This is a very fine pink tourmaline with a green cap from a unusual locality in Badakshan, Afghanistan. The tourmaline is from the Deodara Mine and sits on a nice matrix bed of feldspars and has a beautiful quartz crystal balancing the specimen on the opposite side. This is one of the largest and finest specimens to come out of this locality. The tourmaline is repaired at the base but it is a lock fit. This is really a choice piece for those collecting fine quality tourmalines/pegmatite minerals.

This specimen was offered to be in sync with the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show theme, "Shades of Blue: Minerals of the World." This beauty hails from the Sepon Mine in southern Laos, an open pit copper and gold mine. (Gold production was suspended in 2013.) Its azurite blades range from deep blue to brilliant, and the malachite features bulbous apricot-like blobs, berry-like rounds, and even a pseudomorph at lower right. It's a beautifully complex specimen that calls out for consideration.

First we feature another iridescent rainbow goethite found about 27 years ago. The perfection and coloring of this specimens is fantastic. Formerly in the collection of Emilio Rodenas.

Our second featured specimen is a beautifully complex rutile from central Madagascar.

Calcite with copper inclusions from the Keweenaw Peninsula, Copper District, Michigan, 3.5 x 2.5 x 2 in.

It has a beautiful scalehedron structure, a massive white calcite in the core and a clear outer layer including the peak of the crystal, which is transparent. The center layer is a brilliant copper phantom that scintillates in the light.

With impressive size, shape and color this specimen is definitely an icon in the mineral world. No damage, no repairs, just a pristine beauty.

This specimen was collected by Ben Williams’s father, John Williams, in the 1860s. During this time period the elder Williams worked at the copper smelter in Hancock, Michigan. Ben would have been a young teenager at the time. These pieces were likely passed on from father to son and pre-date Ben’s arrival at Bisbee, Arizona by about 15 years.

Most of these copper-in-calcites came out in the 1800s and early 1900s. The two main mines that produced this rare blend were the Quincy Mine and the Franklin Mine around Hancock, Houghton Co., in Michigan.

Erythrite from the Bou Azar District, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco, 4 x 3.2 cm.

This aesthetic bouquet of erythrite crystals is from Morocco. The crystals are undamaged and sharp, with intense color. Great for any miniature collector!

While other examples of erythrite in the Pala International catalog are perched on matrix, this featured specimen seems to stand on its own. Its lovely crystals exhibit 'red' in all its hues.

Just as rhodochrosite takes its name from the Greek rhodokhrōs (rose-colored), erythrite is from the Greek eruthros/erythros (red). Its combining form erythr- is used in many a medical term, from erythrocyte (red blood cell) to systemic lupus erythematosis (the autoimmune syndrome sometimes characterized by a red butterfly-shaped rash thought to have resembled the bite of a wolf, lupus in Latin).

This specimen is an exquisite benitoite on natrolite. The benitoite crystal itself is huge for the species, 3.5 cm in length. It features a striking trigonal crystal, but a little rough around the edges. This large crystal displays a beautiful color pattern radiating from a white core to brilliant blue edges. To top it all off the benitoite is in front of an equally striking white natrolite background, showing the ideal association of minerals from San Benito County.

Tourmaline on quartz from Santa Rosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 6.5 x 6.5 x 2.5 cm.

This specimen is a well perched multi-colored tourmaline on quartz. A fine crystal on its own, this tourmaline displays brilliant pink to mint into evergreen gradation of color. It's very pristine with virtually no damage besides the base. It features an admirable complex termination with gemmy sections running throughout. This bright tourmaline is well contrasted on a nice chunk of quartz.

Aquamarine on quartz from Thuong Xuan, Vietnam, 10 x 4.5 cm.

This specimen features multiple, unrepaired, beautiful blue and gemmy aquamarine crystals on quartz crystal. Matrix is very hard to obtain from Vietnam's Thuong Xuan area near the Laos border. Pala International has good contacts from Vietnam via visits in the late 1990s and obtains specimens directly from Vietnamese miners through friends.

This specimen is a lovely silver from a classic locality: Kongsberg, Norway. It is a beautiful horn thick wire silver that has great luster and patina. These types of silvers are very hard to come by. (Might that have anything to do with the fact that Kongsberg also happens to be home to the Mint of Norway?)

Green beryl from the Mimoso do Sul Mine, Espirito Santo, Brazil, 6 x 4 x 4.5 cm

This fine green beryl is from a find in Brazil dating back to the 1980s. The specimen is a beautiful cluster of doubly terminated beryls all with very fine luster and color. To have so many beryls together and in great shape is truly rare! This specimen would do well in anyone's beryl collection or world-wide collection as well.

Beryllonite, a rare species, from Afghanistan, 11.5 x 7.5 cm.

This fine specimen is a great rarity—a large, double-terminated, very complex beryllonite from Paprok, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. This is a specimen for an advanced collector or museum.

Calcite with emerald, 8 x 6 x 3 cm, from Colombia.

We call this fine specimen "The Emerald Sail Ship," with its concave calcite catching the ocean's air. This is an aesthetic, large calcite crystal with no damage and a lively green emerald crystal attached at the bottom. The emerald has a fine, etched termination that adds to its beauty. The sail hails from the locality of La Pita Mine in La Pita, Mun. de Maripí, Vasquez-Yacopí Mining District, Boyacá Department, Colombia.