I’ve added beautiful new specimens from the Pete Richards collection.  These are great tourmaline crystals from localities around the world, including Brazil, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Namibia and Myanmar.

I’ve posted the fourth in a series of updates with superb specimens from John White’s collection.

I’ve posted a number of beautiful elbaite crystals from Afghanistan and Pakistan in this Tourmaline Update. Several of the tourmalines from Stak Nala were very recently collected – I acquired them from a family that is mining the specimens.

I’ve added beautiful elbaite tourmaline specimens in this Stak Nala Tourmaline Update – I’ve also included a great lepidolite. The elbaites are highly aesthetic, in combination with albite, and there is some good colour zoning among these pieces. I was fortunate to acquire these from a member of the family that mines them.

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.

This Pakistan-Afghanistan Update features a small number of excellent specimens, from tourmalines and a gorgeous cabinet specimen of spessartine garnet, to some much more unusual specimens, including scapolite and pseudomorphs from Sar-e-Sang.