The Best from Down Under

Another, this time 3 seperate photos of the same goethite specimen. Location Koolyanobbing Southen cross. The size of the piece is 8x6 cms. Unfortunatly I could not find a photo of the whole specimen.

Another set of three, (after mining) selenites coming from Southern cross. they average 8x6x10 cms high.

Emeralds in matrix, from east poona, these are self collected, in fact all the listings are self collected, except some of the golds where I have had a share, and others may have got the piece.
The size of the large crystal is 5mmx4mm. and the others are 1mm.x2mm (micros). The actual piece is 8cm.x6cm.

The first photo is a matrix specimen that is a small cabinet with the crystals 3cm long (overall) x4mm wide, naturally etched.

Second and third photo are of a crystal that fell out of the matrix (over zealous pruning) it is 10mmx6mm.

All from east poona and self collected.

This is a goethite vug with a back door. It is 10cms.x12cms. koolyanobbing.

A few specularites from Koolyanobbing Southern cross.
They range from 10cms.x6cms. to 6cmsx4cms.

A few tourmalines from the mount holland pegmatite. I know they are not perfect, but you have to take what comes out of the bucket. They are 6cmsx4cms on average.

More beryls from poona these are from the original poona mine. All about 4cms.x4cms.

I am posting this mixture, not so much that they are the best from Down under, rather they are from West Oz. and there are very few photos of this states material. The best part is none of them are shop bought.

Last for the night ,more glendonites. Two are large 10cms.x12cms. and the smallest is 6cms.x3cms.

Hi all,

I've been meaning to contribute a few goodies to this section for a while....some highlights from my last trip into Harts Range:
A stunning BIG sceptre cluster, about 15cm across by 8cm tall.This pocket of crystals also produced a number of single scepters which I'll also upload shortly.

And a couple more from the same pocket....

Patrick: Wow! Very nice pieces.

Also collected this year were some fine Chrysoberyl specimens from a new location I stumbled on. The pegmatite produces nice Beryl crystals and twinned Chrysoberyl including some potential for sixlings, however these are all "frozen" in the quartz matrix, and very difficult to expose. One of the best I recovered is shown below, a 3cm x 3cm twinned crystal with great form and lustre. I'm sure with some careful trimming and preparation, these specimens could be exposed very nicely.

As you all know by now I do not collect many Australian minerals. My passion is for Bulgarian, Peruvian, Chinese, Bolivian and some British and Italian Hematites. Most of the Australian minerals I have are ore specimens, which are part of my “reference” collection.

But I decided to post a very lovely piece for an Australian rock. It is an ore sample of Galena on matrix from the Hellyer Mine in Tasmania, which I acquired some 17 years ago. This is what I consider a decorator piece - there are no crystals just a large shiny mass of galena. A geologist friend who had a look at it believes the galena curves as it does (see right hand photo) because of a high content of silver, which was later proven by analysis. It is 16 x 14 x 6 cm and hails from the Hellyer-Que River Mine, Waratah District, Tasmania, Australia.

Haven't checked in for a while, beautiful stuff Folks!
Knut, Bob, Fred and Patrick, fantastic specimens! Samuel that's a heck of a reference specimen!

cheers,
stephanie :)

Hi Guys,

Here's another Aquamarine from Harts Range, a nice semi-translucent crystal, collected this year.

Great posts everyone and thank you for your continuing words of encouragement Stephanie. I do like attention whether it is good or bad, but in your case it is always good, so I thank you sincerely.

As you all know by now I do not collect many Australian minerals. My passion is for Bulgarian, Peruvian, Chinese, Bolivian and some British and Italian Hematites. Most of the Australian minerals I have are ore specimens, which are part of my “reference” collection.

But I decided to post another very lovely piece for an Australian rock. This is another specimen from my “reference” collection of ore minerals, and very pretty. It is galena sandwiched between two layers of chalcopyrite. It is another one that can be seen from about 20 feet away. Though it does not have crystals, like the other piece I have posted, it is nonetheless nice to look at. I have included two shots, one showing the piece in total and another focusing on the boundary between the Galena and Chalcopyrite. It hails from the Thalanga Mine, near Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is 9 x 7 x 5 cm.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2011 12:22AM by SAMUEL FAIRFIELD.

Nice ore samples Samuel. Here is one I think you might like. A great combination piece of galena with quartz infilling a vein of biotite mica, from Broken Hill. Quite unusual for this location...

Very nice galena Trevor! I have always been very partial towards Broken Hill Galena as it makes great decorator pieces – lots of sparkle. Back in 1997 I visited the South Mine when Pasminco were the operators and I brought up from the 21st (?) level a piece of coarse grained Galena weighing some 40 kg. I broke it up into about 30 pieces of varying size but gave all of it away over the years to schools, kids other collectors etc. One day I might return to get some more!

I have decided to post another of my ore minerals. This time it is Chalcocite and it comes from the Woodlawn Mine, near Goulburn, NSW, Australia. It is 8 x 6 x 3cm and there is a “tusk” of Calcite coming out of the top of the specimen.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2011 11:46AM by Ralph Bottrill.