FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Michael Shaw]

Well balanced, good color, and super sharp cubes make this one a winner.

[Tobi]

[Tobi]

Old specimens, better photos:

[Tobi]

Old specimens, better photos - fluorite edition:

[Tobi]

Another piece for the series "old specimens, better photos":

I got this large pegmatite specimen from Namibia in 2022 and I never had a photo that does it justice. This may not be the most professional photos but I hope they demonstrate the size, the three-dimensional form and the beauty of this piece. There are at least 5 different minerals on this specimen and as a fan of quartz, Namibian minerals and pegmatite stuff there are several reasons for me to love this rather massive specimen.

[Carles Millan]

You are becoming an expert on mineral photography through the years, Tobi. You're still young, so you might one day reach the level of Jeff Scovil. I'm full of envy.

[Tobi]

Thank you very much, dear Carles!

I know my photo quality increased over the years but I will never be even close to someone like Jeff. Even if you would give me the best equipment in the world, I wouldn't have the patience to learn much about photography or to wait for the perfect photo ;-)

But I'm glad whenever I can present a photo here that does the minerals justice and that you fellow collectors enjoy!

Thanks again and best regards
Tobi

[Tobi]

New specimen, a nice smoky quartz cluster from Usingen in southern Hesse:

[Michael Shaw]

Superb specimen and good size too! I had never heard of this location, so I looked it up on Mindat. Some of the pieces shown had interesting zoning along the prism. Most of the pieces pictured were not nearly as nice as your recent acquisition. Congratulations.

[cristal prince22]

That quartz is stunning i love it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Tobi]

[Carles Millan]

This is a very impressive quartz specimen. A museum-quality piece.

[Tobi]

[Tobi]

Old specimen - finally an own photo:

I got this wonderful specimen from Madan/Bulgaria a while ago. I never had my own photo, only the one from the previous owner. Now I finally found some time and took pictures, I think this one does the specimen justice (it was not that easy to get a good photo of the shiny crystals). For some people this might be an "ugly grey rock" but I just love this impressive piece with its three different sulfide minerals :-)

[Tobi]

For many years I was searching for a good scheelite from China, finally had the luck of getting one :-)

[Carles Millan]

Congratulations, Tobi. This is a hard-to-find scheelite from Xuebaoding. With about 20 well-defined crystals that seem undamaged, and aesthetically placed, I've never had the chance of purchasing one alike. Furthermore, as you may know, that deposit has been closed for many years, and new specimens are now very expensive and scarce on the market.

[Volkmar Stingl]

Congratulation, Tobi! I remember, some years ago you asked me for one, but such quality I never could offer! Wonderful piece!

Volkmar

[Tobi]

Thank you for your kind words and your appreciation of this wonderful scheelite specimen, Carles and Volkmar (and Michael, who commented on this in his own thread where he presented a beryl specimen from the same locality).

I was quite surprised to find such a piece that I can afford. As you already said, good scheelites from Mt. Xuebaoding have become scarce and more and more expensive. I've been searching for years for a specimen that I like AND that I can afford. Sure, my priorities were different during the last years, lots of quartz and fluorite, some major galena pieces, a few nice rhodos and tourmalines, so there wasn't the big budget for a scheelite. But whenever I began to search for one, I found only specimens that were too ugly and/or too expensive for me.

So, it was a very lucky chance that some days ago a German dealer I know had this piece, it came out of another private collection and the previous owner demanded a very fair price compared to what you see on the market. We don't talk about prices here, but I think it's ok to mention that it was a mid-range three-digit price. And when you look at the piece and consider Carles' precise and correct description ("with about 20 well-defined crystals that seem undamaged, and aesthetically placed"), this is a chance you don't get often.

Best regards from a lucky collector
Tobi

[Tobi]

This new specimen might be something different and far away from what makes an aesthetic mineral for most of us. Nonetheless these pieces with beautiful "paintings" of tree-like manganese oxides are quite famous. But the locality isn't famous for minerals (which would be strange for a place that produces "only" some manganese and iron dendrites).
Solnhofen in central southern Germany is known as a locality for a lot of important Jurassic fossils including the famous archaeopteryx which was first discovered here in 1860. This discovery and many others (dinosaurs, insects, fishes and a lot more) made Solnhofen one of the major fossil deposits of the world.
Besides the many excellent fossils, many of the limestone layers in the Solnhofen quarries include black and brown dendrites which often are mistaken for fossils but are manganese and iron minerals. This is a rather nice example in good size and though it looks like someone has drawn them, these "trees" are completely natural. A fine piece of unimportant stuff from a very important place known for other stuff ;-)

[Carles Millan]

It is a real piece of Nature's art. But at the same time, believe it or not, they are MnO₂ (not idiomorphic) crystals, with some impurities. It is very impressive, even for non-mineral collectors.