FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[2 Bar A]

Here is the first specimen...

[Jordi Fabre]

2 Bar A,

Welcome here. We can try to help you to identify specimens from your collection but, "quid pro quo", we would need some effort from your side. Please read this post explaining the basic rules to help to identify mineral specimens: https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=124

Also it would be nice if you can introduce yourself as well as your mineral collections.

BTW, the first specimen posted is a Calcite from Mexico.

Jordi

[2 Bar A]

My bad Jordi, thank you for the heads up! I have inherited a mineral collection 20 years ago, origin unknown. Most of the specimens are numbered but unfortunately there is no description for any of them except one....which I will include anyway just for the heck of it. (BTW: The last specimen measured 13cm x 7cm).

[2 Bar A]

This next specimen is 7X4 cm and is absolutely beautiful. One of my favorites...

[2 Bar A]

I'm going to bed now, but tomorrow I will have many more for you to identify. Thank you for all your help so far....

Barbara

[jorge santos garcia]

Hello Barbara

This last specimen is dioptase over calcite rhombs. From Tsumeb Mine (Tsumcorp Mine), Tsumeb, Otjikoto (Oshikoto) Region, Namibia.

They are always amazing specimens, indeed.

Jorge

[Tobi]

Hi Barbara,

what about the ruby? You want to know the location where it is from, i suppose? I know such rubys from Australia, India and even Norway, so it is difficult to find out :-/ Or is the locality known?

[Carles Curto]

The ruby in zoisite is from Londigo, Arusha, Kilimanjaro (reg.), Tanzània.

[Jordi Fabre]

I believe that the Mexican Calcite is from Santa Eulalia district. Maybe Peter Megaw who know so well that area can confirm it and maybe also add the mine's name.

Jordi

[Les Presmyk]

The frist calcite is indeed from Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua, Mexico. Peter Megaw may have a specific mine name. These have been coming out for at least 50 years.

[Ed Huskinson]

Hey 2BarA, welcome to the FMF!!!

Congratulations on your inheritance. You (and I suspect we) will have fun figuring out just exactly what's what. As to your calcite (which is what we call a phantom calcite because there are phantoms of earlier calcites with a slightly different color within the younger calcite overgrowths), it is indeed from Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua, Mexico, a few hundred kilometres south of El Paso, Texas. These have been coming out for years now (by which I mean the miners have been bringing them out of the mine and selling them on the side, to make a little extra money. The calcites themselves are not ore, per se).

Peter Megaw will be able to tell you where in the mine the calcite originated. I've seen these things before, but it has been some years. Santa Eulalia is a big mine, very old, and minerals from different parts of the mine are distinctive in chemistry and hence, appearance.

Please keep the pictures coming, we all enjoy looking at each others' stuff. Again, welcome to the Forum.

Saludos,

Ed

[2 Bar A]

WOW! I am gobsmacked! Thank you all for your replies. What a wealth of knowledge I have just tapped into. Ok, here's my next specimen...I have been experimenting with different lighting techniques to capture the beauty of these specimens. It is obvious I am a beginner but have started taking photography lessons so I can get better.

[2 Bar A]

And here's the next one...

[Les Presmyk]

Elbaite almost certainly from Minas Gerais, Brazil

[Ed Huskinson]

No sweats 2 Bars. Just send the two along, and if anyone says anything tell 'em "It's a stereopair".

By the way, nice tourmalines. Probably should call them "elbaites", but I'll leave that sort of nit-pickery to someone else. I like the way you backlit them.

Here are a few tourmalines in my collection, just as they sit on the shelf. The one on the right hand side, sort of orangeish-cranberry color is very similar to your "stereopair".

Keep 'em coming. And your photos are great! Artful, much better than my barely adequate snapshots.

Ed