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[Tobi]

Rubellite from Stewart Mine:

[am mizunaka]

My benitoite tree from California.

[GneissWare]

This specimen has an interesting history...Found by Louis Spalding and traded in 1990 to Bill Larsen; Bill sold it in 1991 to Andreas Guhr (Hamburg, Germany); Andreas Guhr sold it to Cal Graeber (California) in 2004.

It consists of numerous Alpine-type, gemmy, transparent, light smoky Quartz crystals with a slightly tabular habit are resting in a bed of snowy Albite. Two black lustrous Schorl crystals, one fully terminated measuring 42 x 18 mm, and the other measuring 22 mm across are nestled in the Albite. This Schorl is not terminated -- it was broken during pocket growth. Many lustrous, gemmy, red-orange Spessartine garnets, the largest measuring 19 x 17 mm provide notable accents. Small Spessartines form inclusions within some Quartz crystals.

[am mizunaka]

...

[GneissWare]

..

[am mizunaka]

[Chris Wentzell]

I must add a few pegmatite minerals myself:

[GneissWare]

This is the best specimen to come from the commercial mining effort completed in 2004 by John Seibel, Steve Perry and myself when I owned the mining claim. The specimen is 11.9 cm in its longest dimension, and the largest linarite is a complex crystal group approximately 4 cm in length. This one I decided to keep.

[Chris Wentzell]

Here is some more kunzite from the California pegmatites:

[am mizunaka]

A pale double terminated smoky quartz with tourmaline and lepidolite.

[benchambers]

The picture doesn't do them justice.