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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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 Posted: Feb 17, 2025 18:12 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection |
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Text published by the Spanish administrators on the Spanish side of FMF here
| Inma wrote: |
Good evening.
As you maybe know, the founder of this forum, Jordi Fabre, has been retired for some time and has stepped away from the company he created, Fabre Minerals. However, he remains very active in everything related to minerals, and since thousands of beautiful mineral specimens from well-known or unknown deposits, historic and long-closed mines, or localities worldwide have passed through his hands, he created #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) a few months ago.
#MVM is a website that essentially serves as an organized access portal to the specimens Jordi has presented over the years, with links to other websites hosting images of specimens that, due to their quality, rarity, or provenance from important localities, deserve to be preserved as reference minerals
Just like Mindat's 'Photo of the Day', #MVM also publishes a daily photo (in this case, of the most-viewed specimen), which Jordi shares on Facebook and Instagram, along with all the details of the mineral. For example, this one:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DF3UY3vu5R4/
The FMF administrators found it interesting to share the most-viewed daily image from #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) on FMF, precisely in this new thread that we are now creating within “Collection Images”. As mineral images are shared here, they will be added to the FMF Gallery, making it easier to search or consult by species, locality, author, etc., which will undoubtedly expand the variety of specimens from around the world in this section.
Naturally, everything published will be images of specimens that are no longer for sale, so this initiative is entirely non-commercial.
We hope you enjoy it! ;-)
FMF Administrators
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And here is the first of many pieces I'll be sharing in the future
#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about this piece with this link
| Mineral: | Fluorapatite with Siderite, Muscovite and Chlorite |
| Locality: | | Minas da Panasqueira, Aldeia de São Francisco de Assis, Covilhã, Castelo Branco, Cova da Beira, Centro, Portugal |  |
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| Dimensions: | 7 × 5.6 × 2.8 cm |
| Description: |
Nice group of Fluorapatite crystals with the center of the crystals exhibiting images of circular growth of darker color, which are locally called “olho de bou” (bull's eyes).
With Siderite and Muscovite on the matrix, both slightly coated by Chlorite. |
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2433 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2025 04:43 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Sphalerite after Enargite from Tsumeb |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Sphalerite after Enargite, coated by Smithsonite and with minor Galena and Cuprite |
| Locality: | | Tsumeb Mine, Tsumeb, Otjikoto Region, Namibia | |
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| Dimensions: | 11.1 × 5.6 × 2.7 cm |
| Description: |
A morphological, structural and genetic complexity. The original very aerial and stalagmitic Enargite crystals have been entirely pseudomorphed by Sphalerite crystals that in turn have been partially covered by white Smithsonite crystals, as well as small disseminations of Galena and Cuprite. How capricious mineral paragenesis can be!
Considering its complexity, the specimen has been analyzed. This specimen comes from the collection of Michel Perraudin who had it wrongly identified, which is no surprise as it is a piece that begged for a very precise analysis, since its visual appearance did not indicate what it finally turned out to be. |
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2350 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2025 14:55 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Norbergite and Spinel from Myanmar |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Norbergite and Spinel on Calcite |
| Locality: | | Oak-saung-taung, Mogok Valley, Mogok Township, Pyin-Oo-Lwin District, Mandalay Region (Mandalay Division), Myanmar (Burma) | |
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| Dimensions: | Specimen size: 9.3 × 8.4 × 4.3 cm |
| Description: |
| Two different minerals in the same specimen: orange Norbergite stands on white Calcite and at the other end there is a red (in fact slightly purple) octahedral Spinel. |
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2244 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Spinel on Calcite |
| Locality: | | Oak-saung-taung, Mogok Valley, Mogok Township, Pyin-Oo-Lwin District, Mandalay Region (Mandalay Division), Myanmar (Burma) | |
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| Dimensions: | 0.8 × 0.6 cm |
| Description: |
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2250 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2025 16:51 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Acanthite from Guanajuato, Mexico |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Acanthte with Calcite |
| Locality: | | San Carlos Mine, La Luz, Municipio Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico | |
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| Dimensions: | 1.7 × 1.2 × 1.0 cm |
| Description: |
| Cubic crystal with hopper faces, with small scalenohedral, doubly terminated Calcite crystals. |
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2204 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2025 17:30 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Sphalerite from Malaespera Mine, Bilbao |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Sphalerite with Quartz |
| Locality: | | Malaespera Mine, Barrio de la Peña, Bilbao, Comarca Gran Bilbao, Vizcaya / Bizkaia, Basque Country (Euskadi), Spain | |
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| Dimensions: | 5.5 × 3.4 × 2.4 cm |
| Description: |
Group of sharp Sphalerite crystals, with the crystal faces perfectly defined and lustrous. With small whitish Quartz crystals in distinct color contrast.
Coming from a current urban area in northern Spain. |
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2196 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 19, 2025 17:08 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Shinichengite with Bultfonteinite from China |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Shinichengite with Bultfonteinite |
| Locality: | | Shijiangshan Mine, Shijiangshan village, Yinwu, Linxi, Ulanhad League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China | |
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| Dimensions: | 8 × 7.3 × 2.7 cm |
| Description: |
A new discovery for 2021. Shinichengite on matrix (this new mineral species was initially labeled as possible Tobermorite-Clinotobermorite) that forms small fibrous spheroidal intense pink coatings associated with spheroidal growths of orange-brown Bultfonteinite of good size, on matrix.
The specimen has been analyzed. If you want to go deeper into the species and the paragenesis of this mine, you can consult the article by Menor-Salván, C.; Ottens, B.; Richard, E. “Rare borate minerals from the Shijiangshan-Shalonggou Deposits, Hexigten Banner, Inner Mongolia, China.” Rocks & Minerals, 96(5) (September/October 2021) |
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1973 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 20, 2025 17:08 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Quartz with Siderite, Vizille, France |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Quartz with Siderite |
| Locality: | | Mésage Mine, Saint-Pierre-de-Mésage, Vizille, Grenoble, Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 7.2 × 5.6 × 6.1 cm |
| Description: |
Vizille is a classic French mineral locality where many alpine quartzes and very good (and very large) siderites have been found.
I really like that Quartz, alone and tall in the middle of the piece, and because the specimen is a floater, with a single large Siderite crystal in which are the Quartz and a second generation of siderites, with smaller and lighter colored crystals. |
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1831 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 21, 2025 17:05 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Silver from Kongsberg |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Silver with Quartz |
| Locality: | | Kongsberg mining district, Kongsberg, Norway | |
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| Dimensions: | Specimen size: 4 × 4 × 2.8 cm |
| Description: |
Aggregates of very elongated Silver crystals with notable wire growths and with aggregates of small, very bright, Quartz crystals.
A fine European classic. |
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1662 Time(s) |
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Roger Warin
Joined: 23 Jan 2013
Posts: 1221
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| Posted: Feb 22, 2025 01:20 Post subject: Re: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection |
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How do we maintain this pretty appearance of the specimen?
Some people say they don't do anything and then everything goes black.
Congratulations on this new virtual museum.
Roger.
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Carles Millan
Site Admin
Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 1521
Location: Catalonia
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| Posted: Feb 22, 2025 06:06 Post subject: Re: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection |
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| Roger Warin wrote: | How do we maintain this pretty appearance of the specimen?
Some people say they don't do anything and then everything goes black.
Congratulations on this new virtual museum.
Roger. |
As you surely know, silver, exposed to the air, slowly reacts with H2S to form the salt, which is black. You must keep the specimen in a sealed box in order to prevent it from producing silver sulfide. When I was a child, silverware was still made of silver, and my family had to clean it from time to time.
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 22, 2025 08:18 Post subject: Re: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection |
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| Carles Millan wrote: | | Roger Warin wrote: | How do we maintain this pretty appearance of the specimen?
Some people say they don't do anything and then everything goes black.
Congratulations on this new virtual museum.
Roger. |
As you surely know, silver, exposed to the air, slowly reacts with H2S to form the salt, which is black. You must keep the specimen in a sealed box in order to prevent it from producing silver sulfide. When I was a child, silverware was still made of silver, and my family had to clean it from time to time. |
Based on my experience, aside from light, which, as is well known, darkens silver, atmospheric sulfur also darkens it quickly, just as Carles has well explained. Therefore, it is particularly important to avoid environments with heavy pollution from vehicle traffic, the presence of smokers, contamination from kitchen vapors, but, especially, having other minerals from the Sulfides Group in the same display case. Even the slightest release of sulfur gases from Sulfides undergoing any decomposition process will significantly affect silver.
The solution proposed by Carles seems perfect to me, but only for individual silver specimens. A totally hermetically sealed display case containing other sulfides would be almost worse for silver than leaving it unsealed.
Additionally, as tthe longed-for Dr. Joan Viñals explained to me many years ago, cleaning silver with chemical agents leaves it very white, beautiful, and shiny, but unfortunately accelerates subsequent tarnishing. I mean that if silver has been chemically treated for "cleaning," it will most likely turn black much faster than if it had never been cleaned.
Finally, I don't know exactly why, but Silver from Kongsberg usually resists tarnishing better over time, while other Silver specimens, especially those that are very filamentous, like very thin wires, tend to tarnish faster in my experience.
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 22, 2025 13:39 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection - Fluorite from Vale das Gatas, Portugal |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Fluorite |
| Locality: | | Vinheiros Mine, level 4, Vale das Gatas mining group, Sabrosa, Vila Real District, Norte Region, Portugal | |
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| Dimensions: | Specimen size: 1.7 × 1.6 × 1.3 cm |
| Description: |
| Cubic crystal with two very well differentiated growth phases, the first one a cubic nucleus with a very deep violet color, and a second, a peripheral polycrystalline growth, transparent and with sky blue color. The sample is from the collection of Pedro Alves, the author of the article “Vale das Gatas Mining District” in the Mineral Up magazine (2017/1) |
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1408 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 23, 2025 14:48 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Silver with Sphalerite from Kongsberg |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Silver with Sphalerite |
| Locality: | | Kongsberg mining district, Kongsberg, Norway | |
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| Dimensions: | main crystal size: 2 × 0.2 cm |
| Description: |
The specimen is splendid with elongated crystals having acute terminations and well-defined faces (a rare feature with Silver specimens), and arborescent growths.
Some very small greenish Sphalerite crystals appear on the tops of some of the Silver crystals. |
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1124 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 24, 2025 18:02 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection - Silver with Calcite from Jizishan, China |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Silver and Calcite |
| Locality: | | Jizishan deposit, Linqu, Weifang Prefecture, Shandong Province, China | |
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| Dimensions: | 8.5 × 4.4 × 3 cm |
| Description: |
Very aerial and arborescent growth of Silver, with a very marked spinel-law twin plane. On matrix, with numerous small Calcite crystals that adorn it and differentiate it from the classic Hongda silvers.
These pieces come from a find made in a small gold working, currently closed. |
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990 Time(s) |
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Jordi Fabre
Overall coordinator of the Forum
Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 4986
Location: Barcelona
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| Posted: Feb 25, 2025 14:48 Post subject: #MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) Collection / Spessartine on Quartz from Navegadora claim |
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#MVM (Minerals - Virtual Museum) - more information about the piece with this link
| Mineral: | Spessartine on Quartz |
| Locality: | | Navegadora claim (Orozimbo claim), Penha do Norte, Conselheiro Pena, Vale do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais, Brazil | |
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| Dimensions: | 3 × 1.7 × 1.8 cm |
| Description: |
Spessartine crystals, one of them dominant, very transparent, notable for their color intensity and brilliance. With very marked stepped faces produced by etching and on a Quartz matrix, which is rare.
This specimen comes from the private collection of the well-known Wendy and Frank Melanson, from Canada. |
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881 Time(s) |
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