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James Catmur
Site Admin
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 1489
Location: Cambridge
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 Posted: Jan 29, 2022 05:22 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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minsur
Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 46
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| Posted: Jan 29, 2022 15:44 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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| bob kerr wrote: | | minsur wrote: |
In the Munich Show report 2021, p. 4, you will find an excellent explication by Carles (in Spanish) ..
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I looked up Carles's post referred to by minsur - a rough translation:
"I would like to highlight something related to the Colombian Quartz that has proliferated in recent times and that have been "baptized" as "Mango Quartz",
In Rocks & Minerals magazine there is an article by John Rakovan where he explains it well. In a personal conversation with Alfredo Petrov, during the last edition of the Sants Fair, he explained that these Quartz have micro-pipes that go into the prism. When they were filled with mud there were two possible explanations, or mixture of both, about the origin of that yellowish color in the termination of the crystals. The mud itself would have been embedded in the glass through these small gutters and, in addition, during the process of cleaning the Quartz and the consequent use of acids, the same mud would have reacted with the acid causing the "inclusions" of the reaction within the crystals.
With all this I intend to point out that, finally, someone labels those Quartzes as what they really are, Quartz. Such wisdom is appreciated."
So - let me try to provide a possible explanation that I think allows John and Carles/Alfredo and reputable dealers all to be correct:
1 - Somehow, mother nature allowed some quartz crystal to grow with micro "channels" and they only are present towards the tips.
2 - Many (most?) crystals grow in the presence of limonite and these "channels" also grow in the presence of this iron
3- when the quartz is dug from the ground, it is encased in the iron and miners have found that soaking in oxalic will clean the iron from the quartz and raise their value.
4 - if the quartz is removed from the oxalic and rinsed AT THE RIGHT TIME, the iron in the "channels" remains and shows the yellow color (and appears as "fibers" included in the quartz.)
5 - if the quartzes are left in the oxalic for a long enough time, even the "channels" are cleared of iron when rinsed
If the above is true, then there's really no sinister intent involved - some quartzes just come out of the oxalic with yellow tips.
You will note that many of these "mango" quartzes still have some iron in or on their matrix - it is very powdery and rubs off on your fingers - UGH! So, you couldn't fault dealers - like Pachamama - from cleaning them again with fresh oxalic and finding that the additional bath has cleaned out the micro "channels" effectively ruining the specimen. (To no one's surprise Pachamama does no further oxalic cleaning after they lost thousands of $ cleaning yellow tipped quartz that simply turned into quartz.)
What caused the micro "channels" in the first place is another interesting issue.
comment and other thoughts are welcome,
bob |
The whole story reminds me of something that happended decades ago - in Morocco...
Some lucky individual there, trying to clean Anglesite specimens from Touissit by means of a local cleaning agent called "Eau de Javelle", used to clean just about everything in this country;-), learned by coincidence, that his ugly, white, grey and pale Anglesites surprisingly changed color to deep orange-yellowish hues. Something never ever seen before from anywhere and this even without losing luster! The following frenzy went to to the extent, that even nice and lovely naturally yellow colored specimens were submitted to this kind of treatment and therefore destroyed for ever.
I guess, a similar amount of money, if not even more than with the "Mango-Stuff" was in play, as the fraud went on for several years.
A few heavily involucrated dealers - OF COURSE and certainly NOT the Moroccan ones;-)) - almost got broke at the time....
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Jan 29, 2022 15:47 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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Today was the open house viewing of the latest Rock Currier deaccession - see previous post. There were also some items from his collection for sale. A real treat was noticing that one of the "special" auction items will be his Peruvian fur coat - kind of a signature piece for him. The sale of the will benefit Mindat.
bob
| Mineral: | Rock Currier's fur Peruvian jacket |
| Description: |
| Up for auction to benefit Mindat |
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20084 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Rock Currier's fur Peruvian jacket |
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| Up for auction to benefit Mindat |
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20038 Time(s) |
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Jan 29, 2022 16:25 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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And now for some true eye-candy. Valenzuela Minerals opened today displaying some of the most electric, electric blue azurites from Milpillas ever to come from the mine. These are older pieces that just came out of storage and are excellent. I'll let the photos do the talking.
bob
| Mineral: | Azurite |
| Locality: | | Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Municipio Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico |  |
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| To me this was the best piece on display. |
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20038 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Azurite |
| Locality: | | Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Municipio Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico | |
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| Closeup of what I think is the best piece they had. |
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20129 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Azurite |
| Locality: | | Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Municipio Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico | |
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20018 Time(s) |
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| Locality: | | Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Municipio Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico | |
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20030 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Azurite |
| Locality: | | Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Municipio Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico | |
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20000 Time(s) |
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| Locality: | | Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Municipio Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico | |
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20043 Time(s) |
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| Locality: | | Milpillas Mine, Cuitaca, Municipio Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico | |
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20030 Time(s) |
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Jan 29, 2022 16:46 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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As promised previously, Tomek at Spirifer mineral put out for display his hoard of Moroccan Tourmalines - very impressive - especially the large matrix piece with Feldspar.
And, next to the Tourmalines, was a group of interesting Marcasites from Iowa. I'm not a fan of marcasite due to its tendency to go decrepit but these are interesting and not that expensive.
bob
| Mineral: | Tourmaline |
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20078 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Tourmaline |
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20068 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Tourmaline |
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| Mineral: | marcasite |
| Locality: | | Iowa, USA | |
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20042 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | marcasite |
| Locality: | | Iowa, USA | |
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20036 Time(s) |
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Jan 29, 2022 17:04 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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| minsur wrote: |
The whole story reminds me of something that happended decades ago - in Morocco...
Some lucky individual there, trying to clean Anglesite specimens from Touissit by means of a local cleaning agent called "Eau de Javelle", used to clean just about everything in this country;-), learned by coincidence, that his ugly, white, grey and pale Anglesites surprisingly changed color to deep orange-yellowish hues. Something never ever seen before from anywhere and this even without losing luster! The following frenzy went to to the extent, that even nice and lovely naturally yellow colored specimens were submitted to this kind of treatment and therefore destroyed for ever.
I guess, a similar amount of money, if not even more than with the "Mango-Stuff" was in play, as the fraud went on for several years.
A few heavily involucrated dealers - OF COURSE and certainly NOT the Moroccan ones;-)) - almost got broke at the time....
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Yah - some definite parallels but I think this Colombian "mango" quartz story is a bit more "innocent". - maybe not.
by the way, I tried to reverse the anglesite color - see:
https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=4000&highlight=
bob
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minsur
Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 46
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| Posted: Jan 29, 2022 18:22 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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| bob kerr wrote: | | minsur wrote: |
The whole story reminds me of something that happended decades ago - in Morocco...
Some lucky individual there, trying to clean Anglesite specimens from Touissit by means of a local cleaning agent called "Eau de Javelle", used to clean just about everything in this country;-), learned by coincidence, that his ugly, white, grey and pale Anglesites surprisingly changed color to deep orange-yellowish hues. Something never ever seen before from anywhere and this even without losing luster! The following frenzy went to to the extent, that even nice and lovely naturally yellow colored specimens were submitted to this kind of treatment and therefore destroyed for ever.
I guess, a similar amount of money, if not even more than with the "Mango-Stuff" was in play, as the fraud went on for several years.
A few heavily involucrated dealers - OF COURSE and certainly NOT the Moroccan ones;-)) - almost got broke at the time....
|
Yah - some definite parallels but I think this Colombian "mango" quartz story is a bit more "innocent". - maybe not.
by the way, I tried to reverse the anglesite color - see:
https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=4000&highlight=
bob |
"Innocent"? Colombia?;-) Smile, smile and again;-))
I hope this thread helps a bit in the way, that not too many collectors get heavily burned, as the asking prices for this stuff are just totally outrageous, even if the specimens were natural.
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Jan 30, 2022 21:58 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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I stopped in to visit the Ramoses in the Top Gem annex who specialize in Peruvian minerals. They were in the process of boxing up dozens of flats for two dealers - maybe a few hundred flats. Sales were indeed good - no, great.
They did have one new interesting Peruvian treat - chrysocolla covering quartz from The Tentadora Mine - unique pieces.
bob
| Mineral: | Chrysocolla on Quartz |
| Locality: | | Tentadora Mine, Ullpac Mountain, Huancano District, Pisco Province, Ica Department, Peru | |
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19128 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Chrysocolla on Quartz |
| Locality: | | Tentadora Mine, Ullpac Mountain, Huancano District, Pisco Province, Ica Department, Peru | |
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19082 Time(s) |
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Jan 31, 2022 16:18 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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Went into the always interesting Miner's Lunchbox room this morning and was greeted by two huge, lustrous and pretty much damage free Galenas from the Sweetwater Mine in MO acting as coffee table centerpieces. They must weigh a ton so there's little risk of someone walking off with one - although the coffee tables may need to be reinforced!
They also had a shelf full of excellent Brazilian tourmalines among their excellent selection of worldwide minerals - see photo.
bob
| Mineral: | Galena |
| Locality: | | Sweetwater Mine, Ellington, Viburnum Trend District, Reynolds County, Missouri, USA | |
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18799 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Galena |
| Locality: | | Sweetwater Mine, Ellington, Viburnum Trend District, Reynolds County, Missouri, USA | |
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18753 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Tourmalines |
| Locality: | | Pederneira claim, São José da Safira, Governador Valadares, Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, Brazil | |
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18756 Time(s) |
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Feb 01, 2022 16:11 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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I again visited Frederick Gauthier of Little Big Stone - his shipment of new Madagascar specimens is still held up. Delays like this can be devastating to international dealers - it occurs all too often.
He did, however, have some wonderful Madagascar fluorites on matrix - see photos.
I'll report back when his shipment arrives.
bob
| Mineral: | Fluorite |
| Locality: | | Mandronarivo area, Beroroha District, Atsimo-Andrefana Region, Madagascar | |
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18460 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Fluorite |
| Locality: | | Mandronarivo area, Beroroha District, Atsimo-Andrefana Region, Madagascar | |
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18441 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Fluorite |
| Locality: | | Mandronarivo area, Beroroha District, Atsimo-Andrefana Region, Madagascar | |
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18418 Time(s) |
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Tony L. Potucek
Joined: 29 Dec 2006
Posts: 98
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Feb 02, 2022 09:29 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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Hi, Bob,
Thank you for continuing to work on your report on the Tucson mineral shows. Your report is much appreciated. I hope to see you down there in the next few days!
_________________
Tony L. Potucek |
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Feb 03, 2022 23:05 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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Walked through the Miner's Lunchbox's room again and noticed two of the largest and nicest red fluorites. Very impressive just to see these.
bob
| Mineral: | Fluorite |
| Locality: | | Huanggang Mines, Hexigten Banner (Kèshíkèténg Qí), Chifeng (Ulanhad), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China | |
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21784 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Fluorite |
| Locality: | | Huanggang Mines, Hexigten Banner (Kèshíkèténg Qí), Chifeng (Ulanhad), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China | |
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21784 Time(s) |
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Gail
Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 5839
Location: Texas, Lone Star State.
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| Posted: Feb 04, 2022 15:54 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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Great!
_________________
Minerals you say? Why yes, I'll take a dozen or so... |
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silvia
Joined: 10 Oct 2021
Posts: 269
Location: UK
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| Posted: Feb 04, 2022 18:55 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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| bob kerr wrote: | Walked through the Miner's Lunchbox's room again and noticed two of the largest and nicest red fluorites. Very impressive just to see these.
bob |
Hello Bob:
The green mineral to the left in the photo is a pseudo, can you confirm a pseudo of what (Malachite after Azurite)! Looks like a nice piece worth getting.
All the best
Silvia
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bob kerr
Joined: 13 Nov 2011
Posts: 640
Location: Monroeville PA
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| Posted: Feb 04, 2022 20:44 Post subject: Re: Tucson Shows 2022 |
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| silvia wrote: |
Hello Bob:
The green mineral to the left in the photo is a pseudo, can you confirm a pseudo of what (Malachite after Azurite)! Looks like a nice piece worth getting.
All the best
Silvia
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Yes, malachite after azurite from Tsumeb. DEFINITELY worth getting. P.O.R.!
bob
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