A neat specimen from the mica quarry at Black Mountain, Maine. There are three terminated, sharp, bladed crystals of columbite in excellent condition in feldspar-quartz. The crystals are lustrous and the contrast with the matrix is great. The base is sawn so it stands perfectly for display (there is an additional saw cut in one […]

A classic Franklin specimen with dark-salmon-coloured willemite crystals in cream-coloured calcite. Until you get it under the UV! The willemite crystals are distinct, with rough terminations. Three are complete and the others are not. Which under ultravilolet light seems less relevant…  From the Pete Richards Collection, he acquired this specimen from Duane Leavitt in June […]

Small, sharp, sparkling crystals of red (“ruby-jack”) sphalerite. This looks super with a little magnification – they are little red gems. In excellent condition. From the Pete Richards collection, he collected it on March 27, 1988. Not large, but just beautiful under magnification. About Pete Richards (click here)  

Beautiful delicate tufts of blue cyanotrichite with malachite from the Maid of Sunshine mine. The cyanotrichite crystals are sharp and look gorgeous with a bit of magnification. Cyanotrichite is such a fragile mineral, so many specimens don’t survive, but this is an exception – it is in excellent condition! Most of the main crystals are […]

A cluster of beautiful lustrous pyrite crystals from the Pete Richards collection. This concretion hosts sharp cuboctahedral crystals. From the Pete Richards collection, he acquired it in September, 1995. The exact locality is indeed obscure: Pete provides it as “Shore of a pond near a landfill, S. side CR 38 in NE 1/4, Section 6, […]

This remarkable transparent halite crystal is from Searles Lake – one of the world’s best-known localities for fine specimens of halite. What is amazing about this specimen is the crystal form – it is a cuboctahedron (Searles Lake halites are almost always cubes and hoppered cubes). The cube faces are smooth, while the octahedral faces […]

This is a crystal cleavage displaying an amazing phenomenon sometimes observed in halite – it exhibits intense blue internal colour that arises from having been exposed in the past to natural gamma radiation. In this case, the radiation is from Potassium-40, present in the sylvite that surrounds the halite at this deposit. The radiation causes […]

A classic cabinet specimen of branching copper crystals from the Keweenaw Peninsula. Many of the crystals are sharp and very well defined (only a few small spots were interrupted by matrix growth). From the Pete Richards collection, he acquired it in 1984. This is a killer! About Pete Richards (click here) Browse more specimens from […]

This copper specimen includes very sharp dodecahedral crystals, along with more elongated and rounded crystals as well. The crystals have a dark patina, along with minor cuprite patina in places. The specimen is from a famous underwater find in Lake Superior, the Laker Pocket, which was discovered and recovered by Bob Barron and Karl Peterson […]

A tree of copper with some incredibly well-defined crystals from the Central Mine, Keweenaw Peninsula. The copper crystals have a nice red cuprite patina in places. In excellent condition and only needs minor support from underneath to stand perfectly for display. A beauty! About Pete Richards (click here)    

A classic Keweenaw Peninsula datolite from the Pete Richards Collection. This is a sliced and polished half-nodule from the Delaware Mine. It has a beautiful gradation of colour and a nice bright polish. About Pete Richards (click here)    

A beautiful golden-amber calcite from the Sweetwater Mine. This is a gorgeous complex termination! The crystal is translucent and there is a faint phantom inside. A wonderful specimen from the Pete Richards Collection. About Pete Richards (click here)