FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[GneissWare]

Carles,

I asked an American who travels extensively in China procuring minerals and his Chinese buyer who also travels all over China buying and mining minerals. Both have seen these Stibnite/Baryte combos from Xikuangshan but not from the Dahegou Mine. This is not definitive proof, but between the two of them, they have handled many thousands of Chinese specimens.

You might want to ask the dealer you bought from if he can confirm the locality given, and maybe help research it back to his source.

Chinese minerals are notorious for their improper localities because many are collected illegally or without approval, so they hide the true locations to protect themselves. Unless you know the person who actually got them in China, or they are so obvious as to their location, it may be impossible for you to be 100 percent certain.

Bob

[Carles Millan]

Hi Bob!

Indeed I don't care much if the Baryte comes from Dahegou Mine or, as you suggest, from Xikuangshan Antimony Mine, since it is a specimen that I keep aside among the pieces I'd like to get rid of.

But, please, think about this: I posted a couple of photos of that Baryte at the Mindat site. If I edit the locality, the Mindat team will, as usual, ask me for a reference to justify the change. What do you think I'm going to tell them?

( For those who don't know what we are speaking about, that Baryte can be seen at https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?p=7206#7206 )

[GneissWare]

Carles,

I don't disagree with you. I am always reluctant to revise a locality until I have done enough research to satisfy myself that the change is warranted. The problem is that in some cases you can never be 100% certain, because very similar specimens come from different localities. Unless you can trace back the specimen through the supply chain, you may always be uncertain.

In my catalog, if I change a locality for a specimen, I always document what the original label states, in case I made an error, so that a future collector could correct the error.

Bob

[Carles Millan]

Fluorite, quartz

Group of deep purple cubic {100} fluorite crystals showing some phantoms, partly covered by very small quartz crystals. Overall size: 72 mm x 55 mm x 55 mm. Main crystal edge: 23 mm. Weight: 252 g.

Purchased in 1975 from Ernesto, a Berbes villager, for €1.20 (about €14 adjusted for today's inflation). Not a great deal of money!

Berbes Mining area, Ribadesella, Asturias, Spain.

This specimen is no longer in my collection.

Photos copyright © Carles Millan. Reproduction allowed as long as the author's name is cited. Creative Commons Attribution License - Some Rights Reserved.

[Carles Millan]

(Old specimen, better photos)

Tetrahedrite, hübnerite, quartz

Miniature specimen with a single tetrahedral tetrahedrite crystal and some dark red to black hübnerite crystals set on a bed of crystallized colorless quartz. Overall size: 61 mm x 57 mm. Tetrahedrite crystal edge: 25 mm long. Weight: 110 g. I can't see any damage except in the periphery (the chip on the tetrahedrite edge seems to be a rehealing).

Actually a member of the series tennantite-tetrahedrite. So it might be from a Sb-rich tennantite to an As-rich tetrahedrite, somewhere between.

Mundo Nuevo Mine, Huamachuco, Sánchez Carrión, La Libertad, Peru.

Photos copyright © Carles Millan. Reproduction allowed as long as the author's name is cited and the image not modified. Creative Commons Attribution Licence - Some Rights Reserved.

My Personal Site

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2271M-tetrahedrite.jpg
Description:	Tetrahedrite, hübnerite, quartz Mundo Nuevo Mine, Huamachuco, Sánchez Carrión, La Libertad, Peru 61 mm x 57 mm. Tetrahedrite crystal edge: 25 mm long Front view
Viewed:	53008 Time(s)

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2271M-tetrahedrite1.jpg
Description:	Tetrahedrite, hübnerite, quartz Mundo Nuevo Mine, Huamachuco, Sánchez Carrión, La Libertad, Peru 61 mm x 57 mm. Tetrahedrite crystal edge: 25 mm long
Viewed:	52936 Time(s)

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2271M-tetrahedrite2.jpg
Description:	Tetrahedrite, hübnerite, quartz Mundo Nuevo Mine, Huamachuco, Sánchez Carrión, La Libertad, Peru 61 mm x 57 mm. Tetrahedrite crystal edge: 25 mm long
Viewed:	52925 Time(s)

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2271M-tetrahedrite3.jpg
Description:	Tetrahedrite, hübnerite, quartz Mundo Nuevo Mine, Huamachuco, Sánchez Carrión, La Libertad, Peru 61 mm x 57 mm. Tetrahedrite crystal edge: 25 mm long Side view
Viewed:	52916 Time(s)

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[jimB]

I think your pictures are very good. And, any one who takes 25 different views and settings to choose one deserves considerable credit. But isn't that always the way.... hard work gets the best results!

I also enjoyed the quartz on feldspar, elegant says it well.

[Carles Millan]

To jimB

Hi!

I do often have to take 25 pictures of one single specimen. However, the biggest load of work is not in the shooting itself (any 10 y/o might do it as well) but in choosing the best photos. You can easily shoot up to fifty times in a mere couple of minutes. But you are going to spend more than one hour in selecting and making some retouch if you want to get the best of your work.

Many thanks for your comments,

[Carles Millan]

Fluorite, calcite

This is a huge (almost 2 kg and near 18 cm wide) and very aesthetic specimen purchased in 1974 from Joan Montal. Unfortunately there is some damage as can be seen in the main photo.

Group of deep purple fluorite in a {100} and stepped {110} combination set on a matrix of calcite. A scalenohedral calcite crystal is visible at the bottom right. Overall size: 176 mm x 142 mm. Longest fluorite crystal edge: 36 mm. Weight: 1922 g.

La Collada, Siero, Asturias, Spain. After a call to Jordi Fabre, who is a great connoisseur of the Asturian fluorite mines, I can add that this specimen comes from the 'Filón Josefa-Veneros' in La Collada mining area. And according to José Ramón García, it was extracted from the level 75.

This specimen is no longer in my collection.

Photos copyright © Carles Millan. Reproduction allowed as long as the author's name is cited and the image not modified. Creative Commons Attribution Licence - Some Rights Reserved.

[Ed Huskinson]

Wow Carles! About your Asturias fluorite with calcite: I really like the preferential etching of the 011 faces. Nice specimen, and a thing of beauty to show people.

Good get!

Ed

[Carles Millan]

[Ed Huskinson]

Reject it? Of course he would. But if it were flawless, then only the seekers of the holy grail of ICON status minerals would be able to afford it, que no?

What a great teaching tool the specimen is. For those who care and want to learn about such things, you can point out the etched faces, explain how they are parallel to (and thus do not cut a1), but that they do cut a2 and a3. Makes it easier to grasp the concept. But now we're revisiting the whole kinesthetic reinforcement thing.

For me, a good rock, wish I had it.

Keep 'em coming.

Ed

[Carles Millan]

[Carles Millan]

Fluorite

Ashtray shaped geode with numerous purple cubic {100} fluorite crystals and a bit of Baryte set on a porous muddy matrix. Overall size: 157 mm x 146 mm. Main crystal edge: 8.5 mm. Weight: 790 g. I can't see any damage except in the periphery. Purchased in 1975 from 'Manolo el Grello', a Berbes villager, for €3 (about €35 adjusted for today's inflation).

Berbes Mining area, Ribadesella, Asturias, Spain.

This specimen is no longer in my collection.

Photos copyright © Carles Millan. Reproduction allowed as long as the author's name is cited. Creative Commons Attribution License - Some Rights Reserved.

[Tobi]

Carles,

i always enjoy your posts, you really have a wonderful collection! And because many beautiful mineral specimens look even more beautiful in combination with others, i would like to see some overall pictures from your collection. I would like to see how you arrange all these fine specimens and how they look together on display! So if you like - do me a favor and show me/us some pictures of your presented collection.

To me mineral collecting (and presenting) has much to do with culture and even with philosophy. And when i'm interested in a fellow's specimens, the more i'm interested in the way he arranges and presents them. We had some of such display impressions from Gail and from Ed, and i would be glad to see something like that from you. Thanks :-)

[Carles Millan]