FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jim]

Red is my favorite color, and ruby one of my favorite gemstones. Therefore, I was thrilled to get this from my friend Ty Lawrence a while back. It is a wonder floater crystal obtained originally from Dudley Blauwet.

It is a deep red color and highly lustrous. My apologies for the poor photo, but you get the idea. There's a better photo of this one in the MR supplement, "Private Mineral Collections in Texas" (p. 69).

[Jim]

This is another crystal I had to pry out of a private collection. It is a light but vibrant green diopside from the new finds in Tanzania. It is extremely lustrous and arguably the gemmiest of any of the new specimens, but what makes it extra nice is that it is a twinned crystal. I am color blind, but this green color I can definitely see. It may not be as saturated as many of the new diopsides, but I think the color has a neon like character to it.

[Jim]

Here we have a greenish-yellow, spherical cluster of prehnite that is clean of damage and extremely translucent. This specimen really stands out in terms of neon-like color in person. I loved the color and the simplicity of the shape.

[Jim]

This is another crystal I acquired from my good friend Ralph Clark, a TN collector well known for his incredible taste in minerals. It also happens to be one of my favorite species -- quartz! It is a sharp and undamaged smoky quartz scepter with a 12 mm clear quartz crystal parallel to the scepter stem. A little jewel!

[nurbo]

Hi Jim,
Great crystals and great photo's, I especially like the Brandberg Quartz, it looks like something out of a sci fi movie. its an absolute beauty.

[Jim]

Thanks for taking time to look at my collection photos and to comment, Nurbo!

That quartz is also one of my favorites. I will be posting soon a rose quartz and a nifty little amethyst cluster of scepters. I hope you all like them as well.

Cheers,

[nurbo]

Hi Jim
Your very welcome Im really looking forward to seeing more of your collection.

[Jim]

When I saw this specimen, I said to myself instantly, "Now that is a 'Houran' piece!" It is a doubly-terminated ruby poised perfectly on matrix. Originally acquired by Wendell Wilson in 1978. Again, I focus on loose gem crystals, but the occasional matrix specimen does find it's way to us.

Cheers!

[Jim]

I get a great deal of requests to share this photo, so I thought I would post it for my FMF friends.

This photo (by my friend Jeff Scovil) has appeared all over the mineral literature, because it beautifully shows just how amazing Arkansas diamonds can be. The crystal is known as the "Okie Dokie Diamond" -- it is one of the most famous recent diamonds found at the Crater of Diamonds. You can read about the discovery of this gem in my chapter with Mike Howard in the AMT book.

Only 3% of diamonds found at the Crater weigh 1 carat or more, and yellow is one of the rarest colors (white and brown are most common).

This is one of my favorite crystals ever...enjoy!

[Jim]

Here are some photos of diamond displays we have done over the years -- layout and exhibition comes naturally to me (I am a psychologist who studies sensation and perception after all!).

The exhibits showcase the geological and social history of the Crater of Diamonds State Park. An important part of our exhibits is to tell the stories behind the individual diamonds -- each crystal has a great personal history that made it famous. Sadly, it seems that most exhibits do not include this element of the "human interest" story to specimens. Pedigree and provenance can be just as fascinating as the specimens themselves.

The specimens are currently on temporary display at the Heard Museum in McKinney, Texas.

Cheers!

[Aymeric]

Greetings Jim !

Those are magnificent crystals & specimen ! I especially like the Swat emerald & Brandberg quartz (definitely my favourite species!), this Mysore ruby and Yellow Crater diamond are gorgeous too. Only one thing comes to my mind, "more ! pleeeeaaaase ?"

Cheers,

Aymeric

[Montanpark]

Gorgeous Merelani diopside!!

pls more ;-)

cheers
Roger

[Jim]

Thanks so much for the compliment on the diopside! I really love that one, and I like to think it was saved from being cut.

Today, I thought I would share some cute scepter crystals. I really like scepters for some reason - they particularly remind of rocketships or castles and hence seem animated and majestic.

[Jim]

Hi FMF Friends,

I wanted to share a crystal that always draw my attention when I see it in my array -- a nice emerald from North Carolina. What strikes me about it is that it has substantial width rather than being really thin like many of them. Also, the hexagonal form is very sharp for the locality and there is great luster. Most such crystals show an eroded or corroded look.

Cheers,

[Jason]

Very nice emerald spec. living close to N.C. and going there quite often i have seen many a specs. from there and I must say yours is very nice..good shape and decent color..not a common look for N.C. emerald...nice!