Discussions

💬 Home 🔎 Search 📅 Latest

╳Discussions

💬 Home 🔎 Search 📅 Latest

Groups

Recent Images in Discussions

Identity HelpBrazil - Included Quartz Locality

21st Aug 2014 17:16 UTCKelly Nash 🌟 Expert

I got this 11 cm., tourmaline-included, tabular quartz crystal from The Rocksmiths about 20 years ago. The label says "Monte Enfumacado, Poema, Minas Gerais, Brazil", which I think is probably a fanciful name. (I suppose the black needles could be some other mineral, but tourmaline seems likely.) I have seen a couple similar specimens in dealer stock, with the same locality name, but have not been to confirm or assign a locality that I'm confident in. Perhaps it will ring a bell with someone.

28th Aug 2014 21:57 UTCThe William T. Lawrence Memorial Collection

Hi Kelly;

The term "fanciful" makes me bristle just a little - The Rocksmiths, Inc were as true to exact localities as possible given the necessity of translation from Portuguese to English and how much information was actually available from the seller in Brazil, most being miners "off the street" in Governador Valadares who had just a few specimens available. Also, 20 years ago, we did not have this amazing resource of Mindat available at a moment's notice. Since you have seen other dealers besides RSI use the locality in their labeling, I would expect there were more lots than just the ones we purchased available to the market. 20 years ago, with Brazil specimen production at its peak, localities would spring up one week producing specimens then gone the next, with the miners moving on to the "next big find."

Thank you for your business prior to our retirement in 2003; we hope you continue to enjoy the specimens you purchased from us.

Cordially; Jaye Smith - President, The Rocksmiths, Inc.

29th Aug 2014 00:41 UTCKelly Nash 🌟 Expert

Hi Jaye -

The Rocksmiths specimens are among my very favorites in my collection, and I sure miss sitting on the floor and going through flat after flat of treasures at reasonable prices (heck, at my age, I miss just being able to sit on the floor for very long). Anyway, I didn't mean to imply that you guys made up a fanciful locality, I figured it happened "upstream". It's just that I can't find any actual geographic locations with names that, as far as I know, mean "Mount Smokey" and "Poem" in Portuguese. As you say, there was no Mindat 20 years ago for me to know that, and indeed, practically no internet. Thanks for the reply! I was beginning to think I should have just put the old "Help Me Please!" in the subject line.

29th Aug 2014 00:50 UTCThe William T. Lawrence Memorial Collection

No worries, Kelly. Those were the good 'ole days for sure! When the funky Quartz scepters first came out (the ones with the white coating,) the translated location everyone was using was "Black Mountain" - talk about being generic! Very good possibility the Poeme locality was short lived and locally named. Take care and see you on Mindat!

29th Aug 2014 02:36 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Google Earth shows a "Poema" in Parana state, rather than Minas Gerais, and Mindat has a "Paranapoemas" in Parana too, which might just be the way Parana's Poemas is distinguished from other Poemas in other brazilian states. Lots of tiny named sites in Brazil are not yet on Mindat or even on the internet at all.

29th Aug 2014 03:48 UTCDoug Daniels

Heck, a lot of the tiny named sites in Brazil aren't even on the maps in Brazil...... And, good to see that the Smiths are still in touch with us collectors. We do miss ya's.

29th Aug 2014 14:59 UTCThe William T. Lawrence Memorial Collection

Doug - thanks for the kind words! It is great to reconnect with our many friends though Mindat and to stay informed on what is going on in the mineral world - one we get to participate in now as collectors.

30th Aug 2014 12:03 UTCRock Currier Expert

Probably only a few quartz specimens from Brazil will ever have accurate localities associated with them. Certainly things like the heavy golden rutile in quartz are distinctive enough to know where they come, and a few others as well, but most of them come from localities that may never be know for sure. The number of quartz localities in Brazil are very many and come from an area much larger than those from Arkansas or any other quartz locality that I know of. The big sand stone formation in Minas Gerais extends out of Minas Gerais into Goias and I think also onto Bahia. There is an area around the town of Crystalina in Goias that produces a lot of quartz crystals and some with fine inclusions as well. In Minas there are hundreds of localities peppered around the communities of Sete Lagos, Curvelo, Corinto, Diamontina, Joaquim Felicio and a number of other small communities. I don't think they will ever be cataloged and recorded properly. Then there is the quartz from the big pegmatite areas and that has also many localities with quartz and inclusions. Just look at some of the satellite images on google maps of the digging around Corinto. There must be hundreds of acres of land torn up with gopher holes that have been dug by locals looking for quartz crystals.

Mindat.org is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: May 6, 2024 21:46:47

Go to top of page