron oxide coated barite and matrix nicely emphasizes the fluorite crystals. All major crystals are in perfect shape and condition with contacts at the sides but perfect at the front. This is a characteristic piece of outstanding aesthetics and good size from this famous and admired Spanish locale. Unfortunately for us collectors and traders, the Berbes Mine is not active anymore and deeply buried unter debris. This fine specimen is a formidable souvenir that reminds of a past time when mining in Berbes was at its height. Brilliant, imposing and simply beautiful.
Elmwood Mine, Carthage, Smith Co., Tennessee, USA
Size: 10.9 x 6.2 x 5.4 cm
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White dolomite-matrix winds around a large fluorite cube like a snake with a head of massive crimson sphalerite. The fluorite holds highest quality with an especially dark purple outer zone around a pinkish core. It has a contact at the back but is otherwise complete. Its surface is utterly remarkable and worth a closer look on the video or in person. This specimen is crystallized all over and in very good condition. A superb combination-piece of contrast, quality and aesthetics!
Tsitondroina, Ikalamavony, Haute Matsiatra, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar
Size: 12.7 x 12.1 x 9.1 cm
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When it comes to matrix-pieces, this is one of THE best liddicoatite specimen ever to come from Madagascar! Pezzotta confirmed that these are extremely rare on matrix and most of what we see coming are single crystals or clusters. The large, thick, massive crystal is attached to a piece of rock and white cleavelandite for the contrast. The overall aesthetics is great, an elegant piece for this large size and the massive single crystal! The liddicoatite has a mesmerizing wine-red color, dark and mysterious! With enough backlight - yes, the crystal is transparent through and through - you can make out the amper-yellow color that fills wide parts of the tourmaline. Beautiful! The crystal is very well developed, shows excellent structure, luster and a bevelled termination. It is in best condition all around! While the matrix had to be re-attached, the crystal itself is free of any damage, repairs, gap-fills or even abrasions. Simply the best!
Mawi pegmatite, Nilaw-Kolum pegmatite field, Du Ab District, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan
Size: 15.5 x 6.5 x 2.4 cm
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A 15.5 cm large floater specimen of pure glassy kunzite! The color is a striking and intensive pink that gleams from the crystals limpid core. The surface is highly lustrous on all sides and especially bright at the sharp, etched termination! Some limonite inclusions at the lower parts add a natural feeling to this otherwise gemmy, shiny and artfully carved specimen! The whole crystal is in perfect condition without any damage at all! A fantastic spodumen specimen where everything is just right: Strong color, sweeping shape, superb quality and flawless condition!
Sweet Home Mine, Mount Bross, Alma District, Park Co., Colorado, USA
Size: 7.5 x 6.3 x 3.3 cm
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It is the dream of every collector to get a really good rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine! This is a gorgeous piece with fat and impressive crystals of intensive color and striking aesthetics. It was mined in October 1996 by Brian Lees and comes from a small pocked, which is well known as the "Clay Pocket"! This was a small pocket measuring 4 feet in its longest dimension and included rhodochrosite, tetrahedrite, quartz and small purple fluorites. All those associate minerals are to be found on this piece as well. The rhodochrosite rhombohedrons are well situated on the top, while the main crystal has a size of 4 cm on its longest dimension. The edges are very sharp and flawless and the whole crystal shows a bright and fire red color! Except for one small and hardly visible chip on the smaller crystal, the rhodochrosite is in perfect condition. It is free of any restoration, as it was done to many other specimens I have seen on the market. The attached video speaks for itself! This is definitely an important piece for the advanced collector!
Tokovaya river, Ekaterinburg, Middle Urals, Urals Region, Russia
Size: 7.3 x 7.1 x 3.9 cm
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The Urals region counts among the world’s best, historically important sources for high class emerald for the gem market. First discovered in 1830 by a peasant charcoal-burner it has soon emerged as a rich deposit of high gem production. Dispite the long history though, specimens of international relevance are scarce. This specimen strikes with exceptionally attractive aesthetics and breathtaking crystal quality alike! A large, 5.5 x 1.8 cm emerald of very best green color is set on an elegant black mica schist matrix of perfect contrast. The crystal is flawless, shows brilliant luster and the best gemmy emerald-green color you can wish for! A crystal of just mesmerizing properties, perfectly arranged and in superb shape!
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A brilliant, completely gemmy heliodor that is just perfect, 12.3 cm long and without even a single internal crack or the slightest inclusion! The color of the crystal is more to the green end of the spectrum and absolutelty charming. Among all the great attributes of this crystal, the termination is the most striking one: A polyhedral modification that in its sharpness and perfection almost reminds me of a machine-made chisel. Some faces and edges are a bit rough but that is contact induced and not damaged. Aside of that you will definitely be blown away by the sheer quality of this piece!
Mogok Township, Mandalay Division, Burma (Myanmar)
Size: 10.9 x 6.9 x 5.1 cm
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This is without doubt one of the most intriguing and stunning spinel specimens we have ever seen coming from Myanmar! While it is not easy to get good matrix specimens of this gem material it is next to impossible to have a piece with a larger number of crystals. This very specimen has an overwhelming richness of crystals distributed about the whole front face of a white matrix of marble with some yellow zoisite zones. The largest crystal with 1.8 cm on edge is prominently set at the very top of this specimen, accompanied by a second 1.3 cm crystal. Down from there you can see a whole array of isolated crystals and clusters that 3-dimensionally project from the matrix. Absolutely fabulous! The contrast of all those deep cherry red gems against the white matrix is striking and makes for a fantastic eye-catcher all over! The crystals display best shiny luster and are in near-perfect condition. Two small gap fills are very well done and virtually invisible. Fantastic aesthetics and high crystal quality are forged together on this dramatic and vibrant piece!
NEAT Tunnel, Central St Gotthard Massif, Leventina, Ticino, Switzerland
Size: 18 x 14.8 x 13.5 cm
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An iceberg of monumental size and breathtaking bright clarity! A number of large colorless quartz prisms are impressively beautifully arranged in a crown-like shape, studded with some white calcite which adds much to the overall impact, both visually and in a mineralogical sense! The whole piece is completely colorless, just white and transparent but exactly this pristince, immaculate nature in combination with the stunning size is what makes this piece so very special, unique and attractive! All crystals are sharply terminated without any damage at all. Lower backside and bottom are contacted, not broken. A fantastic showy specimen of pure quartz that shows best crystal quality and sweeping aesthetics!
Mogok Township, Mandalay Division, Burma (Myanmar)
Size: 17 x 8 x 6.5 cm
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Mogok is world-famous for fine gemstones and has produced a considerable number of champagne-colored topaz aver the time. This imposing single crystal specimen however shows a much more intriguing cognac-color that is strongly present at daylight or any kind of show-case illumination. Light from the bottom however brings it to explosion in a deep orange fire! The crystal has a straight-forward topaz shape with a broad chisel-tip termination. Nothing experimental, just the classic shape this monumental crystal needs. The termination, but also the prism-faces, show a very fine and appealing surface structure all over. The topaz is in very good shape. It has one repair at the middle but is otherwise complete. the bottom is re-healed, the termination is completely flawless! A dramatic piece of gemstone that impresses with size and intensive color!
Paprok, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan
Size: 11.4 x 9.1 x 8.7 cm
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One year ago, in autumn 2017, a new pocket has been opened in Paprok and it yielded a spectacular treasure! Among a couple of average to good tourmaline specimens was this fantastic masterpiece that amazes with high-class quality and textbook aesthetics alike! The rather large and massy main crystal - it has a diameter of 5.7 cm - shows absolutely striking open green color that contrasts with the white, silvery sparkling cleavelandite and the sharp edged, slightly smoky quartz that are distinctively arranged around the crystals base! Inspite of the flat termination this specimen has a unusually elegant appeal due to a fascinating sparkling surface structure at the top and the well defined heart-shape, which is extremely rare! This heart-shape indeed is one of the most exquisite features, one that I haven't seen on the market for ages! The crystal itself is totally brilliant, gemmy and with best luster! Characteristic for the mineral the prism faces show striations with two emerging side crystals that add even more life to this already breathtaking specimen! Even under room-ligth illumination the piece unfolds its fascinating, almost magical emerald green color which is even more impressive when cosidering the thickness of the tourmaline! Apart from a couple of very flat restaurations at the termination, the whole piece is in flawless condition, all natural and perfect! Ideal composition, highest crystal quality, the unusual heart-shape and the open emerald green color all add up to a masterful specimen of uttermost impact!