Rosell Minerales

Group of interpenetrated prismatic arfvedsonite crystals, showing parallel growth. With defined faces and polycrystalline terminal faces. Dark green color, near black, in a feldspar matrix with very small prismatic zircon orange crystals.

Size: 4.3 x 3.7 x 3.6 cm.
Main crystal: 42 x 20 mm.
Found in 2011.

Very brilliant specimen formed by numerous polysynthetic growths of octahedral pyrite crystals. The golden color is superior and brilliance, as we said before, is really excellent. With white milky quartz. A fine piece from a not well represented locality.
These mines are located approximately 50 km south of Alnif, near the border with Algeria. This area was already mined in medieval age for the extraction of copper. In the 60s of the last century, French companies expanded shafts and mineral extraction.

Size: 8.0 x 5.3 x 3.5 cm.
Main crystal: 8 x 8 mm.
Found in 2013.

Good size parallel growth of tabular crystals of barite, very sharp and with very well defined faces and edges. They are translucent and accompanied by very bright and small marcasite.
These mines are located approximately 50 km south of Alnif, near the border with Algeria. This area was already mined in medieval age for the extraction of copper. In the 60s of the last century, French companies expanded shafts and mineral extraction.

Size: 7.9 x 5.5 x 4.3 cm.
Found in 2013.

Group of aesthetic cube-octahedral galena crystals, defined faces and edges, and with a better quality than usual for the locality. They are disposed on a matrix covered by brilliant quartz crystals. Accompanied by aggregates of honey color sphalerite complex crystals. With pyrite and flattened twinned marcasite.
These mines are located approximately 50 km south of Alnif, near the border with Algeria. This area was already mined in medieval age for the extraction of copper. In the 60s of the last century, French companies expanded shafts and mineral extraction.

Size: 7.4 x 5.0 x 4.5 cm.
Main crystal: 8 x 8 mm.
Found in 2013.

Elongated baryte crystals with very well defined faces and edges, transparent, very bright, with a brownish-yellow color and with darker selective micro-inclusions on some of the faces. On a pyrite matrix with marcasite twins, orange micro-siderite and quartz crystals.
These mines are located approximately 50 km south of Alnif, near the border with Algeria. This area was already mined in medieval age for the extraction of copper. In the 60s of the last century, French companies expanded shafts and mineral extraction.

Size: 7.7 x 6.4 x 2.4 cm.
Main crystal: 40 x 14 mm.
Found in 2013.

A very rich group of cube-octahedral galena crystals, brilliant, nice luster, defined faces and edges, and with a better quality than usual for the locality. They are disposed on a matrix covered by brilliant quartz crystals and small honey color sphalerite. Accompanied by aggregates of golden pyrite crystals, bright and sharp, flattened brilliant marcasite and chalcopyrite.
These mines are located approximately 50 km south of Alnif, near the border with Algeria. This area was already mined in medieval age for the extraction of copper. In the 60s of the last century, French companies expanded shafts and mineral extraction.

Size: 9.3 x 7.0 x 4.4 cm.
Main crystal: 6 x 5 mm. Galena
Found in 2013.

Fine quality specimen that shows aggregates of tabular crystals of baryte, with a slight bluish tone, brilliant and with defined faces and edges. Accompanied by several marcasite crystals showing various twins, such as "cockscomb", as aggregates or very aesthetic individual crystals. On a quartz crystal matrix.
These mines are located approximately 50 km south of Alnif, near the border with Algeria. This area was already mined in medieval age for the extraction of copper. In the 60s of the last century, French companies expanded shafts and mineral extraction.

Size: 6.8 x 5.4 x 5.3 cm.
Main crystal: 12 x 10 mm.
Found in 2013.

Huge size parallel growth of tabular crystals of barite, very sharp and with very well defined faces and edges. They are translucent and very bright and have flattened crystals of marcasite showing the twin known as "cockscomb".
These mines are located approximately 50 km south of Alnif, near the border with Algeria. This area was already mined in medieval age for the extraction of copper. In the 60s of the last century, French companies expanded shafts and mineral extraction.

Size: 10.7 x 7.3 x 4.5 cm.
Main crystal: 34 x 27 mm.
Found in 2011.

Rich group of galena cube-octahedral crystals, some of them complex, good luster, defined faces and edges, and with a better quality than usual for the locality. They are disposed on a matrix covered by small and brilliant quartz crystals. Accompanied by several aggregates of golden pyrite sharp crystals, brilliant, with aggregates of flattened and twinned marcasite. Very fine specimen with crystals in both sides.
These mines are located approximately 50 km south of Alnif, near the border with Algeria. This area was already mined in medieval age for the extraction of copper. In the 60s of the last century, French companies expanded shafts and mineral extraction.

Size: 10.4 x 9.2 x 3.8 cm.
Main crystal: 14 x 13 mm.
Found in 2013.

Aesthetic group of well-developed baryte crystals from this Murcian locality. They are disposed forming a "open-book" shape with parallel growth. They stand out as being covered with small, bright and transparent crystals of calcite, some chalcedony, peppered by small crystals of goethitized pyrite and manganese oxydes. A piece of an unusual locality not easy to find in the mineral market.

Size: 8.7 x 5.8 x 4.4 cm.
Main crystal: 35 x 25 mm.
Found in 2011.

These old specimens of pyrite belong to one of those curiosities that Nature offers us. In these pieces we can see crystals those are showing no apparent cubic symmetry. They have, more or less marked, parallelepiped forms unusually flattened. The edges are completely natural and the crystal has been consolidated on its matrix to avoid its possible detachment.
This kind of crystals put into question certain aspects of the cubic symmetry of pyrite. For more information on this topic you can read articles like King & Prewitt 1979 (Amer. Min., 64, 1265-1271).

Size: 11.0 x 4.7 x 4.0 cm.
Main crystal: 22 x 19 x 17 mm.
Found in 1990's.

These old specimens of pyrite belong to one of those curiosities that Nature offers us. In these pieces we can see crystals those are showing no apparent cubic symmetry. They have, more or less marked, parallelepiped forms unusually flattened. The edges are completely natural and the crystal has been consolidated on its matrix to avoid its possible detachment.
This kind of crystals put into question certain aspects of the cubic symmetry of pyrite. For more information on this topic you can read articles like King & Prewitt 1979 (Amer. Min., 64, 1265-1271).

Size: 8.4 x 6.8 x 4.3 cm.
Main crystal: 26 x 22 x 18 mm.
Found in 1990's.

Brilliant specimen showing a very well defined crystals of arsenopyrite covering the matrix, some of them with good size. They are accompanied by brilliant quartz crystals, pinkish calcite due to the content of Mn and small groups of boulangerite needles. A very luminous specimen.

Size: 8.3 x 6.8 x 5.2 cm.

A novelty in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2015. A rich group of well defined azurite crystals, good brilliance and with transparence. The blue color is very intense. With malachite fan-shaped aggregates. They are disposed in a vug into the gossan-cuprite matrix. Showy specimen from a copper and gold mine located in Laos, not well-known and less represented in collections. Few specimens from this mine had been previously seen in the market but with lower quality.

Size: 8.0 x 7.0 x 4.8 cm.
Main crystal: 8 x 5 mm.
Found in 2015.

A novelty in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2015. A rich group of well defined azurite crystals, good brilliance and with transparence. The blue color is very intense. They are disposed in a vug into the gossan-cuprite matrix. Showy specimen from a copper and gold mine located in Laos, not well-known and less represented in collections. Few specimens from this mine had been previously seen in the market but with lower quality.

Size: 9.7 x 5.8 x 4.6 cm.
Main crystal: 4 x 4 mm.
Found in 2015.

Group of very sharp hematite crystals, one of them of greater size and rich in faces. We can observe the positive and negative rhombohedrons truncated by the pinacoid and perfectly visible the hexagonal dipyramid well developed. Metallic luster is excellent and it has an intense black color. A very interesting speciemen of this South African mine.
It comes from the specimens of Luis "Louie" Bravi Antonio Teixeira Leite (1942-1999), a Portuguese mineral dealer who lived many years in South Africa.

Size: 2.8 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm.

Ex-coll. M. Ecker - Louie Leite

Group of grossular, hessonite variety. Good orange to brown color, translucent and defined faces and edges.

Size: 6.3 x 6.0 x 5.0 cm.
Main crystal: 12 x 10 mm.

Group of grossular, hessonite variety, one of them bigger. Good orange to brown color, translucent and curved faces and edges.

Size: 6.0 x 5.8 x 4.7 cm.

Group of stalactitic aggregates of barite crystals. They are very aerial disposed and formed by bladed crystals with chisel-shaped terminations. With a really good brilliance, some transparence and white color with yellowish tone. A good size specimen. A notable recent find from this Mediterranean mining area that never stops to surprise us.

Size: 9.7 x 7.5 x 6.0 cm.
Main crystal: 26 x 12 mm. aggreg.
Found in 12/2014.

Group of stalactitic aggregates of barite crystals. They are very aerial disposed and formed by bladed crystals with chisel-shaped terminations. With a really good brilliance, some transparence and white color. A good size specimen. A notable recent find from this Mediterranean mining area that never stops to surprise us.

Size: 8.8 x 6.5 x 5.4 cm.
Main crystal: 26 x 12 mm. aggreg.
Found in 12/2014.

Group of stalactitic aggregates of barite crystals. They are very aerial disposed and formed by bladed crystals with chisel-shaped terminations. With a really good brilliance, some transparence and white color. A notable recent find from this Mediterranean mining area that never stops to surprise us.

Size: 8.8 x 7.0 x 5.3 cm.
Main crystal: 25 x 12 mm. aggreg.
Found in 12/2014.

Specimen with a very good size formed by several groups of vanadinite crystals, with an intense red to brownish red zoning color, translucent, very brilliant and showing a defined prism truncated by pinacoidal faces. On a rocky matrix. Different than usual.

Size: 13.0 x 12.4 x 3.0 cm.
Main crystal: 8 x 6 mm.

Group of crystals of pyrrhotite completely replaced by brilliant pyrite crystals, which perfectly preserve the hexagonal shape of the original species. It is accompanied by groups of sphalerite crystals, very sharp, intense black color and good luster, with complex forms and twins. With some arsenopyrite. A very aesthetic, brilliant (more than in pictures) and classic European specimen.

Size: 8.0 x 6.4 x 4.7 cm.

In this specimen we can observe two generations of aurichalcite. A first generation as small rosettes formed by lanceolate greenish crystals and second with thiner crystals, needle-like, some of which are included in rhombohedral calcite crystals, with a light blue color. Stand in a very aesthetic way on the matrix of goethite. A very balanced sample.

Size: 7.5 x 5.5 x 3.8 cm.

Curious specimen of calcite from Moscona. Formed by some crystals, one of them predominant, with complex rhombohedrall faces with echeloned growth. Accompanied by tabular barite crystals and on a yellow fluorite matrix.

Size: 8,6 x 7,3 x 4,4 cm.
Main crystal: 28 x 25 mm.