Gail's NEW favourite of the day, PART 2

Thought I'd poke my head out from all this lurking about and compliment you guys on the beautiful specimens. Special acknowledgement to Steve S for that mouthwatering wulfenite... I really need to take some pictures...

Regards, John

Thanks John

Here's a nice blue barite from Rochester, Victoria...


Regards
Steve

Wow, you could get lost in all that blue, Steve...

So technically this Sunnyside Mine Rhodo is not my favorite--I havn't even held it yet, but it could be my favorite. This is the dealer's photo. It's off getting a major trimming right now...



Those are little clear fluorites up top.

John

John, it's fabulous, can't wait to see it after a trim.

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

Today's favorite is a glassy lustrous amblygonite crystal from Brazil. 3.8 x 2.7 x 1.1 cm.

© A&M

This is a neat piece with quite an interesting history...

Schorl, Apatite, Quartz

Woolley Farm, Bovey Tracey, North-Eastern Dartmoor, Dartmoor & Teign Valley District, Devon, England, UK

81 x 80 x 40 overall. A well formed tabular Schorl crystal measuring 31 x 22 mm is prominently perched on tapered, slightly frosted, smoky Quartz crystals to 48 x 11 mm. This Schorl is doubly terminated, lustrous on the pyramidal and prism faces, and etched on the other termination, as typical from this locality. A Quartz crystal partly pierces the Schorl, showing that the Quartz formed first. Pale yellow, barrel-shaped Apatites to 11 x 10 mm are also perched on the Quartz. Other complete and partly complete Schorls are present. Some of the Quartz points are missing, but the large Schorl and the Apatites are pristine.

This specimen was formerly in the collection of Robert Ferguson (1767-1840) of Kirkaldy, Scotland. In about 1997, the Ferguson family sold the collection to Brian Lloyd, a well known London dealer, and this piece was purchased in about 2000 by Shields Flynn of Trafford/Flynn Minerals of Norfolk, MA.

Great locality, Bob!

Best regards,
Jonathan

Bob, we have pieces that once belonged to Robert Ferguson as well. congratulations!

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

My favourite of the day!

Gail Patricia Copus Spann

I agree John, some breathtaking minerals and photos, I was mesmerized by AM's azurite, but they are all really great!

I was going through some Norway specimens and decided to give a little spotlight to this piece. It is really just a reference sample (most of mine are!) but I wanted to give the plain minerals a little love too! Also the name Lizardite is rather catchy.

Lizardite, Hematite and Hydrotalcite
Dypingdal Serpentine-magnesite deposit, Snarum, Modum, Buskerud, Norway
7cm x 3cm

Hello all,

Long time since I have posted.
Here's a hematite from Morocco about 9 by 6 by 5 cm.


Good luck!

Jelmer

Plain minerals do need love, Stephanie!! Some folks may consider crazy lace agate to be plain as compared to the exquisite gems seen in this thread, but for today the colours of this specimen just popped out at me and begged to be noticed. The specimen measures 6 cm x 4 cm and was given to me by a collector of Mexican and Southwestern US agates.

Paul, crazy lace agate may be abundant and deemed ordinary, but the patterns and colours are no less extra-ordinary. Lovely piece.

Jelmer, those lustrous hematite bubbles are just beautiful too!

Here's a piece that I found at a local rock shop where the owner imports most of his stock from Brazil. It seemed unusual so I decided to adopt it. It is not a gemmy piece so that makes it ordinary, but I think it has character and so it is my favourite today.

Spodumene (pinkish) with Dendrites (managanese oxides?)
Araçuaí (Arassuaí), Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil
6 x 5 x 2.5 cm

Paul,
I wish more people would upload pictures of good agates here on Mindat. The fellow who has been uploading all those great images of Midwestern geodes. I wish I could talk him into uploading them to our database rather than just putting them as attachments to his posts.
Rock

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Azurite is one of those minerals that has a wonderful range of habits. These radial azurite "suns" with some malachite accents are one of my favourites.

Piesky, Špania Dolina (Herrengrund), Banská Bystrica Co., Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia
overall approx 7cm x4cm
suns to 6mm

A colorful fluorite from Spain is today's favorite. 7.8 x 7.2 cm.

© A&M

AM, Great photo of the Fluorite!!

Bob Griffis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> AM, Great photo of the Fluorite!!


Thanks Bob. Great history behind your Devon specimen. Really nice.

A&M

Like this one a lot. Nice green Fluorite

Fluorite, Okaruso Mine,Namibia
(Uli & Anka Bahmann Collection
Size 10cm x 8cm





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2012 08:48PM by Debbie Woolf.

I know.
I should be ashamed of myself.
AND on a public forum to boot.
But Steph, I don't think I've ever seen anything uglier than that ole spodumene with that crummy dendritic staining, in my entire life.

There; I said it.

Here I am, staring at this thing, and I like you and all, and want to encourage you and you do this. I waste--waste I tell you, 5 minutes looking at that piece of crap trying to come up with something positive. Meanwhile, I'm thinking, I'd really prefer to be looking at that gorgeous agate, or AM's Fluorite; but no, I have to look at this ugly ole rock. It's like, massive, and..., and..., and you didn't even hose the dirt off before shooting a picture of it!

And the funny thing is I know you have so much (by the way, where the heck do you store it all?) nice stuff--why can't you just show some of that? You test my ability to play nicely in the forum. And you know--that's it! You made me write all this; you probably thought--hmm, how can I mess with the guys on the Best of... forum? I know, I'll go get this piece of crap from under the garbage cans, and say I spent good money because of it's "character" and see what happens. I'm going to bet that Alfredo thinks it's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, and see if anyone tips over the edge with this monstrosity.

Well, I suppose I should wind this little diatribe down. God help me if we ever meet, you'll probably shoot me. And I probably deserve it.

Regards, John