Ste. Marie 2020 (virtual)

The Vault

TV89AL5: Group of Beryl crystals (variety red beryl), one of them clearly dominant, doubly terminated, shiny, with a very intense color, on matrix. An excellent American classic that for years has disappeared from the market due to the cessation of work on the deposit.
Wah Wah Mountains, Beaver County, Utah  USA

Specimen size: 6.3 × 5.6 × 4 cm = 2.48” × 2.20” × 1.57”

Main crystal size: 1.6 × 1.3 cm = 0.63” × 0.51”

TT48AL5: Group of flattened, twinned crystals, with lattice growths, colorless, transparent, with good luster and small inclusions of Malachite. Of the best quality for a historical locality, especially for its perfection since these specimens are usually very fragile, often have damage, but this piece is nevertheless perfect. The sample comes from the Dick Norris collection (no. 179) whose label, together with a previous one by Dave Bunk, we will send to the buyer.

Classic polymetallic carbonate-replacement deposit closely associated with Mesozoic granitic intrusions and low- to medium-temperature hydrothermal systems. The oxidation zone is exceptionally rich and complex, renowned for its remarkable mineralogical diversity and superb secondary species such as Wulfenite, Cerussite, Mimetite, Caledonite, Anglesite, and Linarite. Intense fracturing and deep weathering promoted supergene enrichment, producing colorful assemblages of major historical and mineralogical significance.
Mammoth-St. Anthony Mine, St. Anthony deposit, Tiger, Mammoth District, Pinal County, Arizona  USA

Specimen size: 4.7 × 3.4 × 3.2 cm = 1.85” × 1.34” × 1.26”

Main crystal size: 4.6 × 3.1 cm = 1.81” × 1.22”

TA74AL5: Aggregate, on matrix, of thick lenticular Azurite crystals, with very well defined faces and edges, with the intense brilliance and blue color (“electric blue”) that Milpillas is so famous for. With small coatings of fibrous Malachite. The Milpillas mine closed in June 2020.
Milpillas Mine, level 1100, Cuitaca, Municipio Santa Cruz, Sonora  Mexico (2019)

Specimen size: 6.7 × 5 × 3.5 cm = 2.64” × 1.97” × 1.38”

Main crystal size: 3 × 2 cm = 1.18” × 0.79”

MC47AL5: Kulanite crystals with very well defined crystal forms, large for the species, highly lustrous and on matrix, with rhombohedral Siderite crystals, small water-clear Quartz crystals, and white crystals, many of them doubly terminated, of Fluorapatite. The specimen, from the type locality, is one of the best that has been found.
Crosscut Creek, Kulan Camp area, Rapid Creek area, Dawson mining district, Yukon Territory  Canada (07/1995)

Specimen size: 6.5 × 5.3 × 3.4 cm = 2.56” × 2.09” × 1.34”

Main crystal size: 1 × 0.4 cm = 0.39” × 0.16”

NT92AL5: Centered aggregates of acicular Pyromorphite crystals, with a very vivid green color and good luster. The specimen, from a time period and locality that is historic for both Spanish and European mineralogy, exhibits the most classic habit for this deposit. These specimens are very difficult to obtain because, having only been found at the beginning of the last century, very few specimens have survived.
This specimen has been photographed and published in the magazine ‘Le Règne Minéral’ number 154/2020, page 45, and the Russian magazine ‘Mineral Observer’ on page 84 in the volume 26/2021, number 1
El Horcajo Mines, El Horcajo, Almodóvar del Campo, Comarca Campo de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha  Spain (±1910)

Specimen size: 7.5 × 6.8 × 5.3 cm = 2.95” × 2.68” × 2.09”

Main crystal size: 1.7 × 0.2 cm = 0.67” × 0.08”

MA50AL5: Floater rosette of Azurite crystals, with an unusual habit for the deposit, and an unusually bright color, along with an octahedral Malachite pseudomorph after a crystal of Cuprite. The specimen is from the type locality for the species and a magnificent French classic. It comes from an old Spanish collection and with the piece we will deliver the associated collection label.
The specimen has been reviewed, photographed and published in the Russian magazine ‘Mineral Observer’ on page 85 in the volume 26/2021, number 1
Chessy-les-Mines, Les Bois d'Oingt, Villefranche-sur-Saône, Rhône, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes  France

Specimen size: 9.5 × 6.7 × 5.5 cm = 3.74” × 2.64” × 2.17”

Main crystal size: 2 × 1.5 cm = 0.79”

TA98AL5: Centered aggregate of acicular Erythrite crystals, with the habit, brilliance and presentation that have made the Schneeberg Erythrites famous. This is the type locality for the species. The specimen, apart from being classic and very aesthetic, also has a long pedigree documented in its accompanying label record which we will send to the buyer.
Schneeberg District, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony/Sachsen  Germany

Specimen size: 9.2 × 5.7 × 5.3 cm = 3.62” × 2.24” × 2.09”

Main crystal size: 3 × 1.2 cm = 1.18” × 0.47”

EA62AL5: Groups of red Quartz crystals, elongated, many of them doubly terminated, intergrown, and forming very "sculptural" groups - a very different habit from the usual. Finds of this type of Quartz in Dalnegorsk were quite ephemeral and as they appeared, they quickly disappeared too, so it is not easy to get such elegant specimens as this one. The red Quartz is partially covered by a second generation of white Quartz.
Second Sovetskii Mine, 230↓, Dalnegorsk, Dalnegorsk Urban District, Primorsky Krai  Russia (±1998)

Specimen size: 15.5 × 11.4 × 6.4 cm = 6.10” × 4.49” × 2.52”

Main crystal size: 3.4 × 0.25 cm = 1.34” × 0.10”

ED56AL5: Undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best, uncut Grandidierite crystal found in the deposit, both for the perfection of its crystal forms and for its luster, transparency and color intensity, as well as for its gem quality.
All this made it worthy of being on the cover of the German magazine Mineralien Welt, and it was also featured in the Mineralogical Record.
This specimen is on the front cover of the 'Mineralien Welt' edition 06/2019, and has been reviewed, photographed and published as a new discovery of Munich 2019 in the ‘Mineralogical Record’ on page 380 in the volume 51, number 2, May-April 2020, and in the Russian magazine ‘Mineral Observer’ on page 85 in the volume 26/2021, number 1
Tranomaro Commune, Tranomaro-Maromby area, Amboasary District, Anosy Region  Madagascar (09-10/2018)

Specimen size: 1.1 × 1 × 0.8 cm = 0.43” × 0.39” × 0.31”

MD94AL5: The Madagascar Tourmalines that have become famous for their coloration and brightness have an excellent representative in this specimen of bicolor Elbaite, with parallel growths, very rich in well defined terminal faces, transparent, with good luster and a magnificent gradation of tones, from the more intense pink at the base up to the different gradations of green in the prism and the upper termination.
Bevaondrano pegmatite, Ikalamavony District, Haute Matsiatra Region  Madagascar

Specimen size: 5 × 2.5 × 2.3 cm = 1.97” × 0.98” × 0.91”

MQ26AL5: An excellent example of Malagasy polychrome Fluor-liddicoatite, with very well defined faces and edges, rich in termination faces, between transparent and translucent, and with a splendid gradation of hues, from the purple tones around the termination and the base to the caramel colors of the center of the prism. A gem.
Anjanabonoina, Ambohimanambola, Betafo District, Vakinankaratra Region  Madagascar

Specimen size: 9.8 × 5 × 4.8 cm = 3.86” × 1.97” × 1.89”

TJ89AL5: Very aerial, dendritic and parallel growths of elongated crystals of native Gold with rounded crystal habits and a very distinct spinel-law twin. A fine and elegant specimen that comes from the Robert J. Noble collection, whose label we will send to the buyer. This piece may well be one of the largest gold spinel-law twins ever found in the prolific Serra do Caldeirão find.
Serra do Caldeirão claims, Pontes e Lacerda, Alto Guaporé District, Mato Grosso  Brazil (9-12/2015)

Specimen size: 3.3 × 1.2  × 1.3 cm = 1.30” × 0.47” × 0.51”

TH97AL5: Group of Elbaite crystals (indicolite variety) forming parallel growths with very sharply pointed polycrystalline pyramidal terminations. The crystals are transparent, with great luster, mostly blue but with pink tones in the lower part. This is one of the few large specimens saved for collectors from the lucky finds of the 1980s, most of which went to the gem trade for faceting, which yielded crystals with a quality and density of color, and luster, far superior to previous finds. A unique specimen which demonstrates how very unpredictable Nature can be.
Santa Rosa Mine, Itambacuri, Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais  Brazil (±1980)

Specimen size: 15 × 12.5 × 8 cm = 5.91” × 4.92” × 3.15”