FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Louis Friend]

Dear Mark:

Many thanks for your kind words. I will be posting a few more Vanadinites in the coming days. The red colour is very attractive, and Vanadinite appeals to many collectors. Regrettably, the true beauty of all the specimens I have posted is lost because my poor photography, but I am working on an idea that should help me improve my photos. This might be another DIY job like the Acrylic stands I make.

Regards

LF

[Louis Friend]

VANADINITE

This piece is a gorgeous bright red sparkling grouping of tabular vanadinite crystals to 1.5 cm in size. It also hosts individual deep red vanadinite crystals to 1cm. In the right-hand section of the specimen, there is a small vug full of blood red translucent crystals.

Also included is a photo of the homemade stand with attached label.

[yowanni]

Beautiful vanadite!!!

[Louis Friend]

Dear Yowanni:

Thank you very much for your kind words. I have a few more vanadinites to post, but the one above is the most unusual. I noted you are from Cantabria/Madrid – “hola.” Being that close to Morocco I would probably would spend all my time collecting Vanadinite. :)

Kind Regards

LF

[yowanni]

[Tobi]

Common mineral from a common locality - but a really uncommon and spectacular specimen, wow!

[Jordi Fabre]

[Louis Friend]

[Louis Friend]

MALACHITE (POLISHED)

This piece is a gorgeous green botryoidal mass of polished malachite. I am becoming very fond of the secondary copper minerals, especially Malachite and Azurite. Also included are photos of the homemade stand with attached label.

[Tobi]

Louis,

the combination of large and (!) attractive mineral specimens and self-made stands is just fantastic! A joy to watch and a lesson to learn, thank you and please keep your pictures coming!

Tobi

[Louis Friend]

Dear Tobi:

I thank you for your kind words. I am very passionate about teaching and education, whether it is in Physics or the hobby of mineral collecting. During the course of my time on FMF, I hope to make many meaningful contributions that genuinely help other collectors, and I hope I have done that so far. I hope I have shown that acrylic stands are accessible to every collector. I will be looking at new labeling techniques that should be very easy to reproduce, and I am looking into a DIY project that can help the collector take great photos of their minerals.

Kind Regards

Louis

[Louis Friend]

CALCITE - Cobaltoan

This piece (a particular favourite with the wife) is a beautiful pink mass of calcite rhombs on a limonitic matrix. I have included a photo of the stand and label. I printed the label on glossy photographic paper and then laminated it. I will post details of the process under the “Acrylic stands” section of FMF. Others might find it instructive. The labels do look very nice for a “home-made” job.

[Louis Friend]

MALACHITE - BOTRYOIDAL

This piece is a very nice mass of beautiful botryoids, which line a vug in limonitic matrix. It is a very 3D piece and malachite is now becoming one of my favourite minerals. I have included a photo of the stand and label. I printed the label on glossy photographic paper and then laminated it. I will post details of the process under the “Acrylic stands” section of FMF. Others might find it instructive. The labels do look very nice for a “home-made” job.

[Tobi]

Great cobaltoan calcite - superb colour!

[Louis Friend]

Dear Tobias:

Again many thanks for your kind and encouraging words. I want my collection to reflect all aspects of the mineralogical world; aesthetics, rarity, technical interest and perhaps even extravagance. I hope I am succeeding in my quest.

Kind Regards

Louis

[Louis Friend]

CERUSSITE ON BARYTE

The specimen comprises two gemmy crystals of Cerussite on a limonitic matrix that also hosts light pink blades of Baryte. Also included on the matrix is coarse-grained hematite. I have included a few macro shots of the large Cerussite (~2cm) and its smaller partner. The photos also include stand and label.

[Louis Friend]

ILVAITE

The specimen comprises a cluster of large and highly lustrous Ilvaite crystals with “textbook” terminations. The largest crystal is 9cm long and 6 cm wide at the termination. The terminations show the “chisel-shaped” morphology. The photos also include stand and label. The stand is not actually complete. I am getting a smaller nozzle for my MAPP Burner so I can flame polish small parts.

A NOTE ON LOCALITY

I have spent some time trying to establish the correct locality for many of the “Inner Mongolian” specimens. I recall from an edition of “Minerals Live” sometime last year that one of the presenters said that their Ilvaite and the Arsenopyrite specimens did not come from an Iron mine; they came from a Lead and Zinc mine and reference was made about it being a skarn deposit.

As many of you might already know the Huanggang mine along with the Dajing and Anle ore deposits occur in the Huanggang-Ganzhuermiao polymetallic ore belt in southern Daxinganling Mountains. The three ore deposits were formed in the Mesozoic period. Huanggang deposit is largest Fe-Sn paragenetic skarn deposit in the area, and indeed in the whole of Northern China. The Dajing deposit is a large Sn-Cu hydrothermal mine which hosts Sn-Cu mineralization in the centre of the deposit and Pb-Zn in the outer zones of the deposit. The Anle deposit is another hydrothermal type deposit, which also hosts Sn mineralization. The only Pb/Zn skarn type mine that is close to Huanggang is the Sumugou deposit.

I would be keen to hear from anyone who has definitive proof as to the true locality for both the Ilvaite and Arsenopyrite specimens from Inner Mongolia. I also include with this the combo pieces comprising Ilvaite and Arsenopyrite, and with Hedenbergite.

[Louis Friend]

ARSENOPYRITE ON QUARTZ

The piece consists of a perfectly terminated quartz crystal with clusters of Arsenopyrite crystals rising from the base to about the middle of the quartz. The Arsenopyrite has a nice bronze luster on some of the crystal faces, and displays a prominent “cock-comb” habit typical of many of the Inner Mongolian Arsenopyrite specimens.

[Louis Friend]

GALENA – SPINEL TWINNED

The piece is a large mass of spinel-twinned galena. Some of the crystals display a melted, almost free flowing liquid style of morphology. Associated with the galena are a few gemmy quartz crystals, small but still visible nonetheless. Also shown are the stand and label.

[Louis Friend]

PYRITE ON PYRITE

The piece consists of large and very lustrous pyrite crystals (pyritohedra) to just over 5 cm on a matrix consisting of hundreds of smaller pyrite crystals (pyritohedra) to about 1cm. The crystal faces are complex, striated and upon closer inspection host some small crystals of a black mineral, which might be sphalerite or tetrahedrite. The exact identity of the black material is awaiting confirmation by XRD.