I’ve added a new Austria Update, featuring superb strontianite crystals from Oberdorf an der Laming, Styria, Austria, from the collection of Franz Lammer. These are exceptional strontianites!

I’ve added some vibrant chrysocolla pseudomorphs in the new Chrysocolla Update. These specimens have been definitively identified as chrysocolla, on malachite pseudomorphs after azurite. I suspect that they may be a chrysocolla pseudomorphs after malachite on chrysocolla pseudomorphs (partial and complete) after malachite pseudomorphs after azurite. In any event, they are colourful cabinet specimens of chrysocolla!

I’ve posted a small number of super new specimens in this Milpillas Brochantite Update. These good-sized brochantite crystals are sharp, lustrous and unusually robust for the species, which is often seen in very thin needle-like or hair-like crystals.

Tucson: urban field collecting at its finest! Some years are better than others, and this was a great year at the Tucson shows – many excellent mineral specimens and good fun with mineral friends. This post includes interesting news from Tucson, with glimpses of Tucson specimens to be posted on the website over the coming weeks.

I’ve added a new Morocco Fluorite Update with super yellow fluorite crystals from a small recent find at the El Hammam Mine. These are great yellow fluorite specimens!

I’ve posted great new crystals of xenotime-(Y) from Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil. These crystals are dark brown, sharp and lustrous – they are are superb for this species.

I’ve added a group of diverse minerals in this Peru Update. I have selected these out over various trips – each is a beautiful specimen for the mineral! This update includes a gorgeous rhodonite from Chiurucu, a brilliant alabandite, a super specimen of bournonite cogwheel twins on matrix, a specimen of scheelite coated with bright green stolzite, fluorescent fluorapatites and more.

I’ve added a new Howlite Update with beautiful sharp crystals of howlite. Howlite is not a rare mineral. However, display-quality crystals of howlite are rare. To date, there is only one known locality, on the shoreline of Bras D’Or Lake, near Iona, Victoria Co., Cape Breton Island. This update includes some gorgeous specimens.

I thought you might like to have a glimpse to give a better sense of what is involved in collecting and preserving the world’s best howlite crystals. This post is what it looks like for the collectors who brave the elements and make the pilgrimage, knowing that there may be nothing at all to be found on any given trip…

I’ve added Part 2, a new Nova Scotia Update, with minerals from the Bay of Fundy. The specimens from this update are from different localities from last week – Two Islands, Five Islands and Cape Split. This group of specimens includes superb gmelinite crystals, sharp analcime crystals and sparkling natrolites.

Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy has been famous among mineral collectors for a long time – the area includes some of Canada’s oldest classic localities. Today, fine mineral specimens are still periodically recovered along the Bay of Fundy, making this area one of the most productive contemporary regions for Canadian fine mineral specimens. This article includes many photographs to give a better sense of the localities and adventures behind the beautiful specimens from here.

I’ve added a new Nova Scotia Update, with minerals from the Bay of Fundy. This update accompanies the new post about Mineral Collecting in Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy, with specimens from the classic Bay of Fundy localities highlighted in that article: Wasson’s Bluff, Amethyst Cove and Cape D’Or.