FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Craig Mercer]

An amazing Blue Capped Tourmaline from Stak Nala, Pakistan. 80mm x 36mm. This one holds pride of place at the front centre of my collection.

[Craig Mercer]

Another amazing specimen, I think anyway. This one fluoresces for anything up to 10minutes after I take the shortwave light away from it. Fluorite from Stak Nala, Pakistan. 165mm x 110mm.

[Craig Mercer]

This is my favourite Chondrodite of all time. I was lucky enough quite a few high quality specimens a few years ago, but this one I just adore. Chondrodite from Badakhshan, Afghanistan. 32mm x 28mm.

[Craig Mercer]

The first time I seen this specimen, well I just fell in love with it. I had never really experienced Microlite before, so it was like the discovery of a new mineral for me. Rubellite with Microlite inclusion, and some other minerals, maybe Albite and anohter purplish blocky sort of Orthoclase ?? Paprok, Afghanistan. 65mm x 55mm.

[Craig Mercer]

An incredibly aesthetic specimen, and the colours are just so strong. Multi coloured Tourmaline from Paprok, Afghanistan. 80mm x 70mm.

[Craig Mercer]

This specimen has a little bit of everything. Pollucite on Quartz standout, but there are also a couple of little Tourmalines, some Kunzite, and an unknown greenish mineral that I think maybe Herderite. Paprok, Afghanistan. 128mm x 90mm.

[Craig Mercer]

Another Pollucite from my collection, only this time it's of exceptional quality. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photograph, but this specimen is water clear all the way through. Pollucite from Konar, Afghanistan. 67mm x 50mm

[Craig Mercer]

This is my all time favourite Clinohumite. It's an amazing specimen, the clarity and colour are perfect. It from the classic location of Tajikistan. 58mm x 35mm.

[Craig Mercer]

Large Scheelite in Quartz specimen. Shigar Valley, Pakistan. 160mm x 150mm.

[Craig Mercer]

These Apatites are absolutely stunning in person. They look as though they have been glazed. I have four, the rest I will add to my collection soon, but this one is by far my favourite. Laghman, Afghanistan. 51mm x 34mm.

[Craig Mercer]

Here is my big peach Morganite. The colour of this specimen is mindblowing. At the back there is a huge gap where a large Spodumene used to live, with traces of it still there. It's from Konar, Afghanistan. 100mm x 95mm.

[Craig Mercer]

Another large specimen within my collection is this Andradite from Bayman, Afghanistan. 160mm x 115mm.

[Jim]

Thanks for posting all of these pics, Craig, It's fun to see other people's collecting tastes.

Cheers, Jim

[Carles Millan]

Hi Craig!

About your "Large Scheelite in Quartz specimen. Shigar Valley, Pakistan. 160mm x 150mm."

There is some controversy and even mistery about the actual locality of the scheelites on quartz from Pakistan Northern Areas. Some people do label them as being from Shigar Valley, but IMHO the most likely place could be the Gharmung area, also spelled Kharmang in some maps due to different transliterations. It is a very small town some 80 km southeast from Skardu.

You can see several pictures of them at

https://www.mindat.org/photosearch.php?frm_id=mls&cform_is_valid=1&minname=Scheelite&cf_mls_page=1&region=Gharmung&text=&otype=0&stype=0&phototype=M&mtype=0&sort=&submit_mls=Search

and others from Shigar at

https://www.mindat.org/photosearch.php?frm_id=mls&cform_is_valid=1&minname=scheelite&cf_mls_page=1&region=shigar&text=&otype=0&stype=0&phototype=M&mtype=0&sort=&submit_mls=Search

One of them seems to be yours!

[Carles Millan]

Hello Craig!

We at the forum are very happy with your posting pictures of your nice pieces. And I'd like you to keep doing it in the near future.

But (there is always a but) we think it would be better for all of us if you could gather several photos in every message instead of posting one of them at a time. I suggest you to group together up to ten photos in each message before clicking on the submit button. Please also note that every image frame has room for writing its own specific comments, more than just the species name. You can use the preview function to test if what you see is what you want.

Thanks,

[Gail]

Wow Craig, you are as busy as I am with putting photos on this site! Well done.
If you put a lot of photos on one posting you might be in danger, as has happened to me many times, of losing the webpage and after all that work!
I put about 5 to 6 on then post, often trying to preview before actually sending.
It is really disheartening if you add and get ready to send a lot of photos only to find it say "this page has expired."

Very nice to see your specimens!

[Craig Mercer]

I'm so sorry guy's, I had no idea I was doing it wrong. I'm slowly getting a heap of new photo's ready, and I will make sure they are added correctly. I will understand if you need to have the old photo's removed, either by me or you, and then I could re-add them correctly. Anyway just let me know if that needs to done.

Secondly, thank you Jim and Gail for your kind words of encouragement. Gail thanks also for the tip on multiple photo's on one posting, I can see how that would be disheartening.

Lastly, Carles the Scheelite came with that label. Have they ever been found in the Shigar Valley ?? or should I change the label ??

Kind regards
Craig.

[Carles Millan]

Hi!

You did nothing wrong. Don't worry. Just that it is highly recommendable to group together several images to prevent the other forum users from getting so many warning messages in a row.

>Lastly, Carles the Scheelite came with that label. Have they ever been found in the Shigar Valley ?? or should I change the label ??

I don't know! I've got one scheelite alike to yours and it's labeled "Gharmung area". And the person who supplied it is quite reliable. But I can't be completely sure. If it is of any help, you will find that locality, with the name "Kharmang", at the lower right side of this map of Pakistan Northern Areas mineral localities

https://carlesmillan.cat/min/PakistanNA.jpg

Good luck!

[Craig Mercer]

Hi Carles,

Ok, I didn't think about the multiple warning messages. Strangely I only seem to get one warning message, no matter how many new images are posted. Anyway I apologise if it has been annoying for anyone.

Thanks again Carles for the information concerning the Scheelite.

Best wishes
Craig.

[Tracy]

Actually Craig, if I'm right the system's changed such that readers only get one posting per topic when there are multiple messages posted. For instance, three posts went to this topic today, but I only found one alert in my Inbox. So really, no worries, it just simplifies things for the viewers to see all images posted as a group but otherwise does no harm...

- Tracy