FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[parfaitelumiere]

Hi Tobias,

I have seen similar garnets as your big crystal,I don't remember wher it come from,but I will find and tell it in a couple of days.

[Tobi]

Thank you very much, it would be great to have a reliable information about the locality.

The next photo is a better shot of a fluorite that i posted some time ago in much lower resolution. It comes from the Erongo Mountains, Namibia, crystal size 1 cm.

[Tobi]

Another fluorite miniature from Namibia (Uis). Height of the octahedron 25 mm.

[Tobi]

Another miniature from the Erongo Mountains: A cluster of two aquamarine crystals, the larger one has a width of 20 mm.

[Dawn MinetteCooper]

A good material for showcase liners that I like to use is natural colored burlap. It has a matt shine and the tan color sets off most crystals very well. In yardage it is relatively inexpensive, but gives a good appearance in the show case.

Black Lyons velvet and off white velvet are also good, though the white tends to show stains from mineral crumbles.

[Tobi]

Thank you for your advice, i'm anyway thinking about how i can find a liner that goes better together with the minerals than this bright wood ...

Next photo shows a pyrite cluster from the Huanzala Mine, height 55 mm.

[Tobi]

Azurite from Aouli (near Midelt), Morocco. 100 x 95 x 40 mm. Common material, but a stunning blue colour in person, picture doesn't show it good enough. Associated with some malachite and even some tiny fluorite cubes on the backside.

[Tobi]

Scalenohedral calcite from Allmendingen (near Ulm, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany). Height 90 mm.

[Tobi]

40 mm schorl crystal on cleavelandite, from Shigar Valley, Pakistan. Overall size 60 x 40 x 30 mm.

[Tobi]

Cluster of mostly transparent fluorite from Xianghuapu Mine (Hunan, China). The largest crystal edge measures 42 mm, overall size is 115 x 75 x 60 mm.

[Tobi]

Another shot which focuses on the largest crystal. This cube measures 4 x 4 x 4 cm.

[Tobi]

Sulphur on matrix from El Desierto Mine (Potosí, Bolivia). Actually i find the specimens from there rather boring (compared to the classics from Sicily which i really like), but this one features quite good terminated and transparent crystals (longest are about 1 cm in lenght) for that locality, instead of the crusty yellow masses which make the majority of El Desierto specimens. Overall size is 85 x 65 x 60 mm.

[Tobi]

Two better shots of the schorl from Shigar Valley which show the upper termination.

[Tobi]

Tarbuttite, Skorpion Mine, Karas Region, Namibia. 50 x 35 x 30 mm.

[Tobi]

A calcite from a locality most of you will not know: Alme, near Brilon, Sauerland, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. This specimen is neither spectacular nor very aesthetic, but the crystal form is quite interesting. I've seen such a form never before on a calcite specimen, and it rather reminds me of some topaz crystals i've seen. Size 45 x 30 x 30 mm.