I’ve added great specimens from the Pete Richards collection, from localities around the world, including Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, Greece, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico and more.

I’ve added a new USA Update, with excellent specimens of microcline var. amazonite and a rhodochrosite from Colorado, purple fluorapatites from South Dakota, a Missouri millerite, Arizona chrysocolla and more.

In this France Update, I am including the first of the specimens from the 2015 Ste. Marie Show. Despite the host country, the show is truly not full of French mineral specimens, given their relative scarcity, and the ones that are there are highly prized. Nonetheless, I was able to acquire a few excellent French pieces.

The annual mineral show at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines is so different from all others. Sure, we all love the large exciting mineral-filled halls and general mineral mayhem of the large shows, and the hotel shows in Tucson and Denver. But Ste Marie’s character and charm, from the theatre and the tent-lined streets within the show, to the town and the countryside beyond, make this an experience not to be missed.

The new China Update features selected fine specimens – beautiful fluorite crystals of different colours and crystal habits (and some great phantoms), pyromorphite, golden barite, spessartine garnet and more.