Nice speciemen of callaghanite, a rare copper and magnesium carbonate, with a very characteristic cobalt blue colour. It shows a druse formed by numerous crystals. Accompanied by small orange-brown aggregates of pokrovskite, together with globules of hydromagnesite. It is accompanied by the Joan Viñals handwritten label.

Sold

White to bluish spathic mass of tilleyte, a rare calcium carbonate silicate whose type locality is Crestmore. It is accompanied by merwintite (white), vesuvianite (bright brown), monticellite (cream-brown). Analysis will be sent to the buyer.

Sold

A very rich specimen of getchellite, with laminar crystals in the matrix, brilliant and with a characteristic red wine colour, which differentiates it from realgar, which is bright red. It is accompanied by yellow orpiment. The formula for getchellite is AsSbS₃, and its type locality is this North American mine. From Frank Manus col. and Shannon & Sons label.

Sold

Sample formed by several crystals of hercynite, var. picotite, a Mg, Cr rich member of spinel group: (Fe,Mg)(Al,Cr)₂O₄. Collected by Hal Miller in the 1960s, via Dave Shannon. Similar samples discussed in mindat.

Sold

A very good representative of the rare parisite-(Ce) specimens from the Snowbird Mine in Montana. Several crystals of dark golden-brown, pseudohexagonal parisite-(Ce) with a good size are sitting on feldspar matrix. These pieces came out ca. 1955-56, and are very difficult to find on the market, more in matrix! Parisite is a rare, rare-earth carbonate and the Snowbird Mine is a rare earth pegmatite. With a cluster of gersdorffite. From E. Nicolau collection and purchased to Joan Viñals.

Sold

Group of neptunite crystals, well developed and rich in faces, bright and arranged on a matrix with white natrolite. The contrast is very aesthetic. It belongs from the Nicolau collection (Barcelona). The formula of neptunite indicates its chemical complexity: KNa₂Li(Fe²⁺)₂Ti₂[Si₄O₁₂]₂

Franklinite, Zn²⁺Fe³⁺₂O₄, crystal of very good size, with defined faces and edges, fragmented on the back. It is disposed very aerial on a calcite matrix, with other smaller franklinite crystals, along with willemite and zincite.

Sold

Pirssonite crystal, a rare, sharp, buoyant sodium calcium carbonate. As usually happens, it presents whitish efflorescences on the surface. A very unusual carbonate from the type locality at Searles Lake, a large, nearly 20 km dry lake in the Mojave Desert. On its western coast is the mining community of Trona. Borax has been mined since 1873. Today sodium sulfate, sodium carbonate and sodium chloride (halite) are also produced.

Very good specimen of joaquinite-(Ce) from this classic North American mine. In the crossite matrix (obsolete name of an intermediate amphibole between the riebeckite group and the glaucophane group) we can see two crystals of joaquinite-(Ce), a rare species with the formula: NaBa₂Ce₂FeTi₂[Si₄O₁₂]₂O₂(OH,F)·H₂O. They stand out for its perfection, with an intense orange color, translucent, with defined faces and edges, and a good size for the species. Very rare on the market with this quality.

Excellent specimen of pyrophyllite from this classic Californian locality. We can observe the bright radial aggregates of this phyllosilicate. A very representative specimen for the species.

Compact aggregates of pectolite, forming radial aggregates of creamy white color, forming globules interpenetrated between them. On a basalt matrix. Fluorescent under LWUV. It belongs from the Emili Nicolau (Barcelona) collection and was acquired from Joan Viñals in 2003.

75 €

Buy

A sculptural and highly unusual, layered nodule of botryoidal, lustrous, rich brown, cassiterite from a very uncommon Montana locality. This variety of cassiterite is called "stream tin", due to the rounded, stream-worn character of the cassiterite. Stream tin was named by Cornish miners from the streams, where the rich deposits were first found in Cornwall. This is excellent, old-time material from the Jaime Bird Collection [Rob Lavinsky sold 2009]. It has two labels attached with the numbers 472 and 4240.
"Wood tin," a cryptocrystalline variety of cassiterite, has bands that resemble the age rings of wood. This variety occurs in locations across the globe, and lapidaries sometimes create ornamental objects and cabochons from it.

Very rich group of pyromorphite crystals of intense yellow color with orange tones. These are hexagonal prisms with multiple terminations and transparence and exceptional brilliance. A specimen with some years behind it from this classic North American minning locality.

Sold

Old specimen of blue fluorite from this mining area in the central-eastern United States. Fluorite crystals have partially corroded cubic shapes. It is accompanied by a galena crystal covered with tiny cerussite crystals. With an old Enric Kucera label.

110 €

Buy

This specimen, from the Mauldin Mountain quarries, shows an attractive coating of bright-green, botryoidal wavellite on fractured dark gray chert. The wavellite is microcrystalline, making the sparkle in the picture. Very characteristic green colour and good size specimen.

Sold

Aesthetic group of topaz crystals aesthetically disposed on a rhyolite matrix. Some of them isolated and very rich in faces. They show very well defined faces and edges, with an excellent transparency and a uniform tone. From a classic locality.

Botryoidal aggregates of smithsonite with a very tastefull bluish green colour, translucent and with brilliance. They are disposed on matrix. From a very interesting American locality. It fluoresces intensely under LW-UV light.

Aesthetic specimen of goethite with chalcophanite with cavities covered by numerous aggregates of sheaf crystals of copper-bearing adamite, with a faint green color in the convergence zone and greener at the ends. It is accompanied by more developed crystals of cuprian austinite. A pleasure under magnifying lens. With old labels.

Sold

Aesthetic sprays of acicular transparent natrolite crystals on vuggy basalt matrix. Very unusual specimen on the market fro this locality. Analyzed specimen SEM-EDS.

A specimen of the highest quality for this locality and for the species, named in honour to our colleague D. Antonio Barahona. The species was determined in samples from Pastrana, Mazarrón (Murcia), its type locality, more than a decade ago by Dr. Joan Viñals. This specimen shows various vugs covered by small sky-blue barahonaite crystals. The color is excellent and the size of the sample makes it worthy of a fine showcase. We have also analyzed it and will send the results to the buyer.

Sold

Fairfieldite is a rare calcium and manganese phosphate of which the best known specimens belong to this North Carolina mine. In this specimen we can observe various aggregates of tabular crystals, transparent, very well defined and with a slightly beige tone. An excellent specimen for the species.
From what we have been able to elucidate, it is an old specimen, which belonged to the collection of Dr. Buford Nichols, a renowned North American pediatrician who is fond of minerals and specialized in phosphates.

Sold

Agatized coral with marked bands. In a very visible coral matrix. Filled inside with botryoidal and banded chalcedony. The sparkly, translucent botryoids and banding have a pleasing variety of honey-brown and creamy colors. Very aesthetic and unusual in the marked. Fluoresces in a light-blue color under a long wave fluorescent light. From Joan Astor (Barcelona) collection.

Rich group of velvety globular aggregates of rosasite formed by very fine needles, with a color between blue to light blue. They are accompanied by partially corroded crystals of transparent calcite and contrast in a very aesthetic way in a cavity of the goethite matrix. This specimen belongs from the former Joan Astor collection whose handwritten label we will send to the buyer.

Sold

An epidote specimen from an unusual North American locality. It occurs as parallel aggregates of very elongated prismatic to acicular crystals, with terminal faces, green in color and transparent.

A cluster of "sand calcite" calcite which the locality is well know for. Crystals show a hexagonal form, the main one doubly terminated. From a former Spanish collection.

Sold