FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Tracy]

I cannot compete with Gail's magnificent specimens which she has shared with us, but I thought I'd share a few of my favorite specimens anyway. Given that I am still an amateur collector, I also thought I'd tell some stories about each one and why they interest me (and have helped define my collecting interests).

With apologies for my poor photography skills and the fact that I will have to do this one at a time because of a busy job...

The first among my favorites is one you might have seen elsewhere on the Forum. It is pink fluorapophyllite on (?) breccia and comes from Mina La Noria, San Martín, Mun. de Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico. It is approximately 7 cm x 9 cm by 4.5 cm. (thanks to Russ Rizzo for providing the photo). I got this specimen in about 1994 in a small shop in New York, and the seller didn't know anything at all about what it was. It looked like pink crystals covering flat plates of a clear mineral, with a few hexagonal logs mixed in (in the photo there is one log near the top left). At that time, I was under the impression that everything covered in crystals was quartz, and this piece had a strange enough appearance and color (if in fact it was quartz) that I had to get it. With the launch of Jordi's forum, I got more assistance from John S. White who analyzed it and identified it as fluorapophyllite (I know now that not all crystals are alike and can see the difference between 6-sided quartz crystals and 4-sided fluorapophyllites!), and Russ helped pinpoint its point of origin. It is not possible to appreciate the 3-dimensionality of this specimen through photos, but I think it is very sculptural in person. I also like the fact that it is "a specimen which isn't exactly a specimen" (does a jumble of brecciated material constitute a specimen?), it is very unique, and I can imagine all kinds of geological events that formed it. Last, I started learning more about crystallography after finding out that it wasn't quartz! For all these and sentimental reasons too, I count this as a favorite of mine.

I have enough energy to post one more...

[Tracy]

Here is another piece that I like very much. It is a fluorite, but the cubic crystals have curved faces! From Crystal Peak, Teller County, Colorado, 8.5 cm x 5.5 cm x 2.5 cm. When I decided I wanted to get more involved in minerals, I started by focusing, like many other beginners, on fluorites. Fluorites have many colors and many forms, though primarily cubes or modified cubes, so it is easy to build a diverse basic collection from fluorites. But I had not seen a fluorite with curved cubes before coming across this specimen. I was advised AGAINST acquiring it because it is not particularly esthetic - in the photo it looks gray, and from a distance appears rather bland and dull. But up close it has a soft deep green color, not very translucent, but nicer if I hold it up to a strong light source. Plus the cubes are sharp and I like studying their curvatures. It also has an interesting pedigree, with labels from Herb Obodda and Lazard Cahn (I am told it probably comes from the early 1900's), and I will confess that, even though I don't find the provenance of a specimen to be one of the best things about it, knowing it comes with a story is pretty fun. :-)

The specimen has a deep groove in the back, about 2 cm wide and nearly 1 cm deep. I suppose that was caused by cutting it out of its matrix? Or trimming? I don't know enough about these practices to say.

By the way, I invite anyone who can give input to my idle questions to do so. The more I can learn, the better!

I will post a couple more tomorrow.

[Gail]

Tracy, how wonderful to see you posting on here. Please do not ever consider your collection as anything but glorious. I appreciate that you say nice things about my collection, but I am sharing my collection in the hopes to show my tastes, it is never to "compete" with yours, only to add to the pool of experiences of a woman collector.

I simply love them all, and I am entranced with your two so far! So keep them coming, can't wait to see what else you are going to add!!!!

Thanks again to Jordi for giving us this opportunity.

[Tracy]

Thanks Gail for your kind words. I titled my posting "an amateur's adventures" because I am still building my collection and because there is much more I want to learn. And I am telling stories of my experiences to tell readers about the directions I've been exploring (think of it as my "collector's diary"), in case there are others who want to follow similar paths. I really enjoyed seeing your photos and am happy to share some of mine!

I have had a long day so can only post one specimen tonight. But it is an important one in my collection. You might be able to guess from my first two photos that I have a special fondness for unusual specimens, But I also like specimens with a variety of crystal forms, and sometimes I just fall in love with a classic...

I was supremely lucky to have acquired this quartz specimen from Jordi (who supplied the photo). It comes from Rosia Montana, Alba Co., Transylvania, Romania. It is roughly 23.5 cm x 9 cm x 4.5 cm. With respect to esthetics, it is a celebration of quartz crystal growth. It resembles a tree from one direction (the direction in which the crystals grew), and a flowing river from the other. In my opinion, it is a beautiful piece.

Not only is it beautiful, it is interesting from a crystallographic standpoint. Each crystal has one predominant rhombohedral form, involving its front face (I can see it better than I can describe it, so readers feel free to add different or revised wording to make it more accurate). The net result is that three faces of the crystal tips are much larger than the other 3, though each termination does in fact have 6 sides, and unless you look closely it appears as though the crystals have three-sided terminations. A good example of crystals challenging the rules (or, as it is described in an old book I was looking through, "crystal pranks")!

Let me use this opportunity to say that Jordi has been an instrumental guide in my collecting adventures, and I value his opinions and recommendations very highly (thank you Jordi!). This specimen is easily one of my favorites, but I will spotlight some of the other treasures I have gotten from him.

Whew - enough writing - but hard not to say how much I love this quartz. Tomorrow I will try to post some of the smaller specimens and one other big one, and tell more stories too.

[GneissWare]

Hi Tracy,

I have been collecting for 42 years, have been a part-time mineral dealer for about 30 years and have a BSc and MSc in Geology. I'm stating this so you know where my perspective lies.

Like you (I think), I like unusual specimens; those whose form, color, and sometimes just strangeness appeals to me. I have minerals that cost a few dollars to those that are much more expensive, and common species to rare species. The one thing they all have in common is that they "speak" to me. Basically, anything that ends up in my collection, I just can't imagine selling, even if it was inexpensive, because I put it in my collection because I liked it.

Fluorite and quartz are great minerals, and I like them both. In fact my last two additions to my collection were quartz specimens---both were a bit "different". So, don't assume that you are an amateur because you like quartz or whatever. Make sure you only buy specimens you really like.

BTW, I really like all three specimens you have posted so far.

Bob

[John S. White]

Lovely quartz specimen Tracy. I would have no problem adding that one to my quartz collection. Your comment about the termination leads me to believe that you may be a little confused as to what is going on here so please do not be offended if I offer a small lesson in quartz crystallography. Low quartz, or alpha quartz, which is all that most of us ever see, is actually in the trigonal subsystem of the hexagonal system. It is not terminated by the hexagonal dipyramid but instead is terminated by a pair of rhombohedrons, each one comprised of three faces. Because they are two different forms sharing a common axis (the c axis) they tend to be unequally developed and one set of three faces is commonly larger than the other set of three faces.

At times all six faces may be more or less equally developed and when this occurs, as with much of the quartz from Dalnegorsk, Russia, some believe that the crystals are high quartz, or beta quartz, which they are not. High quartz crystallized in the hexagonal subsystem of the hexagonal system and the terminal faces are true hexagonal dipyramids.

Hope this makes sense to you and that you will better understand the nature of your fine quartz specimen.

[Tracy]

I'm not exactly sure from where to start this posting other than to say thanks!

John, why would your helpful explanations offend me? I'm the first to admit that ironically, though crystal forms are interesting to me, I'm still struggling with the science of crystallography and I definitely don't speak the "language." I see this forum as a venue for exchanging stories, ideas, AND knowledge. So, by all means feel free to correct or add to anything I say in my atrocious crystal-speak!

I have a bit more time tonight so I will post a few more photos. The first one is a fluorite from Yaoganxian, Chenzou, Hunan Province, China. 4.5 cm x 4.5 cm x 3 cm. I apologize because the quality of the photo is poor - it simply wasn't possible to get a good image so I'm putting up the best one I have. The fluorite cubes are sea-blue (richer than in the image) and are water clear. What makes the specimen so great are its inclusions - everything else you can see in the way of minerals is fully enclosed by the fluorite. I imagine that the growth of the cubes was interrupted, the mineral got a coating of <I'm not exactly sure what> and then the cubes continued to grow after that. Anyway, the inclusions are 2-3 cm below the surface of each crystal, and are as sharp as the "outer" cubes - there are several crystals like this.

The photo shows that the predominant color of the inclusions is grey-white. But there are red and green and black areas too which I couldn't capture. I love to gaze into the crystals at this display of color. The back of the specimen is covered by little quartz crystals, themselves covered with an olive-colored mineral (chlorite?)

Hope you can spot at least some of the magic in this lousy photo. If nothing else you can see the biggest included crystal, on the right - there's another crystal behind it so it doesn't look like a cube, but it definitely is (check for edge lines).

On to my next posting, with a much better image!

[Tracy]

This specimen is one of the very first pieces I got from Jordi, and his photos are lovely so there's no concern. It is hematite from Segangane, Nador, Morocco, ex. James Catmur collection and found in 1993. I knew that hematite could form plate-like crystals, but never imagined that the plates could arrange themselves so beautifully. From this specimen I began to appreciate the sculptural nature of mineral specimens.

IThe piece is so terrific in my opinion that I will publish both the front and back sides.

[Tracy]

Here is the other side of the hematite.

[Tracy]

One last photo to share this evening...

Bob mentioned that he collects minerals that "speak" to him. I do too, though am still at a stage where almost everything I speak speaks to me! :-) Anyway, this specimen really did (and still does) amaze me. It's calcite on fluorite shards from Denton Mine, Hardin County, IL, with a bit of limestone matrix still attached. 17 cm x 16 cm x 4 cm. Calcite-hematite pieces from Illinois are not that unusual, but what makes this piece a favorite for me are the calcite crystals, not to mention the contrast of colors. Each "crystal" is actually a group of crystals grown together (you can see multiple terminations), and the groups look like lightning bolts. I have some interest in calcite though never got hooked on the species. Did I read somewhere that calcite has over 300 crystal habits? - would be great for somebody interested in crystal forms, so I don't know why I haven't followed that path. The fluorite is a very dark blue-purple, so dark that it looks black. It highlights the calcite even more.

I tried to photograph the specimen on black and white backgrounds, and neither was quite right. Then I accidentally shot an image that was part white and part black, and I think it's the best of my efforts. I am excited by the contrasting colors, the shapes, and the esthetics of this specimen. In acquiring it I also began to take a greater interest in combination specimens and mineral associations, rather than just one species per specimen. I hope you like it as much as I do.

That's all for tonight!

[Tracy]

I forgot to mention - Bob, I'm curious to learn more about your collection. It really does sound as though we have common interests and collecting styles. I don't have a geology degree though...I'm a toxicologist by day. You can reach me at balagan29(at)yahoo(dot)com if you would like to chat with me further.

[Tracy]

Also, the hematite is about 6.5 cm x 4.5 cm x 0.25 cm.

[mmauthner]

Hi Tracy,
I haven't been that active on this site but these past few strings have been interesting and I am enjoying them (thanks, all!).
Anyway, you asked a question earlier and nobody seems to have responded yet..
A "specimen" is an individual object that for some reason is its own entity or is noted for being distinguishable as a unit. In the mineral world it can be a crystal group, a single crystal, a chunk of a massive (not well-crystallized) mineral. Your photos, and Gail's, feature a single specimen each. "Specimen" and "sample" can be closely related terms in this sense.
Botanists and zoologists use "specimen" in a similar way.

Hope that helps...

As regards collecting styles, several articles have been written about this (Mineralogical Record) but in the end, what you like is the most important criterion.

Mark

[Tracy]

Yes, it helps a lot. Thanks Mark - that was one of those idle questions I didn't think deserved its own posting.

I had an idea...but first a bit of sharing. Among the beauties Gail shared with us today was a bi-colored Cave in Rock Fluorite. When I saw it, I went off in search of my own Denton fluorite specimen (Photo #1 - I know how to combine photos into one posting now!). About 9.5 cm x 7.5 cm x 4.5 cm. I like it because the cubes are big and sharp and because the purple zone is so thin that you can't see it at all from certain angles, but it's pretty clear from others. I turned it around and around and thought about optics and light refraction (what little I remember of them). It's not a favorite of mine, but a good piece which has nice sharp cubes; and the "vanishing purple" edge zoning is a common but neat feature.

Now for my idea - I don't have a specimen as vibrant as Gail's, but her photo made me think of a "how on earth...?" mineral curiosity that I figured was worth sharing. It's also a blue/yellow fluorite from Hardin County (Annabel Lee Mine). The outside there are light blue/purple crystals. But what makes it so cool is the inside is a nice sharp yellow cube that is 2 cm in size. It resembles an egg, cracked open with the crystal inside. But how was it formed? I attached 2 photos (#2 and #3) so you can see the large hollow space surrounding the yellow. It's possible that the blue crystals dissolved away. But if that's the case, why is the yellow crystal untouched? Another possibility is that the crystals broke open to expose the yellow crystal. But if that's the case, why and how did the blue crystals form over a hollow space? The yellow crystal contacts the blur fluorite in places so it's not later growth. I am stumped by this one and totally open to possible explanations.

I wasn’t planning to show this specimen in my “diary.” But it occurred to me that if I can’t Gail’s beauties for their color and sharpness, I can nevertheless find a reason to like my own modest piece, and to share it with the forum! :-)

Going with Mark’s (and may others’) advice tonight and showing stuff I collected just because I like it! Here’s a pretty one (#4) – fluorite on schorl from Erongo Mtns, ex. Charlie Key collection. 7 cm x 4 cm (at its widest point x 3.5 cm (at its widest point). The fluorite is light purple with darker purple-black “speckles on it, so doesn’t have a great deal of contrast against the black of the schorl (I didn't photograph the back, but it's a nicely developed crystal with a "Mercedes-Benz" symbol-like termination at one end – how’s that for a scientific description??). But it is still pretty, and I’m told that fluorite on schorl is a pretty unusual combination…

Finally – not a fluorite this time – here’s a VERY esthetic galena and quartz piece which I got from Jordi (who provided the photo, if it isn’t obvious from the quality). Millliken Mine, Viburnum Trend, Reynolds County, Mo. 9 cm x 5 cm x 4.5 cm. Classic Viburnum galena cubes with complex faces on a matrix dusted with druzy quartz (and maybe some very tiny galena cubes too?). It’s small, but elegant in its simplicity.

I find it great to have Gail’s lovely specimens intersecting in some small way with my less-lovely ones which I nevertheless enjoy. Anyone care to “intersect” with my collection? (hint, hint) Otherwise I’ll just have to keep telling you about my adventures (oh nooooooo!)…because it’s FUN.

Don’t forget about my “egg” question if you have an explanation, please. (NOTE: I can't send all 5 photos at once, so they will come in two postings. Here are #'s 1,2, and 3)

[Tracy]

Here are photos #4 and #5