On a recent trip to this Moroccan mining area, we found these stalactitic specimens of vanadinite with incredible aesthetics. They were found in a singular cavity, opened in the depths of a 24-meter well, in the Coud'a shafts area. They have a really good brilliance. Crystals show attractive stalactitic growths, also uneven developments in the directions of the prism, very well defined, interpenetrated and with some color zoning. Vanadinite specimens from Mibladen area are well known iworlwide and although we have seen many, they never cease to amaze us. Exceptional specimens.

Size: 5.2 x 3.8 x 3 cm.
Found in 02/2020.

On a recent trip to this mining area, we found these new specimens with incredible aesthetics. They were found in a singular cavity, opened in the depths of a 24-meter well, in Coud'a shafts. They have a more than exceptional brilliance, probably due to a last phase of crystallization in which a thin layer of almost transparent vanadinite was deposited. Crystals are very well defined, with staggered axial growths in the prism and with color zoning, more orange than red. Vanadinites from the Mibladen area are well known worldwide and although we have seen many of them, they never cease to amaze us. Exceptional specimens!

Size: 18 x 10 x 4.7 cm.
Main crystal: 2.4 cm.
Found in 02/2020.

Classic locality

Nigerian topaz specimens are not easy to see. This specimen shows a sharp crystal, transparent, with a delicate bluish tone. With well-defined prismatic faces and dipyramidal and prism terminal faces, curious for their development, which look like a twin. A true gem of this mining area in which there are many dispersed deposits.

Size: 3 x 1.8 x 1.2 cm.
Found in ca. 1980.

Group of elbaite crystals, in parallel growth, with striated prismatic faces, deep green color and good luster. From the former Manchion collection, with the characteristic label.

Size: 5.4 x 2.6 x 2.4 cm.
Found in 1989.

Col. Manchion (Barcelona) #483.

Showy specimen in the form of divergent stalactitic aggregates, with a patina of manganese oxides on the back side. Aerial and good sized. A very curious piece of this mine from Murcia.

Size: 8 x 7 x 6.5 cm.

Col. J.A. Robles (La Unión, Murcia)

Lorenzenite is a rare sodium titanium silicate found in pegmatites and nepheline syenites. A lustrous, sharp, chocolate-brown crystals in matrix on this excellent specimen from the Joan Astor Collection.

Size: 4.5 x 4 x 3 cm.
Main crystal: 1.8 cm.
Found in 1994.

Col. Joan Astor.

Excellent specimen of rhodochrosite from this classic American locality from where not many specimens are available, unless they appear in former collections. This piece entered the Joan Astor collection in 1976 and was acquired from Joan Montal, a well-known old dealer from Vilafranca del Penedés (Barcelona). Several rhombohedral rhodo crystals, very well defined, with a very aesthetic pink color. With a globular aggregate of a second generation of rhodo. It stands out on the matrix of quartz crystals. A unique piece.

Size: 5 x 4 x 3 cm.
Found in 1970's.

Col. Joan Astor.

Alurgite is a variety of purple muscovite. It was classified 1959 as an intermediate variety between leucophyllite and muscovite. A study of Knurr and Bailey (1986, online) showed that the alurgite, treated as muscovite-2M1 with Mn, contains trivalent manganese (in contrast to divalent Mn-containing "manganophyllite"). This specimen of good size shows us an aggregate of micaceous crystals, with an intense brilliance and good color, in a quartzite rocky matrix. A rare variety of muscovite.

Size: 10 x 8.5 x 6 cm.

Rich aggregates of laminar and tabular roweite crystals, with an exceptional quality for the species. The crystals of this rare calcium and manganese borate show very well defined forms, with a light brown color and excellent definition. The quality of these specimens is far superior to that previously known for the species. Along with them, and giving a very aesthetic touch, a group of olshanskyite crystals, a calcium borate, of a snowy white and with parallel growths. There is no doubt that this specimen is very worthy in any mineral collection and display.

Size: 5.5 x 4.5 x 4 cm.

On a matrix of sulphides, an iridescent patina of covellite, very brilliant, with deep blue color. From a classic locality for the Spanish mineralogy. This specimen belongs from the Arguijo collection. A rarity.

Size: 5.6 x 4.5 x 2.8 cm.
Found in 1980's.

Col. A. Arguijo (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona).
Classic locality

his good sized specimen from the late 80s belongs from the Arguijo collection, and it was mined in this famous "onubense" mine. It is a sulphide matrix partially covered by brilliant covellite microcrystals, very defined and visible. It has an intense metallic blue iridescence and this very characteristic color. It is accompanied by numerous crystals of native sulphur with curved faces, brilliance, translucent and showing a delicate yellow tone. It was mined from a sporadic finding in the Corta Atalaya, Minas de Riotinto. A unique occasion to obtain one of these "old" specimens.

Size: 7.4 x 5.7 x 5.2 cm.
Found in 1980's.

Col. A. Arguijo (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona).
Classic locality

Good sized cerussite crystal, with cyclic twinning, complete, and polysynthetic growths. Good color and defined faces, disposed very aerially on a matrix with baryte crystals. A very aesthetic Moroccan classic. With handwritten label.

Size: 9.2 x 4.2 x 3.5 cm.
Main crystal: 3.2 cm.
Found in 1980's.

Col. L. Daunis (Barcelona).
Fluorescent under long wave UV

Group of quartz crystals, with defined rhombohedron forms and parallel growth (faden). Excellent brilliance and transparence. These are specimens from a Moroccan mine that is poorly represented in collections.

Size: 5.6 x 4.8 x 1.7 cm.
Found in 2019.

Group of quartz crystals, with defined rhombohedron forms and some with more development faces, poorly developed prisms. Excellent brilliance and transparence. These are specimens from a Moroccan mine that is poorly represented in collections.

Size: 7.5 x 4.5 x 3 cm.
Found in 2019.

A very aesthetic miniature. Orthoclase specimen that shows two crystals with the Karlsbad twin. An unusual piece for this classic Spanish locality. From the Joan Astor collection (Barcelona), former Joan Abella collection (Sabadell).

Size: 3 x 2 x 2 cm.
Found in 1990's.

Col. Joan Astor, Col. Joan Abella.
Classic locality

Some unusual specimens from the Oujda area, specifically from Touissit. These are aggregates of sphalerite crystals, of an intense brown color, with reddish transparencies, good luster, which are dotted with small chalcopyrite/pyrite crystals, disposed on a dolomite matrix, with an aesthetic contrast. Just arrived (March 2020) after our trip through Moroccan lands.

Size: 7 x 4.4 x 3 cm.
Main crystal: 1 cm.
Found in 02/2020

Some unusual specimens from the Oujda area, specifically from Touissit. These are aggregates of sphalerite crystals, some of them twinned, of an intense brown color, with reddish transparencies, good luster, which are dotted with small chalcopyrite and pyrite crystals, disposed on a dolomite matrix, with an aesthetic contrast. Just arrived (March 2020) after our trip through Moroccan lands.

Size: 5.6 x 5.5 x 3.2 cm.
Main crystal: 1.1 cm.
Found in 02/2020

Some unusual specimens from the Oujda area, specifically from Touissit. These are aggregates of sphalerite crystals, of an intense brown color, with reddish transparencies, good luster, which are dotted with small chalcopyrite and pyrite crystals, disposed on a dolomite matrix, with an aesthetic contrast. Just arrived (March 2020) after our trip through Moroccan lands.

Size: 5.5 x 5.4 x 3 cm.
Main crystal: 1.2 cm.
Found in 02/2020

Some unusual specimens from the Oujda area, specifically from Touissit. These are aggregates of sphalerite crystals, of an intense brown color, with reddish transparencies, good luster, which are dotted with small chalcopyrite and pyrite crystals, disposed on a dolomite matrix, with an aesthetic contrast. Just arrived (March 2020) after our trip through Moroccan lands.

Size: 6.2 x 5 x 4.8 cm.
Main crystal: 2.5 cm.
Found in 02/2020

Old specimen of native arsenic, forming botryoidal aggregates, with an intense gray color slightly bronze. These specimens were known locally as "scherbenkobalt" (pieces of cobalt). Note that this mine is the Type Locality of the annabergite. A difficult German mineral classic to find from this locality, an old silver and cobalt mine, worked from around 1650 until 1852 and reworked between 1856 and 1859.

Size: 4.5 x 4 x 2.8 cm.

Botryoidal aggregates of coronadite, with greasy luster and color between deep dark gray to almost black. It is a very old specimen from this Moroccan locality. Not easy to find samples from this mine in the market. With the Montal typed label.

Size: 7.5 x 7.2 x 6 cm.
Found in 1997.

Col. M. Marí & A. García, #0.095

Hidalgoite specimen from this classic Spanish mine. It appears as olive-green coatings, forming aggregates of tiny crystals. Collected in 1999 by M. Marí and A. García. The Estrella mine is located in the Majadillas hill, in the extreme south of the municipality of Pardos, in Guadalajara. It is an old copper and silver mine whose exploitation dates back to the 17th century, with its maximum activity being in the mid-19th century coinciding with the splendor of the nearby Hiendelaencina mines.

Size: 6.7 x 3.8 x 2 cm.
Found in 1999.

Col. M. Marí & A. García, #0.131
Classic locality

Rich group of prismatic pyromorphite crystals, of an intense green color and forming radial aggregates. This specimen comes from this not well-known mine, one of the most remote in central Wales. The first works date from 1854, and continued to be exploited intermittently until 1896. Total registered production is 3271 tons of lead ore. Sphalerite and marcasite are relatively common species, while pyromorphite is rare. The specimen comes from the former Joan Astor collection and was purchased from Montal in 1977. With old labels.

Size: 5 x 4 x 2.8 cm.
Main crystal: 5 mm.
Found in 1970's.

Col. Joan Astor.

Group of prismatic baryte crystals, doubly terminated and well defined, with good luster and transparency. They are disposed very aerially on the matrix. The history of the Silius mines begins in the first decades of the 20th century, particularly in 1916, when the first research permits were registered for the galena. It was in the early 1950s that the focus was on major fluorite outcrops and in 1953 the first company to obtain the mining concession for the exploitation of the rich fluors of fluorite and galena was created, the Mineraria Silius SpA, active until 2006.

Size: 6.5 x 5.5 x 4.5 cm.
Main crystal: 20 mm.

Group of cubic fluorite crystals, between translucent and transparent, with a deep green color with delicate dichroism under sunlight. The crystals are interpenetrated and showing geometric color and inclusions zoning. Very fluorescent under LW-UV and SW-UV. New locality/area for fluorite from Madagascar.

Size: 8.6 x 6.9 x 5.2 cm.
Main crystal: 3 cm.
Found in 2018.

Fluorescent under LW-UV and SW-UV lights