Pala’s Featured Mineral Specimens: A New Influx of Mineral Oddities from Namibia

When we hear the phrase “Namibian minerals” we think of all the great carbonates from Tsumeb, Erongo aquamarines and fluorites, amethyst from Brandberg—the list goes on and on. But out of all the holes dug in this vast country, we haven’t seen all the unusual treasures Namibia has to offer. For instance, in the last year or so we have seen some new twists on some old favorite species from the Erongo region.

Golden heliodor cap with a sharp contact next to the aquamarine shaft, 12.5 x 9.0 x 8.5 cm. Price available upon request. (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

First we look at a heliodor-capped aquamarine cluster with big cigar-sized crystals. The center crystal is actually doubly terminated. Most faces and terminations are glassy and pristine. This specimen comes to us from Erongo, where most of the crystals with this unusual color scheme were limited to single crystals and miniature clusters. This specimen is most likely one of the largest produced from the area.

Fluorite cube with phantoms, 6.0 x 6.0 x 4.5 cm. Price available upon request. (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

Second is an alien-like fluorite cube with spooky green and red banding, creating phantoms. A limited number of these fluorites were found in Erongo from the appropriately named “alien pocket.” The material is very dark and only comes to life with bright transmitted light. The photograph above shows the fiber-optic light converging underneath the fluorite to accentuate the color and mask-like patterns. Several new alien-fluorite pieces will be available for sale; call or email us to inquire.

Interested? Email us, or give us a call. [back to top]

Rhoda and Dan Brock Collection

Pala International acquired the Rhoda and Dan Brock collection recently with the help of Casey and Jane Jones. At first glance the collection seemed like a pile of rocks left in a box in the garage, but upon closer inspection there were definitely some hidden jewels to be dusted off and examined: menagerie of local specimens from around San Diego County and into Mexico. Included are a few nice benitoites, cuprites, calcites, and several varietals of quartz.

Rhoda and Dan Brock Collection

A report by Jane Jones

Dan and Rhoda Brock began collecting minerals together shortly after their marriage in 1948 and collected until 1986 when they moved to Apple Valley, California. Sitting in Rhoda Brock’s collection room, a mineral specimen in her hand, becomes a touchstone for a story, many of them about her husband Dan who passed away in 1996. The breadth of their collection of minerals and gemstones exhibits more than their individual tastes; it also displays the extraordinary minerals that were coming out especially in the 1940s and 1950s.

No pile of rocks… Azurite cluster from Tsumeb, Namibia (11.5 x 9.0 x 4.5 cm., $1500), a greenish aquamarine from Brazil (7.2 x 1.75 x 1.5 cm., $1200), and a chrysoberyl from Brazil (3.6 x 3.0 x 2.2 cm., $1500). (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

Rhoda and Dan were members of the Compton Gem and Mineral Club, California Federation of Mineralogical Societies. Dan Brock was chairman in 1957 when Compton hosted the CFMS show, and the first year the Smithsonian Institution exhibited minerals at a CFMS show. Rhoda displayed and competed at the CFMS shows; however, her memories and stories are of being in the field and collecting with friends and of the exhilaration a new find. They spent quite a bit of time digging on the dumps of the old Pala mines—beautiful specimens of kunzite, elbaite, and rubellite; and watermelon tourmalines that were discarded because they just weren’t up to the standards of the day.

Cat’s eye quartz crystal showing phantom and asbestos needles, 8.5 x 6.0 x 6.8 cm. Slice (front) shows the orientation of needles so cabochon-style cutting can concentrate the light into a sharp eye, 4.7 x 4.5 x 1 cm. Price available upon request. (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

The best story, though, is of the extraordinary cat’s eye quartz find by Rhoda that was credited to her husband, Dan. John Sinkankas, in Gemstones of North America, credits Dan Brock with a new and significant find of chatoyant quartz in Arizona, which he describes in the following way: “The author can recall of no chatoyant quartz from any locality in the world in which the inclusions are so fine and so brilliantly reflective.” (Sinkankas, 1959, p. 375) The problem is that Rhoda found the pocket!

Here’s the tale: In 1956, friends from the Compton Club were collecting at the well-known Crystal Peak quartz locality in Yuma County. Dan and the others were hiking and scouting the hills above while Rhoda stayed in the “gully.” There was a little seam showing, so Rhoda started picking at it and digging with her Estwing hammer. Less than a foot under the surface a pocket opened up with lots of loose crystals in it. Later, when Dan showed some of the material to John Sinkankas, he assumed it was Dan that had found it. The last time Rhoda saw Sinkankas in Tucson in the late 1990s she joked with him about this—they perhaps agreed it was the way things were done back then.

The inclusions and phantoms and cat’s eye chatoyancy in this find distinguished them from the generally clear quartz from this location. One pure, white cut cat’s eye piece referenced by Sinkankas weighed 12.27 carats and measured 9/16 inch. One of the better pieces from this find was donated to the Smithsonian Mineral Collection. [back to top]

Pala at Dubai ICA International Gem Show
October 13–15, 2008

Pala International will be at the ICA International Gem Show, which is billed as “the first luxury B2B gem show tailored especially for the loose colored gemstone industry featuring the world’s 120 most prominent colored stone merchants.”

• When: Oct. 13–15, 2008
• Where: Al Bustan Rotana Hotel, Dubai
• Hours:
  Mon.–Tue.: 10 a.m.– 9 p.m.
  Sun.: 10 a.m.– 7 p.m.

We are pleased to announce that we will be sharing display space with our good friends, the Gobin brothers (who we recently visited at the Sainte-Marie show). Pala will be bringing a selection of our finest colored stones and a collection of exquisite gem crystal specimens. For more information visit the International Gem Show website.

Visit the Pala International Show Schedule for future events. [back to top]

Grand Lobby of the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel, site of the ICA International Gem Show. (Photo © 2007 – Rotana Hotels)

terra mineralia: October 28–November 2

Saxony Mining Academy Hosts Huge Exhibition of Rare Specimens

Mineral enthusiasts will have six days to view a remarkable exhibition of specimens later this month. “terra mineralia,” which is to be mounted by the famous Technical University of Freiberg in Saxony, “presents for the first time the world’s largest private mineral collection of Swiss foundress Dr. Erika Pohl Ströher,” according to an exhibition press release (in German). The collection, amassed over 60 years of collecting, will be on permanent loan in Germany due to the efforts of Prof. Georg Unland, currently Minister of Finance of Saxony.

Petrified pincushion. Kustos Andreas Massanek equips a showcase in the “Schatzkammer” (treasure chamber) with an antimonite (stibnite) from China. (Photo: Wolfgang Thieme)

More than 5,000 minerals, jewels, and meteorites will be displayed in what organizers are calling “a mineralogical voyage around the world.” Indeed, four continent halls—Africa, Europe, America, and Asia—are being filled with over 140 custom-built showcases. Two thirds of the specimens in the exhibition will have no duplicate on display, according to an August 1 press release.

Noble opal from Australia, 6 x 5 cm. (Photo: Jörg Wittig)

The Museum Castle Freudenstein, site of the exhibition and recently renovated, is itself a work of architectural audacity, as can be seen by this portfolio on AFF Architekten website. The 3,000 square meters of exhibition space, which was completed in January, have been painstakingly crafted since the collection was transferred in 2004 and stored on seven floors of a secure “comprehensive depot.”

Crystal clear. Above: Denise Hennig of Institute for Mineralogy at the university, regards a rock crystal specimen. (Photo: Detlev Müller) Below: Prof. Gerhard Helde examines a 100-kg. “bred” fluorite crystal. (Photo: Eckardt Mildner)

Also on display will be a 100-kilogram synthetic, “water-clear” fluorite crystal, created by Schott Lithotec, a developer and supplier of optical components used in lithography technology.

Calcite on zinc from U.S.A. is admired by Manuela Wagner of the university’s Institute for Mineralogy. (Photo: Detlev Mueller)

The show will include a 3.5-ton meteor exhibit from what is presumed to be the largest impact crater at Vredefort in South Africa. Eight plates of polished “friction-melted” earth from the crater will be on display.

Vault video. Above: Watch as exhibition staff and craftsmen prepare display cases and specimens. Below: Bold new architecture finds its place in the renovated 12th century Castle Freudenstein, site of “terra mineralia.” Its interior was gutted during the Seven Years War and had been used only for storage until the makeover, completed just this year. (Photo: AFF Architekten)

For more splendid specimen photos see this Spiegel Online article (translated by Google; original German here).

Also making its debut is Via Mineralia, “a pervasive museum explorative game,” developed by the university’s Virtual Reality and Multimedia Research Group. [back to top]

Diamond Crystal Unearthed

Lesotho Diamond Weighs in at 478 Carats

On September 8th a 478-carat rough diamond crystal was discovered in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho. The diamond was unearthed at the Letseng Mine in the eastern Mokhotlong district of the tiny country, which lies completely within the boundaries of the Republic of South Africa.

(N)ice… Once it is faceted, this diamond crystal has the potential to be a record setter. (Photo courtesy Gem Diamonds)

The Letseng mine has a rich history of oversized diamonds being pulled from its depths. Since 1920, four of the twenty largest rough diamond recorded have been found at the Letseng mine. It also has been one of the most productive mines throughout its history. This new diamond rough has a chance to set a world record for the finest-quality cut diamond over 100 carats. The color and clarity have been analyzed, revealing a possibility of having a 100-carat-plus D flawless gem.

We will have to wait see what the final faceted stone actually yields.

Swing shift. Nighttime drilling takes place in the satellite pit at the Letseng Mine in Lesotho. At 10,000 feet above sea level, it is the highest diamond mine in the world. (Photo courtesy Gem Diamonds)

The Letseng mine is operated by Gem Diamonds in a partnership with the Lesotho government. It suspended production after De Beers withdrew in 1982. The current operator, Gem Diamonds, acquired the mine in 2006, after it had reopened in 2004 under management by JCI. A Gem Diamonds press release about the unnamed 478-carat rough states that the mine is expected to yield for another 45 years.

The Letseng Mine is in the Mokhotlong District of eastern Lesotho. (Map courtesy Lesotho Government, Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology)

• Watch this Reuters video clip on the 478-carat rough diamond
• For a look at the Letseng Mine in 2005, see this Mining Review Africa article
• See also this brief, illustrated report on an August 2007 visit to the mine by a South Africa Student Chapter of the Society of Economic Geologists

A view of the Letseng satellite pit. The gray material is kimberlite, whose dykes and pipes host the diamond crystals. (Photo courtesy Gem Diamonds)

[back to top]

Pala at Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show
September 10–14, 2008

Rhodochrosite from Sunnyside Mine in Colorado, 5.4 x 8.6 x 4.9 cm. This specimen is available. (Photo: John McLean)

Pala International will be at the Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show.

• When: Sept. 10–14, 2008
• Where: Holiday Inn Denver–Central, 4849 Bannock St.
  • Room 183
• Hours:
  Wed.–Sat.: 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
  Sun.: 10 a.m.– 5 p.m.

We look forward to seeing our many friends there. For more information visit the show website.

Visit the Pala International Show Schedule for future events.

Note: We are exhibiting the Risse Collection specimens for the first time at this show. [back to top]

Pala at Dubai ICA International Gem Show
October 13–15, 2008

Pala International will be at the ICA International Gem Show, which is billed as “the first luxury B2B gem show tailored especially for the loose colored gemstone industry featuring the world’s 120 most prominent colored stone merchants.”

• When: Oct. 13–15, 2008
• Where: Al Bustan Rotana Hotel, Dubai
• Hours:
  Mon.–Tue.: 10 a.m.– 9 p.m.
  Sun.: 10 a.m.– 7 p.m.

We are pleased to announce that we will be sharing display space with our good friends, the Gobin brothers (who we recently visited at the Sainte-Marie show). Pala will be bringing a selection of our finest colored stones and a collection of exquisite gem crystal specimens. For more information visit the International Gem Show website.

Visit the Pala International Show Schedule for future events. [back to top]

Tailgating—French Style

Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2008 – Bill Larson Reports

It was June 2008 and time for Bill Larson’s favorite European show, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. This year they were a group of five men—Bill, his two sons Will and Carl, friend Ben Sobczak, and Bill’s friend and fellow gem dealer Mark Kaufman. 

Parked. Will Larson (in stunner shades), Ben Sobczak, and Carl Larson discuss their next moves on the parquet floor of the local theatre, in which the finest specimens are on offer in l’Espace Prestige. (Photo: Bill Larson)

The show’s highlights included:

• Bill’s purchase of a single crystal of Chinese calcite, so fine it may be featured in a local mineralogical journal
• A featured exhibit, the mines of Chessy, in the Rhône region of France, to which Bill contributed 14 pieces from his own collection
• A “great green fluorite from Namibia…on a large quartz that has color-center phantoms—truly superb and new to my eyes"
• Larger-than-normal jeremejevite crystals from Erongo, Namibia

That’s just Day One. Read the full story here. (And find out what’s behind the title of this feature.)

An aesthetic copper crystallized wire, reminiscent of coral. (Photo: Carl Larson)

[back to top]

Pala’s Featured Mineral Specimens: Pyromorphite, Tourmaline on Quartz, and Rhodochrosite

Culled from the Gabriel Risse Collection

This month we feature three new specimens from the new Gabriel Risse collection acquired by the Larson boys at this year’s Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines show in France.

Pyromorphite specimen, 3.9 x 3.4 x 2.5 cm. This specimen has been sold. (Photo: Wimon Manorotkul)

The first piece is a superb miniature pyromorphite specimen from the Bunker Hill Mine in Kellogg, Idaho. Classic rounded barrel hopper crystals with cavernous centers. Vivid greenish yellow color with one main crystal surrounded by various size intersecting crystals. This is a specimen you just keep spinning in your hand to see all the great angles and details.

Tourmaline on quartz specimen, 6.5 x 6.5 x 3.5 cm. This specimen has been sold. (Photo: Wimon Manorotkul)

The second piece is a completely unique tourmaline on quartz from Paprok, Afghanistan. The two tourmaline crystals are so gemmy, with a neon greenish-blue hue, that it would make any cutter drool with temptation. One crystal is doubly terminated with a subtle gradation from bluish green to greenish blue with a frosted pyramidal cap. The other crystal is thicker with a cleaved pink-and-white bottom and an upper half that is virtually flawless. If that weren’t enough, the two beautiful tourmalines are naturally attached to a doubly terminated quartz crystal.

Rhodochrosite specimen, 4.1 x 3.1 x 2.8 cm. This specimen has been sold. (Photo: Wimon Manorotkul)

The third specimen is an exquisite rhodochrosite from N’Chwaning, South Africa. Reminiscent of “The Snail,” this miniature is a radiating cluster of individual scalenohedron rhodochrosite crystals. The specimen glows from the heart with an intense red hue when backlit, almost revealing its near-flawless interior. [back to top]

The Gabriel Risse Collection

Pala acquires 130 fine mineral specimens

The Larson boys—Bill (left), Will, and Carl (not pictured)—sort through the flats evaluating and calculating the feasibility and desirability of the collection. (Photo: Carl Larson)

Bill Larson recalls meeting Gabriel Risse twenty years ago when Risse was a ripening 18-year-old mineral collector in Europe. Their sporadic relationship over the decades culminated at this year’s Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines show in France.

Gabriel Risse checks his list to see if the Larsons’ offer will suffice. (Photo: Carl Larson)

Since those early days of collecting, Gabriel had amassed an exquisite mineral collection with over 150 pieces, mostly in the small cabinet to miniature sizes—all beautifully representing the best formations and aesthetics from most of the great localities around the globe. From gem crystals to metals to carbonates, this full-spectrum collection seems to focus on crystal perfection, unique morphology, and artistic form.

Will Larson, momentarily distracted from the matter at hand. (Photo: Carl Larson)

The collection encompasses many species and highlights fine examples within each category: pyromorphite from Idaho to vanadinite from Morocco…calcite from Sweden to rhodochrosite from South Africa…tourmaline and kunzite from Afghanistan to epidote from Austria…aegirine from Malawi to hemimorphite with willemite from Malawi…carrolite from Congo to calcite from Kazakhstan…ilvaite from Russia to topaz from Pakistan. See this month’s featured specimens and Wimon Manorotkul’s FotogFocus for a sample.

A venture through the Gabriel Risse collection is an in-depth and colorful ride through the realm of exquisite mineral specimens.

Old rocks out; new rocks in. Gabriel Risse smiles from enjoyment following the first purchase of his new collection. (Photo: Carl Larson)

The deal went down in a hotel room in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. Bill hand-carried the thirty most fragile specimens back, and Gabriel took a special trip to San Diego, delivering the last 100 pieces, finalizing the deal, and checking out the Pala operations.

We are now processing all the specimens, getting them ready for an unveiling in Denver. [back to top]