Favorite Self-Collected Specimens

The partial contents of an aquamarine pocket, found near Camp Lake in the Sawtooth Mountains, 1996: to the left and center, aquas covered with clay; to the right, smoky quartz crystals. These were just the "obvious" crystals found while excavating the pocket; a lot more were found by carefully screening the loose pocket debris.


William C. (CHRIS) van Laer: "I'm using the chicken to measure it..."

This is what started my collecting i found it on my first trip to topaz mountain and i have been crazy about it since.
Its not the best i have collected from topaz mountain but its one ill always remember

I have two I have not made my mind yet which is my #1 favorite. On the left an Epidote thumbnail (2.0 x 2.0 x 0.5cm) from the Söllnkar, Krimmler Ache Valley, Austria (which is two valleys beside the world famous Knappenwand). The piece comes out of a small pocket I found in the early 1990ies when I was young. I still can remember when I had this in my hand for the first time.
On the right a field collected Epidote from the Knappenwand, Untersulzbachvalley, Austria. I also found this piece in the early 1990ies when it was allowed to wash in the dump. A self collected piece from a world class locality is alway a favorite. Size: 3.1 x 2.0 x 0.9cm

This shore is a fun thread, great specimens everyone...

This one is from Lavrion mines,a 2kg Pink Fluorite

This specimen of Tourmaline var. Schorl with Cleavelandite plates measures 8cm x 7cm x 4.5cm
I collected it from the floor of Beryl Pit near Bancroft, Ontario, Canada. Without any forethought, I struck the floor with the pick of my rock hammer- one blow- and this specimen popped out as is!.
The owner of the Pit said it was " an excellent specimen". I haven't been able to duplicate that feat again:)
A subtle bend in the crystal on top is unusual,the owner said, indicating the crystal was under tectonic pressure during formation

(click on pic for hi-resolution)





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2011 10:54PM by John Montgomery.

I posted this one in Gail's thread yesterday, but it belongs here as well! Great thread concept, look forward to seeing everyone share their finds!
This specimen is one of many unusual distorted Amethyst crystals that I found in various pockets in Harts Range, central Australia. This particular crystal is double terminated, and branches out into two "reverse scepter" terminations. Measures 40mm x 40mm. Collected in 2009.

© Patrick Gundersen

Great finds!
Some of my favourite finds.

Two Emerald specimens I found in Habach valley, Austria. That day I discovered a very good spot, within a couple of hours I had 14 very good pieces, some crystals over 3 cm long, and some of the crystals had extremely good colour and clarity.

© Harjo

Two specimens from a pocket I opened in the Bstogne area, Belgium. The cleft contained 100+ kg of good Quartz specimens.

© Harjo

Two specimens from a Fluorite pocket I found in Wellin, Belgium. About 30 very good specimens came out of that pocket.

© Harjo

Two Millerite specimens from Hagen, Germany. During a couple of years fantastic Millerites could be collected from Calcite veins in Donnerkuhle quarry.

© Harjo

Two of my favourite Calcite finds, both from Landelies.

© Harjo

I'll post some more later.

Cheers,

Harjo



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2011 10:18AM by Harjo Neutkens.

Wow! Amazing Harjo!!

Below is a perfect example of why one should check very carefully every piece that flies off of larger rocks! This little copper wire poking out of calcite was one of many that came out of a large rock at the Osceola Mine near Calumet, Michigan in 2003. Another one of the specimens from the same rock was POTD a while back. The wire is about 7 mm in length.

Tomek:

Really great and exciting! Where is it from?

This one is a micro - one of the first I collected and the first time I had ever seen Dundasite or indeed, ANY white mineral in this amazing habit. it was collected on a weekend in Cornwall organised by our local geological society and our host and guide was the lovely Maurice Grigg. It was he who suggested I look CLOSER at the specimen to be able to see the Dundasite properly! I was hooked.
The FOV on the Dundasite,is about 8mm. Collected from Greystones quarry, Lezant, Cornwall April 1993.


cheers, Colleen

Here's a cluster of tourmalinated quartz crystals from the PC Mine, near Basin, Jefferson County, Montana. The pocket that yielded this specimen was filled with loose, tiny tourmaline crystals that easily penetrated the skin, measuring a fraction the diameter of a hypodermic needle.....this specimen, in flawless condition, was the best from this pocket; note the tourmalines growing freely from the interior of one quartz crystal, then through open space into an adjacent quartz crystal. The specimens from this pocket were exceedingly difficult to clean properly. Overall size 7.8 x 6.0 x 5.0 cm.


William C. (CHRIS) van Laer: "I'm using the chicken to measure it..."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2011 05:47PM by William C. van Laer.

This is a complex quartz crystal with three separate phases represented: first, the stem is transparent smoky quartz, overgrown by a secondary amethystine 'scepter" which is in turn overgrown by "onegite" which is amethyst saturated with iron hydroxides (primarily goethite). Note that the scepter "head" is composed of numerous offset crystals rather than a single "tip"; I theorize that the tip had once been a single crystal but was etched into smaller individuals. Found in the Smith Gulch area southeast of Butte, Montana, in Silver Bow County, July 1988. Size: 6.1 x 3.1 x 3.1 cm.


William C. (CHRIS) van Laer: "I'm using the chicken to measure it..."

Stibnite with Calcite self collected back in the early 1990's from the McLaughlin Mine, Knoxville, Knoxville District, Napa Co., California. Measures 18 x 11 x 7 cm.

Really digging William C. Van Laer's Sawtooth Mountain Idaho haul, with a certain amount of jealousy. In the late 1990s, the government closed the Sawtooth Mountains to rock hounding- so it's no longer possible (or legal anyway) to collect anything up there; it's a shame because there is supposably some great crystals/minerals still up there if you know where to look. I do plan to post my finds from my "secret dig site" elsewhere in Idaho though- eventually; still trying to learn how to photograph them (so bear with me)

Chris, I love those Montana specimens.

Harjo, Very nice emeralds.

Patrick, That is the best scepter I have ever seen.

I collected this in the spring of 2010. There was only a small edge of it exposed when I pulled it from the clay. Then I swished it around in a bucket of water to wash it. My first reaction when I pulled it out of the water was that it broke. Then I reallized it was an arch!


Rick
I know I am in my own little world, but everyone knows me here.

This is a Chalcedony that i found in July 2010 in central Queensland...

Rick: What IS it? ....Looks like native copper, but no ID!
Matt: It is NOT illegal to collect in the Sawtooth Mountains/Wilderness area....the 1964 Wilderness Act, as passed by our Congress, literally PROTECTS the right to prospect in ALL wilderness areas....the only thing the US Forest Service has done is in direct opposition to this, and the regional mining engineer told me: "Oh. it's OK to prospect, you just can't keep anything you find!" Needless to say, he was full of lies & half-truths, typical of our own government in action....what prospector in his right mind would find a five-pound gold nugget, kick it, and leave it there? It completely defies any definition of a prospector or the act of prospecting....note that this so-called "closure" is NOT A LAW, it is only a regulation, but I stand in 100% defiance of this, and still collect there regularly!!

William C. (CHRIS) van Laer: "I'm using the chicken to measure it..."

Chris,
Sorry, it is malachite and the brown is goethite.

Rick
I know I am in my own little world, but everyone knows me here.