December 3: Georges Claeys Sells 400-Piece Mont Saint-Hilaire Collection

Sale scheduled for January 14–15, Gent, Belgium

This newsletter, in Flemish, provides        more information regarding the sale.

Today we received a note from Georges Claeys stating that he is selling his private collection of minerals from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec—about 400 pieces. The collection contains micromounts, cabinet specimens, handpieces, and two big museum pieces: a siderite and an analcime with aegerine.

Some pieces are published in the German magazine Lapis with the theme Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada. In 2006, some of Claeys's best pieces were exhibited at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in the featured Canadian exhibition.

The special sale will take place Friday, 14 Jan 2011 (14:00–16:00) and Saturday, 15 Jan 2011 (10:00–18:00). For location and details, email Geonic Minerals or visit the website. [back to top]

Tucson Time – February 1–13, 2011

After the holidays, we’re looking forward to the world’s greatest gem and mineral show in February. One-stop general information about individual shows can be obtained from the Tucson EZ-Guide.

Pala International will be represented in Tucson as follows. We look forward to seeing our many friends there. Visit the Pala International Show Schedule for future events.

AGTA GemFair

Pala joins nearly 100 exhibitors for this annual extravaganza.

Event: AGTA GemFair
When: February 1–6
Where: Tucson Convention Center
Booth: 1016

The event website now features an interactive floorplan allowing you to see who is exhibiting by area of the convention center.

A list of seminars was released just as our newsletter went to e-press.

10th Annual Westward Look Mineral Show

Pala International and two dozen other world-class mineral dealers shack up at a Sonoran Desert resort.

• Collector Day (Sat) features Wayne Sorensen and selections from the private collection of the Wayne R. Sorensen Family Trust
• Mineral Adventures from Madagascar (Sun) is a presentation by Dr. Federico Pezzotta, curator of mineralogy at the Museum of Natural History in Milan. View a portrait of Dr. Pezzotta and some of his institution’s specimens as well as his personal treasures from Elba Island

Event: 10th Annual Westward Look Mineral Show
When: February 4–7
Where: Westward Look Resort
Suite: 224

See Pala International’s page on the Westward Look Show site.

57th Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show

TGMS is the largest gem and mineral show in the country. This year’s theme is “Minerals of California,” so it was natural that Pala’s Bill Larson would be asked to make a presentation on the subject.

Event: 57th Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
When: February 10–13
Where: Tucson Convention Center
Booth: Aisle 5 East

We received a preliminary list of presenters for the 2011 show:

• Robert James, president of International School of Gemology: “Forensic Gemology and the New Generation of Treatments”
• Courtenay V. Smale, retired chartered mining engineer: “The Williams Collection of Caerhays Castle, Cornwall”
• Vandall King, consulting mineralogist and author: “The California Minerals You Want to Own”
• Bill Larson, president of Pala International: “Fabulous Treasures from San Diego Gem Mines” (see details below)
• Anthony Kampf, curator of The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: “Treasure Trove of New Minerals”
• Wayne Leicht, expert on gold specimens and proprietor with Dona Leicht of Kristalle gallery: “California Gold Rush”
• Erik Stewart, Tucson-area jewelry designer: Topic to be announced

[back to top]

Tucson Transit Tips

Many shows will offer their own shuttles. View your transit and parking options here. [back to top]
 

And speaking of Tucson…

A little bird told us that BlueCap Productions will offer at Tucson 2011 the first volume in a Collecting Minerals video series. Collecting Minerals: Thumbnails will feature specimens from the likes of Wendell Wilson, Carolyn Manchester, and Rich Olsen, and will fill the screen in 360-degree glory as the collectors reminisce on each piece.

Tucson 2010 was well documented by BlueCap with a 3-DVD set, What’s Hot in Tucson, devoted to minerals and a separate DVD focusing on gems and jewelry at the AGTA GemFair.

Attention Holiday Shoppers: Friends of Pala International get a 10% discount on any BlueCap order. Just enter the code  palaintl when you’re asked for it while ordering.

And Munich?

A month after Tucson, BlueCap is slated to release a new What’s Hot. This one takes the viewer to Mineralientage München, Europe’s largest mineral show. The October 2010 show featured some impossibly precarious tourmalines from Brazil’s Minas Gerais, which What’s Hot In Munich captures backstage.

Subscribers to Mineralogical Record will receive their own copies free of charge, with the March–April issue.

From Minas Gerais. Palaminerals.com offers some lovely and affordable tourmalines from the locality featured this year at the Munich show. This one was just added yesterday. At the base of this glassy, gemmy crystal is a quartz with a crossing tourmaline coated with lepidolite mica. Inventory #18813. (Photo: John McLean)

[back to top]

Reprint: Mineralogical Record Report on Ste-Marie Show

Larsons provide expanded account

In our last issue of Pala Mineralis, we featured an abbreviated report from Pala’s Will Larson regarding the 2010 Euro-Mineral & Euro-Gem shows at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines.

The full report—by Bill, Will, and Carl Larson—has been published in the November–December issue of The Mineralogical Record, and we’re pleased to provide a reprint of it here. It covers four days of highlights from the show

In the reprint, we’ve included some new photographs from Carl Larson.

A nice Japan law twin from a special display of quartz from France. (Photo: Carl Larson)

Also at The Mineralogical Record

In his “What’s New in the Mineral World” column on The Mineralogical Record website, Thomas P. Moore mentions the Palaminerals.com website in general, and discusses in particular a uvite-dravite (aka tourmaline, pictured at right) from our catalog.

[back to top]

Online: GéoForum and -Wiki, Virtual Mineral Museum

French and American sites for virtual perusal and more

We received two notes last week about mineral sites from New York, NY and Lille, France.

Frédéric Delporte, who collects French specimens and is “impassioned” about the mineralogy of France, is also impassioned about two French websites devoted to all aspects of earth sciences.

GéoForum is a space devoted to discussions of Earth Sciences, the Geological Heritage in the community life around the geology or geological events. The forum made 100,000 visits per month and 350 to 450,000 page views. Reference site in its field in France.

GéoForum offers discussion opportunities in Geology, Mineralogy, Micromineralogy, Paleontology, and Vulcanology, as well as events, galleries, and more.

Fun for francophones. Both these websites encourage participation as well as browsing.

GéoWiki is an encyclopedia dedicated to geology, mineralogy, paleontology, volcanology and other Earth sciences. Everyone can enrich by registering as a member.

GéoWiki has a nice emphasis on regional information, as demonstrated by a listing of selected articles on the home page:

geology of the Far North of France and Belgium, the geology and paleontology of the Mounts of Flanders, the geology of Boulonnais, the minerals of France, the color of crystals, Uranium, the geology of the Armorican Massif, the internal composition of the Earth, Iceland or the birth of a new world, the meteorites: stones that fall on us from the sky, the mines of Steinbach (68), Les Mines de Potasse d’Alsace au fil du temps, crystallography, oil, basalt, the fossil chondrichthyes, pseudomorphs, macles, volcanic risks in Europe, the trade of the geologist,…

John Betts, a purveyor of fine minerals, pointed us to his non-commercial Mineral Museum—“strictly a reference site for collectors.” Betts told us that the virtual museum contains 67,000 images of 30,700 mineral specimens. The home page gives an indication of the bounty: 734 “A” minerals alone are listed. Choose another letter of the alphabet and then choose your mineral.

Gem Minerals. One of several pre-selected groupings that have been assembled for your browsing pleasure.

Scroll down to the foot of the page for useful categories—mineralogical and locational—such as the Gem Minerals section pictured above. Pseudomorphs? Betts has over 800 in alphabetical order. Over 1,000 specimens in a Native Elements category. Just the thing for a quick reference or an extended browse… [back to top]

“Bahia” Emerald Jinxed?

Friends don’t let friends buy 840-lb. rocks

Last month, in our gemstone newsletter, Palagems Reflective Index, we noted the testimony of Anthony Thomas, who claimed he was swindled out of possession of the 840-lb. “Bahia” Emerald after its true value was realized—a swindle aided and abetted by a man he considered a friend.

Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle published a story titled “Bahia Emerald legal battle tears 2 friends apart.” It begins by questioning whether an item of commerce that destroyed a friendship might be cursed. One of the lawyers involved, Eric Kitchen, demurred, calling the “Bahia” a “magnificent creation” of nature. If anything is jinxed, he said, it’s the attitude taken by mere mortals toward the stone.

The trial is scheduled to resume December 14 in Los Angeles, according to a November 19 press release. “A trial date as to Mark Downie’s ownership claims to the Bahia Emerald has not yet been announced,” the release stated. As we noted before, the complicated case—which has had over 12 claimants, according to the Chronicle—is revealed by its title(s): Ken Conetto By Eric Kitchen His Attorney In Fact (Petitioner) vs. Kit Morrison and Todd Armstrong (Respondents); Mark Downie (Intervenors) vs. Eric Kitchen et al., Kit Morrison and Todd Armstrong (Respondents), Case No. BS118649.

On September 8, 2010, Respondents Kit Morrison, Todd Armstrong, Jerry Ferrara, FM Holdings, Inc., and Market Link, Inc. reached an undisclosed settlement with Petitioners Ken Conetto and Forrest Wayne Catlett. [back to top]

George Harlow on the “Trail of Green Rocks”

The following also appeared in last month’s edition of Palagems Reflective Index.

Dr. George Harlow, curator of gems and minerals at the American Museum of Natural History, has posted a two-part overview of his trip last month with the jaderos (jade researchers) of Guatemala in the Motagua Valley. The team of geologists were researching the origins of the area’s jade, which is a surviving legacy of prehistoric Mayan artistry.

Got green? Kennet Flores (Post-Doctoral Fellow at AMNH), Jinny Sisson (University of Houston), a local Chorti, and George Harlow checking out rocks near Camotán in Guatemala. (Photo: Jamie Newman, courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History)

In these posts, Dr. Harlow discusses the origins of the Caribbean region and its “theme of green rocks” that includes jadeite and serpentinite. By the good fortune of a shortcut, the group saves time and effort in successfully pursuing their green goal. Read “On the Trail of Green Rocks” and “In Search of a Jade Host Rock,” at the blog Scientist at Work, a electronic field journal crafted by Stuart Sandin, associate professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, hosted by The New York Times. [back to top]

— End December Newsletter • Published 12/2/10 —

October 11: National Geographic Channel Presents:
Into the Lost Crystal Caves

Naica Caves documentary to air twice more this Thursday

National Geographic Channel will air a new documentary about the “lost” crystal caves at Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico, twice on Thursday, October 14. (Check times here; be sure to set your time zone.) The two-hour program premiered last night, and from what we’ve seen, it deals with a multidisciplinary interest in the caves, from microbiology to space travel, beyond the danger, danger, danger tattoo that is the lure of such television programming.

Naica’s famous selenite crystals were created in a stable environment of warm, mineral-rich water (as discussed in a 2006 Geology article), and discovered by accident as miners looked for lead, zinc, and silver. The crystals, now available for study as water has been removed from their caves, are the size of telephone poles, weighing up to 55 tons. (Other crystal caves, covered in the documentary, exhibit other features.) The caves are not hospitable, however, with their ambient temperature of 113°F and 90% humidity. Expeditions into the caves have been facilitated by the donning of “ice suits” and respirators that cool the skin, lungs, and eyes. Think “poached eggs” and you’ll have an idea of what five minutes of unmitigated cave exploration can do to the human body.

Antediluvian. These caves may be flooded with water once again after nearby mining of minerals with industrial value is completed. (Photo: Source unknown)

The documentary, Into the Lost Crystal Caves, is a co-production of Canada and Mexico, distributed by National Geographic (NG). “For more than five years,” director Gonzalo Infante of Speleoresearch & Films “has tirelessly worked to share the wonders of Naica with the world and to preserve them for future generations,” a reference to the fact that the caves likely will not remain drained, as explained by Paul Williams, who visited one cave for another NG series.

See also the Naica Project website. [back to top]

Mile-High Mirth-Maker

This photo may well have gone viral at the show in Denver two weeks ago.

As Bill Larson wrote after receiving it from a fellow dealer, “A sign of the times…” [back to top]

Will Larson to Speak on Gem and Mineral Mining

Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society, November 11, 2010

Will Larson will speak at the November 11 general membership of the Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society. His subject of his presentation will be gem and mineral mining projects that he has worked on, past and present.

Will Larson points to black tourmalines at the Oceanview Mine last December.

The meeting will be held from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Society meeting hall, 123 W. Alvarado Street. Contact information is available from the Society website. [back to top]

Emerald Aisle

Bahia Emerald Has Its Day in Court

Finally, the case of the 840-lb. “Bahia” Emerald is proceeding in Los Angeles. Claiming to be the specimen’s first buyer, Anthony Thomas, spent several hours on the stand, and said he bought it in 2001 for $60,000 not long after it was mined in Bahia, Brazil. According to Thomas, the money he wired to the Brazilian owners never arrived. Even though he traveled to Brazil, technically Thomas seems not to have taken physical possession of the emerald, supposedly returning to the U.S. for a family emergency without crating the rock and then losing the bill of sale in a 2006 fire.

Other claimants had their own take on the sequence of events, as reported in a September 24 Associated Press story that was carried by media from the Los Angeles Times to Huffington Post to The Guardian (UK).

A September 30 press release stated that the bench trial will continue on October 26. Another claimant, Mark Downie, will have his case heard separately on a date to be announced.

See our previous stories on the emerald February 24, March 4, and March 18, 2009, [back to top]

Bello smeraldo peruviano colombiano

Ronald Ringsrud, author of Emeralds, A Passionate Guide, spent time in Italy not long ago, and discovered a lovely specimen, pictured below, in the Mineralogical Museum at the University of Rome.

Clash of appellations. Notice that the tag at top reads, Muso Columbia, while the one at lower right mentions Peru. (Photo: Ronald Ringsrud)

In his recent e-newsletter, Ringsrud explains why the tag lists the origin as Peru, rather than Colombia.

Ringsrud also points to another book on emerald, published last spring, Colour of Paradise: The Emerald in the Age of Gunpowder Empires, by Kris Lane, professor of history at the College of William and Mary.

Dr. Paul Drinot, of BBC History Magazine, reviewed the book, saying that it “uncovers the ‘social life’” of emeralds, using a particular commodity “as a conduit to understand the interconnected and interdependent character of global history.” [back to top]

Early Harvest of Green on North Carolina Farm

A two-inch-square emerald, so dark it blocked the sun, was plucked from the ground a year ago August at a farm near Hiddenite, North Carolina, by Terry Ledford, a business partner of Renn Adams, who owns the farm with his siblings. (Yes, the town, which lies in the western part of the state, 50 miles northwest of Charlotte, is named for the mineral hiddenite, a variety of spodumene.) Since then the stone has been cut and re-cut, now weighing about 65 carats—about a fifth of the crystal’s original weight, according to an August 30 story by Associated Press.

From North Colombia. This well-terminated emerald on matrix comes from the Cosquez Mine in Muzo, Boyacá Department. It measures 4.1 x 3.4 x 2.7 cm. Inventory #18231. (Photo: John McLean)

The emerald is being marketed by the name Carolina Emperor, but it’s being compared with a stone of similar size and quality owned by an empress—Russia’s Catherine II, “the Great.” We asked Ronald Ringsrud for his assessment. “I would say, that as real estate and the stock market lose their attraction,” he told us, “more people look to rarity in the form of metals and gems. The emerald from North Carolina is something rare, collectible, and worthy.”

Ledford told the Charlotte Observer that the crystal was so big it looked like a 7 Up bottle, weighing 310 carats before being cut. The story also describes the mining method employed by Ledford and Adams.

Ledford told the Observer that, as the son of mica miner, he “more or less grew up on” mining. Now he can retire on it. But, he says, he won’t stop now. See images of the cut stone at CNN. [back to top]

Some items of interest to mineral enthusiasts, featured in Palagems Reflective Index, our colored gemstone newsletter…

Mineral Mélange

Rubellite matrix offered at Burma sale

The 29th Gems & Jade Sale was held August 20–24 in Yangon, Burma, by the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited. Amongst the offerings was: “Magnificent Pink Tourmaline (Rubellite) Crystals with quartz and feldspar in matrix weighing ( 19 ) kilogram, the starting price Euro ( 5 ) million.”

Coincidentally, we were sent photographs of this overwhelming item, courtesy Kyaw Thu.

Rich and fruity. Rubellite matrix from Let-Pan-Hla Mine, operated by UMEHL, which were to be exhibited at the sale this month. The crystals—about 150 in all—are 1–1.5 inches. (Photos courtesy Kyaw Thu)

[back to top]

Going for the Gold

Famous ingot got gone

The late Mel Fisher left a collection of artifacts, from his famous treasure hunting, to the Maritime Heritage Museum named for him in Key West. On August 18, perhaps the single most memorable article in the museum was lifted—and then lifted. For 25 years, a hands-on exhibit has allowed goers to do a dumbbell curl with a $550,000 gold bar, from within a specially designed display case, until it was stolen on the 18th. Video of the still-at-large suspects is on YouTube.

Would you mind stepping up a little closer? Suspects were not shy about letting security cameras get a good look.

To publicize the theft, the museum started a Facebook page of museum-goer memories. Thomas Gidus, who counts treasure hunting and local history amongst his interests, posted several clippings of thefts from over the years on TreasureNet. [back to top]

— End October Newsletter • Published 10/4/10 —

Pala at Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show
September 15–19, 2010

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

• When: Sept. 15–19, 2010
• 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.

Fluorite from the Sunnyside Mine in Colorado’s San Juan County, 3.7 x 3.9 x 3.5 cm. This older specimen is very glassy and features a few rhodochrosites. It’s available. (Photo: John McLean)

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

While in Denver…

Photo: Kenneth Garrett © 2008 National Geographic

…you have a chance to see Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs at the Denver Art Museum, which includes 50 artifacts from the tomb of this 14th century C.E. son of a heretic, such as the canopic stopper at right carved in the young king’s (or another’s?) likeness from translucent calcite, and used to seal canopic chest compartments containing his internal organs.

The exhibit also features 50 additional objects spanning 2,000 years of Egyptian his- and her-story, such as the famous broad collar (wesekh) found on the body of Neferuptah, princess of an earlier dynasty, composed of six rows of feldspar and carnelian beads, inlaid teardrops, and golden falcon heads. [back to top]

Pala’s Featured Specimens: Rhodochrosite from Peru, Phenakite from Burma

This month we feature two new specimens the Larsons picked up while at the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines show last month: a rhodochrosite from Peru and a phenakite from Burma. (Bill Larson tells us that a report on the show is forthcoming…)

Rhodochrosite from Peru. Price upon request. (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

The rhodochrosite comes to us from the Uchucchacua Mine in the Oyon province, Lima Department in Peru. Clusters of intense orangey-red rhodochrosite scalenohedron crystals mixed with tiny fluorite crystals are scattered on a black gritty matrix. It features several pristine rhodochrosite crystals around 1 cm. in length and a twin perched right on the edge of the specimen.

Phenakite from Mogok, Burma. Price upon request. (Photo: Jason Stephenson)

The phenakite come to us from Kat Chay Mine, Momeik, Mogok, Sagaing District, Mandalay Division, Burma. A doubly terminated phenakite crystal is positioned amongst a salt-and-pepper matrix of feldspar and quartz. The phenakite crystal is 3.7 x 1.2 x 1.0 cm. and very gemmy with a glassy drill bit termination.

Interested? Call or email us to inquire. [back to top]

News Briefs

Rock on…

• BlueCap Productions: What’s Hot In Tucson 2010 is now available. Co-hosts David Wilber and Bob Jones take you through the shows in the course of three DVDs. Included is an interview with Will Larson, who was the featured exhibitor at Westward Look.
     Also see Eberhard Equit – An Intimate Talk, a DVD filmed on location in the mineral artist’s Germany, and The Minette Collection, a 2002 film shot by Wendell Wilson which profiles James and Dawn Minette and their world class thumbnail collection, which was sold off at Tucson in 2008. As always Pala people get a 10% discount: enter the code  palaintl  during checkout
• New York Times: California considers dropping its state rock. The-Vug.com’s Justin Zzyzx is quoted at the end, via Twitter: “Dear gloria romero, you have picked the wrong nerds to mess with!” He explains more here
• Diamonds.net: “Bahia” Emerald ruling postponed; trial set for September 8

[back to top]

Last month we celebrated the close of Pala International’s 40th year, and the beginning of our 41st, with a new name for our gem newsletter: Palagems Reflective Index. In this Recycle Bin we point to two stories from that newly dubbed edition, reflecting on Nature’s incredible beauty-bounty as well as its capacity for calamity…

A Collection in Living Color

ICA quarterly profiles the Metzger Collection

In July’s Palagems Reflective Index we looked at a feature story in the Spring 2010 of InColor, the quarterly issued by the International Colored Stone Association (ICA). It surrounds the story and collection of Edward A. Metzger, a connoisseur collector of colored stones. Pala’s Bill Larson is slated to contribute the foreword to the upcoming book about the collection.

While the collection includes very few mineral crystals, co-authors of the InColor article, Elise Skalwold and Dr. William Bassett, “approach the study of gemstones from a mineralogy perspective,” Elise told us. “Everything about the cut stones relates to the original mineral's crystallographic properties.”

Classic Jeff Scovil “rough & cut” portrait. A 1.19-carat cut red beryl alongside its natural sister, a 1.70-cm. double-terminated crystal. Both originate from the Wah Wah Mountains, Beaver County, Utah. (Photo: Jeff Scovil)

“Jeff's rough-and-cut red beryl portrait is iconic for the Metzger Collection,” she said, regarding the photograph above by Jeff Scovil, ”even though this crystal is the only significant mineral specimen it includes.”

When I first came across the nearly euhedral red beryl crystal and its flawless faceted counterpart, not only did I immediately think of Jeff's signature rough-and-cut style, but also how to tie this collection into our academic focus. Jeff’s knowledge of mineralogy along with his skill at capturing the special qualities of gems and minerals has made this collection come alive in print, as the InColor article demonstrates.

Elise told us that the forthcoming book will include portraits by Scovil of minerals (from other collections) representative of the faceted stones in this collection, to illustrate discussion of the attributes of the gems themselves. “This would have greatly pleased Ed Metzger with his insatiable curiosity about what makes a gem a gem!”

Read more in our “A Collection in Living Color.” [back to top]

Hard Science and Hard Choices,
to Stop a Deep Water Disaster

John Koivula asks whether a disadvantage can be turned into an advantage in capping the Deepwater Horizon

With persistent attention focused on the risk of underwater oil leakage, we’re pleased to point to a proposal offered by none other than John Koivula—yes—the world authority on gemstone inclusions. “What the hellyerite does he know about the subject?” you ask. We wondered, too. Then we read his simple and elegant solution offered in the three pages of “Possible Solution to Stop the Deep Water Oil Leak at its Source.”

Innovative thinking—of John Koivula’s sort—clearly is in order. A report issued July 27 by The Center for Public Integrity questions whether the spraying of tons of saltwater by private boats might have led to the collapse of the Deepwater Horizon platform. Who’d a thunk it? {Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)

[back to top]

— End August Newsletter • Published 8/3/10 —