January 2022 Update

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JFD63AN9: Touissit is well known for its secondary lead minerals but is less known as a world class locality for copper secondaries, and yet I believe that some of its best azurites would be among the top ten azurites in the world. They tend to have good sharp crystals, like this one, and occasionally exhibit an excellent luster, as is also the case here. The size of the crystals is not very large, but they sit on a white matrix that gives a nice color contrast.
I bought it to the always precise and always affable Hmani Ali, at his home in Oujda.
Touissit, Touissit District, Jerada Province, Oriental Region  Morocco (±1996)

Specimen size: 4 × 3.6 × 3.5 cm = 1.57” × 1.42” × 1.38”

Main crystal size: 1.4 × 1.2 cm = 0.55” × 0.47”

TLF86AN9: Sheaf-like growth of Olmiite crystals with well defined faces and edges, with good luster and a pale brown color, on matrix.
We will ship the specimen in its original Perky box from the Robert J. Noble collection, which also contains the label.
N'Chwaning II Mine, N'Chwaning mining area, Kuruman, Kalahari manganese field (KMF), Northern Cape Province  South Africa

Specimen size: 2.7 × 2 × 2.1 cm = 1.06” × 0.79” × 0.83”

TVR46AN9: Aggregate of lamellar crystals of lustrous Hematite, extraordinarily sharp and with very marked parallel growths.
We will send the specimen in its original Perky box from the R.J. Noble collection, which also contains the label.
Serra das Éguas, Brumado, Bahia, Northeast Region  Brazil

Specimen size: 3.3 × 2.1 × 0.7 cm = 1.30” × 0.83” × 0.28”

Main crystal size: 2.4 × 2 cm = 0.94” × 0.79”

MMX96AN9: Octahedral crystals of Franklinite with very sharp crystal forms and with the dominant octahedron beveled by the dodecahedron. One of the crystals is clearly dominant and very aerial on a Calcite matrix. We emphasize that the crystal, in addition to being very aerial and complete, is practically free of damage, something really unusual in this type of specimen.
To all this we must add that the specimen comes from the prestigious collections of John Kolic and Chester Lemanski.
East Limb Fill Quarry, Sterling Mine, Sterling Hill, Ogdensburg, Franklin mining district, Sussex County, New Jersey  USA (16/06/2004)

Specimen size: 5.5 × 2.7 × 3.4 cm = 2.17” × 1.06” × 1.34”

Main crystal size: 3.4 × 3 cm = 1.34” × 1.18”

NRA46AN9: Very aerial group of Prehnite crystals, of good size for the locality, with crystal forms that are unusually sharp for the species, between translucent and transparent, with good luster and a greenish yellow color, on an Orthoclase matrix, associated with crystals of the Clinozoisite-Epidote (Series)
Isabel Quarry (La Saludadora Quarry), La Cabrera pluton, Valdemanco, Comarca Sierra de Guadarrama, Community of Madrid  Spain

Specimen size: 5.4 × 4.7 × 3.2 cm = 2.13” × 1.85” × 1.26”

Main crystal size: 1 × 0.9 cm = 0.39” × 0.35”

NVA13AN9: Twinned crystals of Sphalerite with very sharp and extraordinarily lustrous crystal forms, on a matrix covered by rhombohedral Siderite crystals. Very unusual for the locality.
This specimen comes from the Miguel David Martínez collection (number 775) whose label we will send to the buyer.
San Valentín open pit, Sancti Espíritu, Sierra Minera de Cartagena-La Unión, La Unión, Comarca Campo de Cartagena, Region of Murcia (Murcia)  Spain (2012)

Specimen size: 3.7 × 3.5 × 2.2 cm = 1.46” × 1.38” × 0.87”

Main crystal size: 0.5 × 0.4 cm = 0.20” × 0.16”

NFX90AN9: Large pseudomorphs with a hexagonal outline of Pyrite after Pyrrhotite crystals, with coatings of complex white Calcite crystals, cubo-octahedral Galena crystals and small Quartz and Dolomite crystals. An old piece, since the mine is not currently producing this type of specimen with large Galena crystals.
Trepča Complex, Trepča Valley, Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovska Mitrovica District  Kosovo

Specimen size: 16 × 12.5 × 10.5 cm = 6.30” × 4.92” × 4.13”

Main crystal size: 9.3 × 6.8 cm = 3.66” × 2.68”

TFB48AN9: Druse of small rhombohedral Smithsonite crystals that are very sharp, lustrous, and have a reddish color that is quite rare for Tsumeb specimens.
Tsumeb Mine, Tsumeb, Otjikoto Region  Namibia

Specimen size: 8.9 × 5.6 × 4.1 cm = 3.50” × 2.20” × 1.61”

Main crystal size: 0.3 × 0.2 cm = 0.12” × 0.08”

MXJ57AN9: Arborescent growth of deformed Gold crystals with small Quartz matrix fragments. The specimen comes from a very recent find in a locality hitherto semi-unknown to collectors.
La Rinconada, Ananea District, San Antonio de Putina Province, Puno Departament  Peru (03/2021)

Specimen size: 2.1 × 1.8 × 1.2 cm = 0.83” × 0.71” × 0.47”

TFR29AN9: Single Beryl crystal with an unusual cylindrical habit, with a progressive narrowing in the lower part and a finely polycrystalline termination. It is transparent, lustrous, and with very distinct color zoning: pink in the middle, with greenish blue tones at the ends. Of the best possible quality for this deposit.
Tongbei, Yunxiao, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province  China

Specimen size: 5 × 1.4 × 1.4 cm = 1.97” × 0.55” × 0.55”

TFB76AN9: Group of Fluorite crystals with cubic habit and very well marked, transparent, lustrous polycrystalline growths, with shades between deep blue and violet and with intense geometric color zoning, on a matrix of small Quartz crystals. From a locality not well known for quality fluorites.
Jingbian Mine, Hengbu, Zongyang, Anqing Prefecture, Anhui Province  China

Specimen size: 5.9 × 5.8 × 2.9 cm = 2.32” × 2.28” × 1.14”

Main crystal size: 2.1 × 2 cm = 0.83” × 0.79”

EYZ11AN9: A novelty for the summer of 2021 and, in all likelihood, the best known for the species so far. Imayoshiite occurs in numerous very sharp crystals, with a tabular habit and hexagonal contour, transparent, very lustrous and between colorless and slightly yellow, occuring together with spheroidal growths of pinkish Bultfonteinite and with small white fibrous coatings of some Tobermorite group species, on Andradite matrix. These specimens have been analyzed and we will send a copy of the analysis to the buyer. To learn more about this species and the rest of the paragenesis discovered so far in this mine, it is essential to read the article 'Rare Borate Minerals from the Shijiangshan-Shalonggou Deposits, Hexigten Banner, Inner Mongolia, China' whose authors are César Menor-Salván, Berthold Ottens and Ed Richard, featured in Rock & Minerals magazine, September-October 2021, Volume 96, Number 5.
Shijiangshan Mine, Yinwu, Linxi, Ulanhad League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region  China (15/07/2021)

Specimen size: 4.7 × 3.2 × 3.5 cm = 1.85” × 1.26” × 1.38”

Main crystal size: 0.8 × 0.4 cm = 0.31” × 0.16”