Best Of California Minerals

Russ, your Beebe Hole piece has a good home.

Gene, Thanks for the note on the 'axinite'. I believe you are correct ,after looking closely with a loop they are indeed Titanites, many thanks for pointing that out.

The Berkeley agates are known to iris when cut wafer thin and polished. It's possible that some of the agate nodules you collected years ago at the Lone Hill Quarry may do the same as well, just a thought.


Joseph, Nice California Japanese Law twin!

Azurite on Limonite, Lilyama Mine, Pilot Hill, El Dorado Co., California. Measures 18 x 13 x 11 cm.


Halite, Searles Lake,Trona, Inyo County, California. Measures 22 x 13 x 5 cm.


Chiastolite, Daultons Ranch, Madera Co. California. Measures 8 x 4.5 x 4 cm.




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2011 09:17PM by Jay Buscio.

Steve Hardinger Wrote:
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> Russ, your Beebe Hole piece has a good home.

Steve,

I forgot that you ended up with it. If you ever decide to part with it, you know where to find me...

Russ

Jay,

I had my eye on your Big Sur Jade, but I think I'm in love with your Pilot Hill Azurite. That's amazing for California!

I remember digging those Chiastolite "cigars" 45 years ago. It was kind of like digging potatoes....

Gene

This thread is so much fun that I just have to post again.

This 80lb block of Orbicular Jasper was self collected around 1957. It measures approx. 10"X12"X12".

Gene

Gene, The azurite was self collected 20 odd years ago and your right it's rare as hens teeth to find these days at any of the Mother Lode Copper belt mines.
BTW thats, a nice self collected poppy jasper boulder! I can only imagine what a beautiful sphere that would cut.

Malachite with Azurite, Lilyama Mine, Pilot Hill, El Dorado Co., California. This was the best Malachite specimen we found at this locality. Measures 16 x 10 x 6 cm.


Chalcanthite, Lilyama Mine, Pilot Hill, El Dorado Co., California. I hand built a make shift ladder and used it to collect the Chalcanthite from the ceiling of the main stope. The first pieces I preyed off the ceiling I bought out of the mine and laid out on newspaper and went back in to collect more. After about a half hour I brought another batch out and found the first batch had turned to powder in the pounding summer sun, oh duh on me! Needless to say the rest of the specimens were protected from the direct sun an have held up just fine after 20 plus years on the self here. Measures 8 x 7 x 5 cm.


Quartz, Red Ledge Gold Mine, Nevada Co., California. Measures 14 x 12 x 7 cm. collected back in the early 1980's from the "Red Ledge" that gave the mine it's name.

Jay,
I was just checking out the Lilyama Mine on Mindat ( [www.mindat.org] ) and noted that there are no photos nor reference to the Azurite and Chalcanthite.
Bob

Jay Buscio Wrote:
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>
> Azurite on Limonite, Lilyama Mine, Pilot Hill, El
> Dorado Co., California. Measures 18 x 13 x 11 cm.
>

Bob, I just added the Lilyama specimens Photos from this thread to the data base.

Orchid Quartz Near Frenchman's Reservoir, Lassen Co., California. This material exhibits quasi cleavage and also produces beautiful asteriated cabochons. Measures 12 x6 x 4 cm.


Here's a flawless gem cobble , measures 4 x 2 x 1.5 cm. along with two cut stones.


Vesuvienite, var. Californite, Pulga, North Fork Feather River, Butte Co., California. This has been a favorite Northern California lapidary collectors locality for many years. Largest piece measures 8 x 5 x 5 cm.

As a California native, I have to contribute something to this thread. I have many of the “usual suspects” among California classics such as gold, inesite, neptunite, and tourmaline, and others, but I am sure that many other collectors in this group have considerably more spectacular examples than I. So here are a few more obscure minerals that are well represented in collections world-wide by California specimens.


Cristobalite spherule, 2.8 cm in diameter, in obsidian. Cristobalite is found in 22 of California’s 58 counties, and California has far more cristobalite localities than any other state. This example from Cougar Butte in Siskiyou County in the northernmost part of the state also has tiny brown crystals of fayalite (olivine group).


Iridium is found in many places worldwide, nearly all from placer deposits. California has the largest number of occurrences of any state, and even more than any other country listed in the mindat localities list. These crystals were in an old collection from Del Norte County, and are 0.2 mm in maximum dimension. (Apologies for the poor-quality photos).


Sulphohalite is listed from only two sites by mindat, but the occurrence at Searles Lake in California–the type locality–is clearly the best known. This Searles Lake octahedron is 1.9 cm from point to point.

Quartz included with chlorite. Shingle Springs, El Dorado Co. 9.9 x 7.2 cm.

© A&M

AM, Nice Crystal mine specimen! The mine collapsed years ago putting and end to collecting any more of the beautiful chlorite included quartz crystals the mine was famous for.

Tourmaline with Muscovite,Thompson peak, Lassen Co., California. Measures 9 x 9 x 4cm.


Apatite, Thompson Peak, Lassen Co., California. Largest crystal measures 4 x 4 x 2 cm.


Bornite, Consumnes River Copper Mine, Calaveras Co., California. Measures 8 x 7 x 5 cm.

Hi,

I never had a chance to collect in California so I really am enjoying seeing all of those field collected and choice specimens. I don't have many Cali specimens in my collection but here are two of my favorites:

Fluorite Felix Mine, Azusa, 7cm by 8cm.


Quartz with actinolite inclusions from the Plumas Quartz Mine, Plumas County


Best wishes and thank you,

Joe

Joe, Glad your enjoying the thread and thanks for sharing your California pieces with us.

Garnet, Dehesa, San Diego Co., California. Measures 7 cm in diameter.


Garnet, Dehesa, San Diego Co., California. Measures 7 x 5.5 x 4 cm.


Albite with blobs of Mn oxides, Red Ledge Gold Mine, Nevada Co., California. Measures 15 x 13 x 10 cm.

Thanks for starting this thread, Jay. What amazing specimens, thank you all!

I was meeting up with some friends just outside the gates of the Manhattan Mine in Napa County, and while we waited we walked around a bit. I looked down and found this beauty packed into the dirt road! It took some fast digging, but I got it out before any traffic came by.

Myrickite. This piece is about 6 inches across. It came out in a few chunks, by far the most colorful I collected out there!



Corie

Well, since no one else has posted any Peterson Mountain pics yet, here's one of my personal favorites from my collection. Also arguably my favorite place to dig. Go Cali!

Corie and Nate, Thanks for your additions, glad your enjoying the thread.

Native Copper, Penn Mine ,Calaveras Co., California. Largest piece measures 7.5 x 3 x 1 cm.


Calcite and Pyrite on Quartz, Josephine Mine, Mariposa Co., California. Measures 7 x 3 x 2 cm.


Barite with Marcasite, McLaughlin Mine, Napa Co., California. Measures 24 x 24 x 9 cm.

Linarite,War Eagle mine, Inyo Co., California. Measures 6.5 x 6 x 4.5 cm.


Magnesite, Dolomite, on Quartz, McLaughlin Mine, Knoxville, Knoxville District, Napa Co., California. Measures 9 x 6 x 5 cm.


Garnet, Garnet Hill, Calaveras Co., California. Measures 10 x 7 x 4.5 cm.

This is one of my favorite pieces from California (9 x 9 x 11 cm). An epidote crystal in quartz with partial scheelite crystals from Garnet Hill, Calaveras County. The scheelite contains some Molybdenum which gives it the yellowish fluorescence rather than the bluish white. Two sides are shown under short wave UV. Self-collected in May of 2009. Keep the good posts coming!!!





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2011 11:27PM by David Lowe.

Wow! Thanks for sharing all these great photos of California minerals. I grew up in Plumas Co, Northern California and so appreciate all the glorious geology and minerals there! These photos are amazing though!