Show us your favourite Tourmaline, Topaz, Beryl or Kunzite.

Real Nice Craig, did you acquire that at the Bathurst Gemboree? Great piece mate.

No I didn't Phil. It had just a little bit to much damage for me, mostly on the lower xls. Anyway it was nice to see. I thought I may have seen you a Bathurst mate, but I'm guessing your hectic scheduel or the distance kept you away.

Take care mate,
Craig.

Nice specimens!
I only collect stuff that I find myself, so no Afghani/Pakistani or Brazilian specimens, but rather some continental European ones.

First some Beryls.

I was lucky to find some of the best Emeralds found in years at the Leckbach deposit, habach valley, Austria.

Emerald, Habach, specimen 5cm	© Harjo

In the Habach/Hollersbach area it is also possible to find agreeable Aquamarines.

Aquamarine, Hollersbach, crystal 1cm	© Harjo

Another lucky strike was finding a couple of very good Topaz specimens at the classic Schneckenstein (Germany) region. Specimens like these haven't been found for a long time because it is forbidden to collect in the area, but I was there right after they did some minor road construction

Topaz, Schneckenstein, crystal 2cm	© Harjo

In the initial posting Epidote was also asked for, so, here two Epidote specimens from the Knappenwand, Austria.

Epidote, Knappenwand, specimen 4cm	© Harjo

Cheers,

Harjo



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2011 07:37AM by Harjo Neutkens.

Craig did Tom Capitani show up at the Gemboree with a heap of those Povondraite Tourmalines?
I heard from the guy whom i got my specimens from that he'd found a heap of them last year.

The two i chose were the only ones free from damage, i'm awaiting a parcel of acrylic bases, when they arrive i will mount the tall crystal & post it again.

Hi Phil,

No I didn't see Tom, but there were a few guy's selling quite good size WA Tourmalines, probably were Tom's at some stage ;) And no wonder I couldn't find a good one, you got them both.

Best wishes,
Craig.

Here comes a lump, but it's from the only locality where morganite variety of beryl is found in Norway:


Next time I'll try to make a photo of a crystaline beryl from Norway (:P)

Harjo, those are fabulous self-collected pieces!

Peter, it's still pretty in pink!

regards,
stephanie :)

Jessica,

What a fun photographic technique you have shown. So much so I found a polarizing filter on eBay for $29, free postage to Australia, had it in 5 days and this is the first try. Not the best photos but as I said, the first try, and with an interesting result.

The specimen is a chatoyant elbaite from Kashi, Xinjiang Province, China.

The left photo is through the polaroid filter, the right is unfiltered. Lighting is from 2 X 100W Halogena globes.

So here is a norwegian crystalized beryl, not the best, but being duble terminated, coming from a miarolitic cavity in granite, it's pretty interesting.

Here's what happens whe you put a tourmaline from the Hyakule Mine in Nepal in polarized light. I used the light from my monitor, thanks to Jolyon's example in an earlier post. This is really quite fun!

Here's what happens to a beryl from Madagascar under polarized light. Unfortunately I don't have a specific locality for the piece.

And one more: a beryl from Wolodarsk:

Neal i love your Heliodor,
Joan just after the Tucson show i promised you pictures of Aqua's that i acquired in Tucson,
well here they are at long last.
The 1st one measures 6 x 5.3cm, 2nd 10 x 7cm, 3rd 6.5 x 7cm

All very nice indeed, Philip. I especially like the 3rd specimen.

Thanks Joan, there is a 4th that is a mate to the 3rd one, where most of the Aqua's are double terminated, but it needs a base first before i photograph it.

This Burmese Topaz was acquired in Tucson this year, it's so gemmy & glassy, absolutely beautiful to gaze upon.
it measures 65mm high X 45mm across, from Mogok, Myanmar...

A fine Beryl Variety Morganite from Araçuaí in Minas Gerais. A complete gemmy floater crystal with interesting etching. Philip- I like the topaz.

Nice to see you posting Alex, beautiful Morganite & delicate pink, i like it, thanks for your kind words, i think the Topaz is a floater too, it was a challenge to make a base for it, as it came to a point on one side underneath..

Elbaite on quartz from Afghanistan. 3.6 x 3.0 cm.

© A&M

© A&M

Topaz and Elbaite on matrix from Pakistan. Overall size approximately 4 x 4 cm.

© A&M

© A&M

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2012 06:48AM by AM Mizunaka.

Tourmaline (I think Elbaite) from the Star gazers Claim in Nunavut, Canada, coll by Brad Wilson, 45 mm tall.