FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Fiebre Verde]

[Sante Celiberti]

Oh, yes. It was worth waiting for all those years!
Congratulations, Gérard.

[James Catmur]

I have been watching this thread and wondering what I can add to the stories.

As I look back I can think of specimens I sold and now regret - I once had the pleasure of emptying a pocket in a mine [not named, sorry but if you saw a photo you would know the mine] where no hammer was required after I broke into the bottom of the pocket, as a mixture of fine sand and specimens just poured out into my hands - I had to block the opening with my left hand to stop them falling onto the floor of the mine. I must have collected about 30-40 floaters from the pocket. Over the years I sold some of them as I reduced the number of 'rocks' stored in the garage and then one day I realised I had nothing left from the pocket. They were not wonderful specimens but I was fond of them.

Some years later I found out that I had given my parents a couple of them but had forgotten this. So I was reunited with two specimens from the pocket. Not the best but one is not bad.

I also remember the time I was walking back through the mountains from hours of collecting in a mine and I fell over, damaging the best specimen I had ever seen from the mine. While collecting that day I spent so long opening up a pocket, while my body blocked the entrance, that I almost ran out of oxygen. But I could see the specimen and there was no way I was going to leave it behind. I still have it and it is not bad, but it is nowhere near the one I collected.

Then there was the pocket I opened in a quarry that produced the best find I have ever made. Before we loaded the ~10 specimens into the car a person came up who forced us to hand them over, using the threat of force. In the end, he let me buy the best piece back, which I still have but every time I see it I recall all the ones he took and having to buy back something I had found.

So three stories that might entertain

James

[Fiebre Verde]

[Don Lum]

[Wynnek]

Something like 40 years ago, we had our one and only visit to Ohio that coincided with the Cincinnati Mineral show. I saw a Tsumeb azurite with very thin prismatic crystals, quite unlike the typical azurites from there. There were several specimens, priced at about $100 as I recall--quite beyond contemplating with our finances at the time. I have looked for similar ever since. Finally in 2004 I found a small Tn that reminded me of the habit of those azurites. I bought it, despite a broken central crystal. Can anyone shed any light on that find? Does anyone have pictures of that habit from Tsumeb to share?

[Tobi]

Another rock that got away:

About 10-12 years ago I purchased this specimen of fluorite from Yaogangxian Mine for a really cheap price on a small mineral show. After I had it for several years, I sold it via a German mineral forum ... a few years later there was a discussion on Facebook, Austrian dealer Martin Gruell got the specimen and it was sold to him as "Weardale". He and many others rightly doubted that but noboby could solve the riddle until I got into the discussion ...

The specimen seemed to have passed though many hands, and one of the owners "changed" Yaogangxian to Weardale :-( However, today I really regret that I gave this fluorite away :-(