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DECEMBER 2001-- END OF THE YEAR SPECIALS
As you know from your
monthly specimens we send you as part of our Club, we always feature especially
nice pieces, and usually at bargain prices! Of course, when you order a mineral
we’ve previously featured in our Club, we’ll always send the write-up with
your next monthly write-up so you can learn all about it.
Has this month’s write-up
piqued your interest in tektites? We still have some of the wonderful specimens
from Maoming City, Guangdong Province, China, that we sent to Club members in
November 1999. Though these do not have the beautiful bottle-green of this month’s
mineral, being a dull glassy black in color, they do have lots of neat pits and
grooves they picked up on their flight through space! Deluxe-size specimens are
about 3" long and 1" wide for $20, and Junior size pieces are round to
oval, about 1" in diameter, for $7.
Would you like to wear your
beautiful moldavite specimen? Cheryl can do her simple yet elegant wire wrap to
your Deluxe-size piece for $40 if you wish to send it to us, or you may order
one of her special wire design moldavites for $70, as seen in the scan on the
left.
ONE PIECE LEFT! EXTRAORDINARY VANADINITE
PIECE! We picked up as part of
our November vanadinite lot three extraordinary pieces of vanadinite, with
larger crystals on larger matrix. These are of a quality rarely seen, and would
be at home in the very finest display cases or museums! If you have wanted to
add an exceptional vanadinite to your collection, now is a great time to do it,
as we have exceptional pieces, and are offering them to members at more than 25%
off the typical price!
 Still available: Vanadinite Specimen #3 Matrix: 6" across, 5" top
to bottom. Largest crystal: ½" across! Incredible, large (for vanadinite)
crystals with extremely sharp faces and brownish-red color on a brown matrix.
Must be seen to be believed! Regular price $280, Club member’s price $210
(Close-up of crystals shown below)
SOLD: How could we overlook this monster? We did, until now! We
also obtained a large matrix piece with at least 100-200 vanadinite crystals of
varying sizes and colors, from red-orange to brown-orange. This piece is 8"
high, over 8" across, and 4" from front to back. Regular price $200,
$150 for Club members. SOLD
STILL AVAILABLE! WE RECEIVED
ABOUT 1500 PIECES OF FABULOUS OCEAN JASPER
FOR OCTOBER! We went through all the pieces, and selected the most wonderful to
send to Club members, but there are lots of pretty pieces left! Plus, due to the
marvelous variety of colors and patterns, a person could have several pieces and
each would have its own unique beauty . . . So for those who would like to add
more to their collection, we are offering additional pieces to Club members at a
very special price of $10 each, 2 for $19, or 4 for $32! Or if you would like a
whole flat of about 40 pieces (randomly selected) to use for lapidary work or to
give as gifts, we have a few available for $150. As mentioned in the write-up,
these are pieces of the highest grade Ocean Jasper, so this is a fantastic
offer.
We still have some very lovely pieces of our
September featured mineral, dioptase from Kazachstan, with small
green crystals on matrix, about half the size that we sent to Deluxe members,
for $10 each or 2 for $18. The matrix on these averages about ¾" long and
½" wide, and would fit nicely in thumbnail cases. These are lovely, lovely
pieces!
MANGANESE OXIDE DENDRITES FROM SOLNHOFEN, BAVARIA, GERMANY We
had somehow overlooked these beauties as well. Though they look like leafy
plants and bushes, these dendrites occur when groundwater containing
dissolved manganese randomly spreads along a flat, planar surface in silty
limestone, leaving behind a trail of manganese oxide when it dries up. These
pieces are cut flat, about ¼" thick in two sizes: About 3" by 2"
for $12, and about 2" by 1½" for $6. They’re suitable for framing!
COPROLITE (FOSSILIZED ANIMAL DROPPINGS) FROM MADAGASCAR This is a new
find, as far as we know, from the Tulear region of southwestern Madagascar. We
could not find out what kind animal left its droppings to be immortalized as
fossils, but they look like the siderite replacements we have seen offered from
Washington state and are reddish brown in color. Coprolite is the scientific
name for fossilized feces. Size: about 2"-3" by 1"-2", $6
each
LAVA FROM la PLAINE DES SABLES, LA REUNION ISLAND These brown-colored
pieces resemble the coprolite, but are much lighter in weight, evidence of gas
pockets trapped inside! A lava flow in 1986 enlarged this volcanic island east
of Madagascar. We have a few nice pieces about 2½" by 1½" for $5.
From northern Michigan, we picked up some translucent chunks of HALITE,
the January 1997 Mineral of the Month. These are cleavage pieces up to 2"
by 2" and bigger, many showing cubic crystal planes. Pretty cool and very
salty for $9.
PYRITE FROM HUANZALA MINE, PERU Intergrown groups of well-formed pyrite
crystals with a shiny metallic luster– very nice, for a more common mineral.
Groups up to 3" by 2½" for $24. And a couple of smaller pieces for
only $18 each. Get ‘em while they last!
SUPERGENE GOLD with ATACAMITE from Chile–25% OFF! The term
"supergene" refers to a mineral deposit or enrichment formed near the
surface, commonly by descending solutions. These specimens are on an ugly gray
matrix about 2" by 2" and consist of many minute spots of supergene
gold with minute grains of light bluish green atacamite. These are really
something rare and special. One piece has at least six small spots of gold, was
$62, now $49; the other has at least 12 small gold spots, was $78, now $58
SATIN SPAR & FLUORITE MASSAGE TOOL We finally received some more
of these neat massage tools that are new this year and have been selling like
hotcakes at shows. These are carved out of the fibrous gypsum variety satin
spar, as discussed in our May 2001 write-up, and are twisted, like the one in
the bottom of the photo, with a fluorite cabochon glued on the end. The satin
spar reflects light beautifully, and the fluorite adds color to the piece. These
pieces are about 4½" long and 1" wide for $20.
HIMALAYA QUARTZ FROM NEPAL We were delighted to pick up in Denver a small
lot of quartz crystals from the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal. These are
fascinating in a couple of ways: they are found like the famous Alpine minerals
of Europe, by collectors climbing high in the mountains looking for
crystal-lined openings in the solid rock, risking life and limb to retrieve
these wonderful crystals! And as war drags on in this small country situated
between China and India, it is amazing that any mineral specimens come out at
all. And, the crystals themselves are unique, different from the quartz we
regularly see from Brazil and from Arkansas. They tend to be long, narrow single
crystals with steep terminations, some with bent faces! We still have some of
the shorter ones up to 1¾" long by ½" wide for $12. More pictures on
the web page!
DARWIN GLASS FROM TASMANIA These
pieces of natural glass, called "impact melts" by scientists, were
formed about 770,000 years ago. They come from Mount Darwin Crater, Tasmania,
discovered in 1972. These are small (about dime size) green to grey pieces with
some translucence, for 75 cents each, or 10 for $5. You’ll enjoy the strange
shapes and forms!
FLUORESCENT FLUORITE FROM CHINA Another
exciting recent discovery from China. As we mentioned in the August 2001 inesite
write-up, China is virtually exploding with new mineral finds, and they are
usually reasonable priced, another big plus. These are ghostly green partial
fluorite cubes, grown into one another, that show a violet color under shortwave
UV. Many of the cubes are well over 1" on an edge, well-formed, and very
attractive under most every kind of light in clusters up to 2" by 2"
for $16
FOR LOVERS OF FLUORESCENT MINERALS As
we mentioned in our November write-up on vanadinite, the matrix on some of our pieces showed a nice red color under
shortwave ultraviolet light. We set aside a few matrix pieces of very small
vanadinite crystals on a matrix that fluoresces, about 1" by 2"
(Junior-size specimens) for $5.
NATIVE SHEET COPPER FROM ONTONAGON COUNTY, UPPER MICHIGAN
We featured copper in September 1998, and got a special buy on some pieces
almost as large as what we sent Deluxe Club members! These are relatively flat
copper pieces up to 4" by 2½" for $15. If you missed out on this
month, these are very nice specimens!
HAVE YOU READ THIS FAR? Good! If you pondering ordering some nice
additional minerals from us, it’s nice to know that you really can’t lose on
them. First of all, we pay the shipping to you, so if you are disappointed in
any pieces you receive, all you have to is wrap them up in the wrapping we sent
them to you in, put them back in the box, and mail them back to us– a hassle,
we realize, but not too great a hassle. But you’ve come to expect a certain
quality from us through our Club, and these additional minerals will be of the
same good quality. Some of them are especially good deals! If you’ve wanted to
order more, but have held back, we encourage you to give us a try. We promise
you won’t be disappointed!
GREAT READING ON THOSE COLD WINTER NIGHTS! We are slowly building up a
collection of MINERALOGICAL RECORD BACK ISSUES, the excellent magazine
with detailed, in depth articles on mines, collecting localities, and minerals.
In doing so, we have amassed duplicates of some issues. So we are offering one
set of 21 Mineralogical Record issues, various issues from 1979-1988 with
wonderful articles on some of the mines and minerals we have covered, for $95
plus $5 shipping in the U.S. Start your own collection! ______________________________________________________________________________
As always, U.S. shipping is included, your satisfaction is guaranteed, and
anything ordered will be shipped right away with your next mineral specimen.
Call us at 1-800-941-5594 or Email to order.
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