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What's New in the Mineral World? By Thomas P.
Moore |
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MINETTE COLLECTION Book is now
available!
A limited
number of copies are available free of charge
(while they last) to Mineralogical Record
subscribers. Write immediately to
hollie@lithographie.org to reserve your
copy!
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The big fall mineral shows are over, and the
holiday season now comes on apace. If you are already into
Christmas shopping, your non-mineralogical loved ones will no
doubt be happy with their sweaters, ipads, bottles of grog,
etc., while on Christmas day you will be in your Mineral Room
happily relishing goodies you've bought for yourself, perhaps
including (who knows?) one or two you might find right
now—
On The Web
Alabandite, 8.7 cm, from the Uchucchacua mine, Lima
Department, Peru.
Khyber Minerals specimen and
photo.
Alabandite, 2.8 cm, from the Uchucchacua mine, Lima
Department, Peru.
Trinity Minerals specimen; John Veevaert
photo.
In his report on the 2010
Munich Show (coming up in the January-February issue), Wendell
Wilson describes the new and extremely fine specimens of
alabandite which were one of that show's most notable
what's-new items. Previously almost unknown in presentable
crystal specimens, the rare manganese sulfide now joins native
silver, acanthite, proustite, pearceite and rhodochrosite as
one of the species occurring in world-class specimens at the
Uchucchacua silver mine, Oyon Province, Lima Department, Peru.
In 2008, in an abandoned stope of the mine, Jaroslav Hyrsl
collected a few specimens showing sharp, spinel-law-twinned,
black alabandite octahedrons, and one of these harbinger
specimens was sold to Bill Pinch at the 2009 Tucson Show; it
is pictured with the report on that show in the May-June 2009
issue. It's likely, though, that the 48 specimens seen in
Munich in 2010 represent a later, more prolific find. The
specimens were brought out by Peruvian dealer Teodicio Ramos
Cabrera, and nearly all were sold to Luis Miguel Burillo, who
distributed them to other collectors and dealers, especially
John Veevaert who bought many of them. Among web dealerships
with at least a few of the alabandites are Trinity
Minerals (http://www.trinityminerals.com/), Jordi
Fabre (http://www.fabreminerals.com/), The
Webmineralshop (http://www.webmineralshop.com/), and
Khyber Minerals (http://www.khyberminerals.com/). The
semimetallic black, smooth-surfaced octahedral crystals and
spinel-law twins of alabandite, reaching 2 cm, appear as loose
singles and isolated clusters, and as color-contrasting matrix
pieces of white calcite and pale pink rhodochrosite strewn
generously with alabandite. According to John Veevaert, some
of the specimens also show traces of what may be a new
manganese-silver sulfosalt. Shown here are a thumbnail and a
cabinet specimen of this interesting material...I note however
that almost all of the alabandite specimens offered by John
Veevaert on his Trinity Minerals site are now marked
there as "sold"--just a few days after making their online
debut.
Hambergite, 5.7 cm, from the Tampo'ny ilapa vein,
Sahatany Valley, Antananarivo,
Madagascar. Trinity Minerals
specimen; John Veevaert photo.
Don't
stop browsing yet in the "Munich Show" section of the
Trinity Minerals website, though, for there John
Veevaert also shows ten loose compound crystals of milky white
to colorless hambergite from a new find in what is
called the Tampo'ny ilapa vein, Sahatany Valley, Antananarivo
Province, Madagascar. Ranging in size from 1.5 to 5.7 cm, the
hambergite crystals are sharp, lustrous, well terminated and
(in general) quite fine for representatives of the species.
And while you're on John Veevaert's cyberturf, I would
recommend that you visit his "European Room," where you'll
find no less than 12 good thumbnail and miniature-size
silver specimens from Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway. For
some 350 years the best among all the world's sources of fine
specimens of wire silver, Kongsberg finally closed for good in
1957. But in the years since then, local collectors have been
chiseling out some interesting things from the old workings of
the area's 300 or so separate silver mines; presumably John's
specimens, which hail from the Gottes Hulfe in der Noth
("God’s Help in Distress") mine, are of fairly recent vintage.
They are irregularly shaped but highly lustrous aggregates of
silver dendrites, leaves and small wires set on massive white
calcite with massive acanthite, and some are darkened by
coatings of tiny pyrargyrite and acanthite
crystals.
Hausmannite pseudomorph after manganite, 3.4 cm, from
Ilfeld, Harz Mountains,
Thuringia, Germany. Trinity
Minerals specimen; John Veevaert
photo.
In our November-December 2010
issue you'll read (or by now have read) all about the famous
old Ilfeld, Thuringia, Germany locality for what are still the
world's finest specimens of crystallized manganite. Although
the Ilfeld mines closed in 1922, there have been some recent
finds of manganite and fine hausmannite pseudomorphs after
manganite on the old dumps—and so I can't resist
mentioning here that two splendid specimens of pseudomorphous
hausmannite are also offered in John Veevaert's "European
Room." The larger specimen, shown here, measures 3.4 cm,
displays the manganite crystal form extremely well, and is
probably from a group of such specimens that were dug on the
dumps in 2008. Achtung! pseudomorph devotees.
Realgar, 3.9 cm, from the Palomo mine, Huachocolpa
district, Huancavelica
Department, Peru. Khyber Minerals
specimen and photo.
Besides the big
alabandite specimen shown above, there is the usual abundance
of interesting items on the site of Khyber Minerals (http://www.khyberminerals.com/), among them
a new lot of ten specimens, thumbnail to small-cabinet size,
of realgar from the Palomo mine, Huachocolpa district,
Huancavelica Department, Peru (see Jaroslav Hyršl's article on
this locality in March-April 2008). Complex, sharp, blocky red
realgar crystals to 2 cm, most of them with thin fringes of
yellow orpiment, cluster in loose groups and on druses of
quartz crystals with associated galena and sphalerite
crystals. Some of the specimens show small areas sprinkled
with microcrystals of the Pb-Cu sulfosalt
seligmannite.
Lawsonite, 6 cm, from Mendocino County,
California.
Marin Minerals specimen and
photo.
In my published report
(September-October 2010 issue) on Dave Waisman's new San
Francisco Fine Minerals Show, I noted some ongoing field work
by Clive Matson and his eager son (whom I insulted in print by
guessing his age as 10; in fact, I’ve been duly admonished, he
is 13)—who lately have been digging excellent specimens of the
rare Ca-Al silicate lawsonite from an undisclosed site
in Mendocino County, California. At the San Francisco show in
July, about 20 miniature and small-cabinet-size specimens of
the material were with the Matsons in the room of Cascade
Scepters, but supplies since then have been cornered by
Mike Keim of Marin Minerals (http://www.marinmineral.com/), on which site
you may now see 31 freshly dug lawsonite specimens. They are
even more impressive than the biggest and best that were on
hand in San Francisco: matrix plates ranging from 4 to 11 cm
across are densely covered with lawsonite crystals to more
than 1 cm individually. The very sharp crystals are vaguely
diamond-shaped, pale pink to pinkish orange, and mostly
opaque, though a few are translucent in part. Specimens are
prepared by dissolving away the calcite which fills thin
seams, exposing gleaming pink crystal carpets on greenish gray
glaucophane schist (this tough rock has been saw-cut along the
bottoms of most of the matrix plates). A much earlier
lawsonite find, in Marin County in the 1950s, cannot compete:
these are surely the best lawsonite specimens in the world,
and Mike's prices for them remain quite reasonably in the
high-two to low-three-figure range.
Beryl, variety heliodor, 26.7 cm, from Padre Paraiso,
Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Arkenstone specimen; Joe Budd
photo.
An October 15 update to the
site of Rob Lavinsky's The Arkenstone (http://www.irocks.com/) offers 15 loose,
prismatic crystals, about half of them doubly terminated, of
beautiful bicolored beryl from Padre Paraiso, Minas
Gerais, Brazil. For the most part the bright, gemmy crystals
are pale yellow heliodor, but they are distinguished by pale
aquamarine-colored zones near the terminations. Also they are
distinguished by size: most are over 12 cm long, and the
longest (shown here) measures 26.7 cm. Rob testifies that the
huge crystal is unrepaired—a miracle of survival out of the
small pocket which yielded these lovely prizes sometime in
summer 2010. But if your Christmas stocking is on the short
side, stouter gemmy crystals to around 4 cm long are also
among the selection.
Wulfenite, 7 mm crystal on 4.7-cm matrix, from
Laurium, Attika, Greece.
Greekrocks specimen and
photo.
The online dealership
Greekrocks (http://www.greekrocks.com/) was founded in
2009 by Christos Spiromitros, and this is not the first time
I've mentioned the diversity of very interesting Greek
minerals, both old and contemporary, to be found there. A
recent update offers good specimens of pyrite, boulangerite
and rhodochrosite from the long-defunct mining region around
Stratoni, Chalcidiki, in northern Greece; there are also more
recent specimens of ilvaite, andradite and green quartz from
the island of Seriphos; surprisingly good epidote crystal
groups from Kimmeria, Thrace; and, of course, much from the
ancient (and modern—to about 1975) mine tunnels at Laurium,
Attika. Laurium specimens offered include barite, fluorite,
annabergite, picropharmacolite and more—you have probably seen
their likes, but have you ever seen a good specimen of
wulfenite from the Laurium mines? Well, here is a
bright orange tab, sharp as you'd wish, 7 mm on edge, resting
in the center of a gossany 4.7-cm matrix. Other finds as nifty
as this await the visitor to Greekrocks.
Stephanite, 2.2 cm, from the Porco mine, Potosí,
Bolivia.
Mineral Classics specimen and
photo.
Stephanite, 1.9 cm, from the Porco mine, Potosí,
Bolivia.
Mineral Classics specimen and
photo.
Everyone needs (as everyone
knows) a fine stephanite, but prices typically charged
for rarely appearing old-timers from Freiberg, Príbram, or
even Fresnillo hardly bear thinking about—to the rescue come
the superb new thumbnails from the Porco mine, Potosí,
Bolivia. Yes, you've recently heard something like this pitch
from me, for excellent thumbnails of Porco mine stephanite
began to trickle out late last year, and I've mentioned them
in my reports from this year's Tucson and Denver shows and in
my last online column. But now, on the site of Brian and Brett
Kosnar's Mineral Classics (http://www.minclassics.com/), 17 thumbnails
appear which Brian has just finished cleaning up,
photographing and pricing (for $150 to $900—still not cheap
for thumbnails, but quite a fair range for the quality we are
talking about). Brilliantly lustrous metallic gray, columnar,
well terminated, slightly distorted and pitted stephanite
crystals to more than 2.5 cm form parallel groups without
matrix or associations. Even Freiberg seldom did better than
this, and I recommend highly that Santa just suck it up and
buy one; they’re already going fast on the site, and future
supplies, of course, cannot be guaranteed. Brian Kosnar told
me in Denver that these specimens—which at that time looked
just a bit scruffy—would "clean up well," and the two pictured
here show that they certainly did.
Crocoite, 7 cm, from the Adelaide mine, Dundas,
Tasmania, Australia.
Spirifer specimen and
photo.
Adventurers from the Polish
mineral syndicate Spirifer (http://www.spiriferminerals.com/) have been
off on their travels again, and earlier this year they were
the first foreign visitors on the scene after a big new
crocoite pocket in the Adelaide mine, Dundas district,
Tasmania, Australia, had been hit. The pocket was two meters
long and was to take Adam Wright's Adelaide Mining Company
more than two months to clean out. About 350 significant
specimens were produced (not counting loose single crystals
found in the pocket detritus), and the crocoite prisms reach
14 cm long. Besides a mini-article on the find, the
Spirifer website now offers about a dozen specimens
from it, thumbnail to small-cabinet size, with sleek, mostly
well terminated, crocoite crystals ranging in color from
bright orange to deep red.
Orpiment, 6.9 cm, from the Shimen mine, Shimen, Hunan,
China.
JinMing Mineral Company specimen and
photo.
Smoky Quartz with spessartine, 9.4 cm, from Tongbei,
Fujian, China.
JinMing Mineral Company specimen and
photo.
Calcite, 8 cm, from the Xikuangshan mine,
Lengshuijiang, Hunan, China.
JinMing Mineral Company
specimen and photo.
Since my last
online report the new, China-based, JinMing Mineral
Company website (http://www.jmineral.com/) has been expanded
notably—although it still has almost no text and is rather
confusingly organized. Among its very recent updates are
good-looking specimens of botryoidal orpiment from
"Shimen" (presumably the Shimen arsenic mine, Shimen, Hangde
Prefecture, Hunan Province); a few great-looking smoky
quartz groups bestrewn with little spessartine crystals,
from Tongbei, Fujian Province; and handsome calcite
specimens from "Lengshuijiang, Loudi, Hunan." Liu's Fine
Minerals of China (2006) shows Lengshuijiang as the name
of a town just a few kilometers south of the great Xikuangshan
antimony mine, one of China's great stibnite localities and
one of the world's largest antimony deposits; the mine has
also produced yellow-orange, translucent to transparent,
short-prismatic crystals of calcite, as in the pretty
specimens on the JinMing site.
Uvite-Dravite, 2.5 cm, from Gouverneur, St. Lawrence
County, New York.
Pala Minerals specimen and
photo.
Bill Larson's Pala
International Company has long had an extensive website
whereon Bill's activities in the international gem trade have
been documented, with subordinate, rather skimpy pages devoted
to mineral specimens. Now, though, there is a separate
website, Pala Minerals (www.palaminerals.com) exclusively for
mineral-shoppers, and 51 fine specimens are offered on it at
present. Most of these are gem crystals (heavy on beautiful
elbaites) which are not for the budget shopper, but Bill likes
old classics too, and he appreciates thumbnails (yay!), and so
in the middle of page 3 one finds a 2.5-cm, sharp, lustrous,
nearly complete brown crystal of uvite-dravite (labeled
"tourmaline") from Gouverneur, St. Lawrence County, New York,
priced at $250 and, I think, a bargain at that. This site is
worth everyone's trouble to monitor in the future; among its
other pages are The Classics, The Vault, The Bargain Bin
(specimens under $500), Articles, and Your And My Want
Lists.
Autunite, 3.8 cm, from Peveragno, Piedmont, Italy.
Minservice specimen and photo.
Athos
Locatelli's Minservice site (http://www.minservice.com/) compiles recent
updates from several Italian dealerships, and poking around in
its myriad pages can bring on a "Mediterranean" sense of time,
or of time-loss, i.e. one can browse for uncounted hours, as
if during siesta-time on a sunny subtropical strand, and in
the process one can learn a great deal about interesting
mineral finds in out-of-the-way Italian (and other) places.
For instance, crusts of typically bright yellow-green sheaves
of autunite crystals were once found in old mines
around the town of Peveragno, just southeast of Cuneo in
western Piedmont: an old reference tells me this, but I'd
never before seen a specimen. The one now on view on the
Minservice site (see the picture above) is quite up to
the standards set by the well-known autunites of Washington,
Brazil, Portugal and Germany. The specimen belonged to
Ferrero's Minerals—one of the dealerships represented
on Minservice—and is, I regret to say, already marked
"sold."
Scorzalite, 6-mm crystal, from the Estaño Orcko mine,
Machacamarca,
Potosí, Bolivia. Minservice specimen and
photo.
Or consider this sharp,
flashing blue, 6-mm crystal of the very rare species
scorzalite on matrix, representing a recent discovery
of the world's finest scorzalite crystals in the Estaño Orcko
mine, Machacamarca district, Potosí, Bolivia. This one is not
yet sold (it costs 55 Euros), and you may see it on the
Cultminerals subsite of Minservice.
Pyromorphite, 4.5 cm, from Crabalatzu,
Fluminimaggiore, Sardinia, Italy.
ItalianMinerals.com
specimen and photo.
Along the same
lines, another Italian site, quite sensibly named
ItalianMinerals.com, has an October 24 update wherein
it offers three fine miniatures of pyromorphite from
Crabulatzu, Fluminimaggiore, Sardinia—where mining began in
the 6th century B.C., during settlement by the Phoenicians,
and ended in the early 1960s. Cauliflowerform bundles of
bright yellow-green pyromorphite crystals are scattered all
over pale brown matrix of what appears to be iron-stained
cellular quartz.
Phosphosiderite, 1-cm crystal on 6.2-cm matrix, from
Kreuzberg, Pleystein,
Bavaria, Germany. Crystal Classics
specimen and photo.
And as long as I’m
finishing up this report with old European items of note,
check out (below) the German classic that Ian Bruce of
Crystal Classics (http://www.crystalclassics.co.uk/) picked up
at the Munich Show. It is a specimen of phosphosiderite
from Kreuzberg, Pleystein, Bavaria, with a transparent red,
blocky, 1-cm crystal of phosphosiderite, representing the best
occurrence of this species (and of the related phosphate
strengite) ever found in the world. The Kreuzberg, a steep
promontory (with a church on top) which rises above the
village of Pleystein, is mostly composed of the former quartz
core of a largely weathered-away, phosphate-rich pegmatite. At
10:00 P.M. on March 6, 1960, a 100-ton quartz boulder tumbled
down the cliffside, destroying a small shed enroute and
hitting the outside wall of a movie theater. Panicked
townspeople who'd just taken in the movie rushed out into the
street, but inquisitive mineralogists, later, were better
pleased: seams and vugs in the boulder proved to contain
phosphosiderite crystals to 5 cm, and gemmy purple strengite
crystals to 1 cm, as well as microcrystals of other rare
phosphates. The Kreuzberg now is under protection as part of a
nature preserve, and collecting there has long since ceased,
but if you like this shard of History you might even pay Ian
the $1500 he asks, and get to keep it.
Old Mining On
Your Wall
This heading is the title of a press
release put out by MOXXO Design, Enzmannstrasse 4, 09112
Chemnitz, Germany, to promote its new product, a
classy-looking 2011 calendar, eighteenth in a series of
"Original Saxon Mining" calendars. This newest effort is
called "Traditionals of Saxon Mining 2011," and never mind the
not-quite-traditional English; if you like mining history
you'll probably relish the pages of this calendar, whose
special topic is the musical folk culture associated with
mining in the Saxon Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge). The calendar
offers "exclusive archive photos" and "lyrics and traditionals
from the Saxon mining industry's oral culture." The press
release explains the word on the cover page as follows: "In
German terminology, the word 'Bergreyhen' is [an] umbrella
term for the more than 500-year-old musical culture of the
Saxon Ore Mountains. A Saxon miners' rite of the early 16th
century, for example, asked every shift's foreman to find
other workers to be singers for the respective shift. A first
'Mining Singers Order' ruled the musical accompaniment of this
cultural asset during the 17th century. Traditionally these
songs address topics such as a miner's professional pride but
also [the] dangers and burdens of the mining work…" A second
available 2011 calendar is called "Mining Motives [motifs?] on
German Emergency Money 2011"—showing the mining scenes
sometimes printed on the Notgeld bills issued during
Germany's calamitous period of inflation in the early 1920s.
Both calendars may be ordered (the press release does not give
their prices) through http://www.bergbaukalender.de/.
Here's
wishing everyone a happy holiday season! |
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