International Minerals #26

Deeply coloured amethysts nicely capped by marcasite, a combination that is quite unique and typical of Sasar mine in Romania. The piece comes from an old and very limited find, and hence there are hardly any specimens on the market today.

This piece features a beautiful cluster of thick and lustrous descloizite crystals, resembling a flower shape. The crystals show multiple extra faces along the edges and excellent luster. No damage to report.

Superb green crystals of beta-quartz shape, showing just an upper and lower pyramid but no prism faces. Very 3-dimensional and showy all the way around.

Rose pink ruby from an eastern European locality. The crystal shows stepped growth and multiple subindividuals on all sides. It is a floater and complete on all the way around.

This rhodochrosite specimen shows very nice contrast of colours and shapes! The milky quartz crystals show lovely rounded faces, on most crystals there is no edge between the prism and the pyramidal faces, it is indeed just a rounded curve. They have great luster, too. The rhodochrosite came at a later stage of growth, like pink powder sugar, and sets a very appealing accent. Great condition and shape. Ex Leo Thalhammer collection.

Classic gold from California! This specimen has all the distinct features that make Californian gold so special. Brilliant luster, deep pure yellow colour, beautiful leaf and crystal structures all around. The rear side is indeed equally fine and shiny. Especially the outlines of the golden leaves are flanked by numerous sharp crystals. 39 grams of pure gold fever!

Lovely blades of manganoan calcite sitting on a host rock primarily made of sphalerite and pyrite. A classic Cavnic piece (found 1969) in great shape and condition. Ex Leo Thalhammer collection, his label is coming with the piece.

An amazing octahedral fiercy red spinel rests on white marble. The main crystal measures 13 mm tip to tip and is perfectly placed on its host rock. It is undamaged and gemmy in big sections. No repair, no restoration. Ex Kurt Wintersteiger collection, he once paid 12500 euro for this piece (but different dealer, not from me ;-)).

Red needle quartz at its best! What an explosion of deeply saturated, elongated quartz crystals. Black sphalerite crystals serve as a matrix, and a later white quartz generation adds a pleasing contrast. Excellent shape and condition!