Rare bi-color Tanzanite crystal with a yellow cap over a blue core. Another unusual feature of this crystal are aligned hair-like fibers of another mineral (Rutile?) that point inward and down from inside of the wide sides of the crystal (center photo). Natural, unheated gem Tanzanite crystal, 2.4 x 1 x 0.8 cm.

Fine thumbnail acanthite with mulitple crystals culminating in a large, sharp 1.5cm cubic crystal at the tip. Better in person, 3.1 x 1.5 x 1.5 cm.

Blue Benitoite crystals to 1cm in size with black Neptunite crytals to 3cm.

Classic Cinnabar penetration twin rising up 1.7cm and 1.5 cm wide on Dolomite. High quality Cinnabar that glows red when backlit. Fine undamaged piece, Chinese Cinnabar is by far the world's best, and this is a good one.

Glassy, gem quality single Aquamarine from Shigar Valley. Complete all around with uniform shape. In near pristine condition with a perfect termination and just a couple tiny trivial edge chips. Glassy termination face with wonderful multi-faceted beveled edges. Weighs 78.2 grams.

Single gemmy Zircon crystal with a nice wine red to red brown coloration. Complete all around and undamaged except for some slight edge chipping. Smooth, flat crystal faces on the termination with surface growth patterns on the prism faces, which is common with these crystals.

Glassy, gem quality Aquamarine from Shigar Valley. An uncommon formation of 3 parallel crystals with the tallest in the center. Complete all around and undamaged. Weighs 39.8 grams.

Etched floater Jeremejevite crystal with good blue color and plenty of gem zones. A thick crystal that has most of the original, flat prism faces still intact with more etching present at the ends. Good sized, high quality crystal that weighs 14 carats. No damage.

Highly transparent single Aquamarine crystal from Vietnam.  Well terminated, complete gem crystal. The crystal has high glassy luster and is undamaged.

Fine quality, sky blue botryoidal Smithsonite from the Kelly Mine in New Mexico. This specimen has a more pure blue color than is typical (rather than blue/green) and a bright, shimmering surface luster.

Dioptase crystals to 7mm that are well separated across sparkling Dolomite crystals. Light green Duftite adds color contrast.

Large 4cm wide cluster of Sphalerite intergrown with Quartz crystals with a Calcite attached to one side. Impressive, large sculptural crystal well centered on matrix. Undamaged with great luster and quite showy.

Highly colorful specimen featuring a cluster of orange Grossular crystals on bright, translucent blue Calcite. The Grossular crystals reach 9mm in size and there are about 8 crystals in the main cluster, with additional crystals in other areas of the Calcite.

Killer Tanzanite thumbnail that's also a great association piece.  Fine, gemmy blue Tanzanite crystal with excellent luster and great transparency with attached distinct, individual Prehnite crystals (analyzed) on the backside. Prehnite from Merelani is usually seen as rounded aggregates, yet on this specimen they occur as individual crystals to 7mm wide. In addition to the Prehnite, there are white crystals of an unidentified mineral also attached to the backside. A very nice Tanzanite, undamaged with TOP luster, good color and highly gemmy.

Single, stout hexagonal prism of Hematite, an uncommon crystal form for Hematite that reminds me of a style rarely seen in Kalahari Hematite crytals. Doubly-terminated crystal silvery in color with bright metallic luster. Complete and undamaged with uniform shape though with with a bit of cavernous growth on one termination and some indents from other crystals on some prism faces. These are found in an iron mine on an island located 8 kilometers off the coast of Iran.

Cluster of octahedral Cuprite crystals with associated bright yellow Miersite (which is a member of the chlorargyrite group of minerals). Only a small number of the recovered Cuprite specimens were associated with Miersite. Complete, undamaged floater specimen with no points of contact.

Vitreous brown Bementite, a rare hydrous manganese silicate, intergrown with Calcite over a black rock matrix. Franklin is the Type locality for Bementite, named after USA collector Clarence Bement. A rich example that comes with an old Minerals Unlimited label.

Fine thumbnail with a 1.4cm Carrollite crystal perched atop smaller Carrollite and chalcopyrite crystals. A stunner of a thumbnail with bright metallic luster.

Rich specimen of red Sarabauite in matrix. Sarabauite is a rare antimony contining mineral. The Sarabau Mine, located on the island of Borneo, is the Type locality for the species.

Floater cluster of twinned Titanite crystals intergrown with Ferro Actinolite. Olive green to yellowish brown in color with gem areas. Nice form, well crystallized all around.

Large, transparent Quartz crystal with attached and partially included black Helvite crystals. The Quartz has chlorite inclusions and has a well defined green phantom right near the termination. It also has a slight reddish cast in areas. As a bonus, the base of the crystal is completely rehealed.

Transparent, colorless Phenakite crystals with tan Orthoclase and Muscovite on matrix. The Phenakite crystals are really good and reach 6mm in size. There are 4 good crystals in the main display area and a 5th crystal on the side.

Translucent red/orange color pagoda-shaped crystal of Wurtzite. At the tips are dark areas of epitaxial Sphalerite. These recent Wurtzite specimens from the Merelani Tanzanite mines are the world's best and now rarely found.

Single, stout hexagonal prism of Hematite, an uncommon crystal form for Hematite that reminds me of a style rarely seen in Kalahari Hematite crytals. Doubly-terminated crystal silvery in color with bright metallic luster. Complete and undamaged with uniform shape though with a contact on one part of the bottom termination where it grew against other crystals. There are also smaller side crystals attached. These are found in an iron mine on an island located 8 kilometers off the coast of Iran.