Bargain Gallery: Minerals Under $50 ELBA10-1 Elbaite with Lepidolite $48 SOLD Virgem
da Lapa, Jequitinhonha valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil This
piece is a doubly-terminated cluster of beautifully translucent, deep-green
Elbaite : Na(Al1.5Li1.5)Al6(OH)3(OH)(BO3)3Si6O18
accented with interesting wheat-sheaves of Lepidolite. Lepidolite
is now considered a member of the Polylithionite - Trilithionite series
as defined by these two end-members: KLi2Al[(F,OH)2|Si4O10]
- K(Li,Al)3[(F,OH)2|AlSi3O10].
This piece was in my collection, and I never noticed until now
that it has a small amount of damage on the back side only, near the
top termination as visible in the second photo, hence the low price.
FL5-09b Fluorite with Natural Etching $18 Denton
Mine, Goose Creek Mine Group On the front side, natural etching has turned these Fluorites (CaF2) into thin, tabular crystals by preferentially removing material parallel to the crystal faces - note the thin edge that comes straight out towards the camera in the first photo. This highlights the dark phantom center that some of them have, as you can see by looking at the same feature in the second photo. On the back side, the etching has proceeded in the more usual fashion, working the Fluorite into finely grained and textured surfaces.
BPW9-11 Barite on Petrified Wood (A. Arizonicum) $18 Petrified
Wood Ranch, Puerco Ridge, Navajo Co., Arizona Feathery white Barite (BaSO4) on brick-red petrified wood from Araucaria Arizonicum, a conifer that is the Arizona state fossil. The Barite fluoresces cream color under both LWUV and SWUV. This specimen was collected by Ken Gochenour a couple of years ago.
MLC5-23 Calcite var. "Melicaria" $35 SOLD Julimes,
Mun. de Julimes, Chihuahua, Mexico Benny Fenn brought these strange Calcites (CaCO3) in from Mexico and said that they form in cracks inside mudballs, similarly to the way septarian nodules (like the polished ones that end up as bookends) form. The Melicaria have very weak, dull orange-red fluorescence under a very strong SWUV source and even weaker under LWUV.
MLC5-24 Calcite var. "Melicaria" $38 SOLD Julimes,
Mun. de Julimes, Chihuahua, Mexico Benny Fenn brought these strange Calcites (CaCO3) in from Mexico and said that they form in cracks inside mudballs, similarly to the way septarian nodules (like the polished ones that end up as bookends) form. The Melicaria have weak, dull orange-red fluorescence under a very strong SWUV source and even weaker under LWUV. They aren't going to win any beauty contests, but I find these Melicaria fascinating!
Julimes,
Mun. de Julimes, Chihuahua, Mexico Benny Fenn brought these strange Calcites (CaCO3) in from Mexico and said that they form in cracks inside mudballs, similarly to the way septarian nodules (like the polished ones that end up as bookends) form. The Melicaria have weak, dull orange-red fluorescence under a very strong SWUV source and even weaker under LWUV.
MLC5-21 Calcite var. "Melicaria" $25 Julimes,
Mun. de Julimes, Chihuahua, Mexico Benny Fenn brought these strange Calcites (CaCO3) in from Mexico and said that they form in cracks inside mudballs, similarly to the way septarian nodules (like the polished ones that end up as bookends) form. The Melicaria have weak, dull orange-red fluorescence under a very strong SWUV source and even weaker under LWUV.
Chenzhou area, Hunan, Central South Region, China 4.2 x 2.3 x 1.5 cm A limited, one-time find of Cerussite (PbCO3) with Chrysocolla staining - a unique color and shape for the Cerussite crystals.
Mina Davidad, Rodeo, Durango, Mexico 5.0 x 4.2 x 3.4 cm The most desirable form of Creedite (Ca3[SO4|Al2F8(OH)2] · 2H2O), in a sparkly, spiky orange ball (the photo is too red). It will definitely attract attention to your mineral display .
BAR5-30 Barite $22 Cavradi gorge, Curnera Valley, Tujetsch, Grischun, Switzerland 3.5 x 2.7 x 1.6 cm By now it must be obvious that I really like Barite (BaSO4). This is a neat little piece from a famous locality that few people would ever think to associate with Barite. AZ10-7 Azurite $22 SOLD Malbunka
Copper Mine, Areyonga, Alice Springs, Gardiner Range, Northern Territory,
Australia Azurite (Cu3[OH|CO3]2) likes to form concretions, as in the famous geodes from the Blueball Mine in Arizona and many other localities. In this case, however, the concretion was forced to grow in a flattened manner due to the layering of Kaolinite (Al2Si2O5(OH)4) siltstone, producing an Azurite unlike any found elsewhere in the world. The edges of this piece appear to be intact except at the bottom.
79 Mine, Gila County Arizona 4.6 x 3.6 x 1.8 cm Decent-sized, apple-green Smithsonite (ZnCO3) crystals - NOT botryoidal masses as most of the specimens are - richly cover three sides of a shard of matrix from a very famous mine.
Erupcion Mine, Los Lamentos, Chihuahua, Mexico 4.7 x 4.0 x 2.3 cm Everyone knows Anglesite (PbSO4) from Tsumeb or Morocco, but Mexico? Well, that's because these pieces are very old and don't get recycled often. The Anglesite crystals are the tan rhombs.
Dal'Negorsk, Primorskiy Kray, Russia 3.4 x 2.4 x 1.9 cm I bought this Calcite for my collection from Viacheslav Kalachev many years ago. It is rather unusual for an Aragonite (CaCO3) and a Calcite (CaCO3) to be present in the same specimen, since they form under different conditions (they are polymorphs). But if any place can produce an Aragonite included in a Calcite, it is Dal'negorsk, the Calcite-collector's heaven.
Upper New Street
Quarry, Paterson, New Jersey 2.7 x 2.5 x 1.7 cm A classic thumbnail Chabazite-Ca ((Ca,K2,Na2)2[Al2Si4O12]2· 12H2O) on Calcite from the collection of A. Stevenson.
Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India 3.4 x 2.5 x 1.8 cm A famous, but now largely played out, occurrence of the rare mineral Celadonite: (K(Mg,Fe2+)(Fe3+,Al)Si4O10(OH)2) included in the zeolite Heulandite-Ca: (Ca,Na)2-3Al3(Al,Si)2Si13O36·12H2O. This specimen consists of one large, compound crystal, which is unusual since most of these specimens are jumbly clusters.
Kharan, Baluchistan, Pakistan 3.0 x 2.5 x 1.6 cm; crystal size = 6 mm A sharp, chunky Anatase (TiO2) crystal (the dark form on the top edge) on a matrix with Chlorite-included Quartz. The big-name dealers were getting high prices for these after the 2005 find.
Cruzeiro Mine, Santa Maria do Suaçui, Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, Brazil 4.2 x 3.1 x 2.5 cm A beautiful cluster of Elbaite (Na(Al1.5Li1.5)Al6(OH)3(OH)(BO3)3Si6O18). Some of the crystals have blue caps - one is visible in the center of the photo.
Wasson Bluff, Parrsboro, Bay of Fundy, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia, Canada 2.8 x 2.5 x 2.2 cm Sharply formed and nicely colored Stilbite-Ca (NaCa4[Al9Si27O72] · nH2O) clusters with a bit of white, siliceous sinter - a form of opal - that phosphoresces cream under SWUV.
Aderhoual, Mibladene, Upper Moulouya lead district, Midelt, Khénifra Province, Meknès-Tafilalet Region, Morocco 2.1 x 1.6 x 1.5 cm A very unusual and striking, compound Vanadinite (Pb5(VO4)3Cl) crystal.
Lake George, Park County, Colorado 3.1 x 2.7 x 1.5 cm Sharp pseudomorphs of Siderite crystals, entirely replaced by Hematite. This specimen was found by the Rose family (Al, Mary and Erik) .
Saranovskiy Mine, Urals, Russia 4.3 x 2.9 x 2.1 cm Nothing else matches the color of a Uvarovite (Ca3Cr2[SiO4]3) Garnet, which is why these specimens are in such demand.
PSI5-5 Pyrolusite
(formerly Psilomelane) on Goethite $24 Luis Lopez manganese district, Socorro Co, New Mexico 5.7 cm x 2.5 cm x 2 cm Hair-like Pyrolusite MnO2 formerly known as Psilomelane on a matrix of Goethite α-Fe3+O(OH). This specimen is glued into a hinged plastic box, and I think that is the safest way to ship it.
SID5-2 Quartz
on Siderite Balls $42 Balls of tan Siderite FeCO3 to 1.4 cm covered with a sugary coating of small, sparkly Quartz crystals. A few larger rhombohedral Siderites are sprinkled on top the Quartz.
FL5-28
Fluorite $46 SOLD Purple octahedral Fluorites CaF2 with interesting partial overgrowths that resemble hoppering. The matrix shows several layers of Fluorites under this top one.
APOP9-1 Apophyllite-(KF)
$28 The top side (left photo) of this unusual cluster of Apophyllites KCa4[(F,OH)|Si8O20] • 8H2O has some inclusion that renders it dark red-brown, while the bottom (right photo) displays mostly clear Apophyllites. Note: the right photo shows a bit of the plastic stand holding the mineral for photography in the lower-right corner - that is not a crystal! or select a gallery from the table below:
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