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I have just been updating 2 new minerals recently added to the e-Rocks database and made a sad but interesting discovery about the name.
Edtollite and alumoedtollite are comparatively newly IMA approved minerals pending publication.
Edtollite Minerals...
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Ahead of our trip to Munich we have just installed another new feature for all users of e-Rocks and Facebook.
Within the e-Rocks Facebook page there are now 5 new page tabs with Apps that let you do the following.
e-Rocks Auctions
look up and open...
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Marc Allen Fleischer owner of the Fleischer Museum has been showing of this interesting specimen from Tsumeb.
One of the main directions of the Fleischer collection is "Rough and Cut" where a mineral is displayed side by side as natural mineral with a...
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This unusual specimen featured in my Christmas auction in 2013/2014.
Smithsonite Psm Calcite.
Whatley Quarry, Somerset, UK.
Size: H:12.7cm x W:9.4cm x D:6.6cm
Largest Crystal: 2cm
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A new feature on e-Rocks for both sellers and collectors is the ability to add analysis information to specimens in their inventory.
Too often important analytical information is posted as an "aside" to the main pictures and not very readable.
Here you...
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In terms of desirability, the specimens collected by NASA in ‘69 would be hard to beat. Their superb provenance is excellently documented. They are holotypes of three minerals new to science, and brave men risked their lives to collect them.
There were...
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During September we undertook the appraisal and purchase of Peter Uuerpmann's collection located in Guadamar Del Segura near Alicante, Spain.
As the collection was in secure storage there were some challenges in getting access and seeing the minerals,...
-
Former e-Rocks seller and gemstone dealer from downunder, Klaus Brucksch has just been showing off some grizzly remains trapped in amber.
These amber specimens come from Myanmar and the creatures are a bit different to the flies ants and other insects we...
-
Always fun to see some good collecting going on, this time USA style with some "big" results.
Georgia based digger Jason Barrett posted these photos of the results of a joint dig a few months ago with Brandon Coleman, Larry Michon, Michael Lieb, Gina...
-
Bernissart Show is an annual event in Hainaut region of Belgium.
The 28th show was held this weekend (29-30 August)
Here are some photos of the show and a link to the original write up posted by Belgian collector Max Tom on his excellent blog site (in...
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When water freezes, it forms the mineral ice. The most beautiful specimens soon melt, so e-Rocks has never sold any. Don’t be dismayed by the prospect of an article on ice though, just wade through a next bit about snowflakes, then the post livens up...
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Salvatore Natalizia is continuing with the sale of his mineral collection today with another 107 items closing tonight.
Some really excellent and quite large classic specimens are on offer - see photo gallery below, or follow the link to the auction....
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Today we saw our e-Rocks User registration count reach 7500; this means that barring the odd D.Duck and K.Kong we are connected to 7500 mineral collectors worldwide.
Great news if you are prospective seller, re-assuring if you have not already signed...
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As Facebook does, this fantastic specimen photo posted by Val Collins in May 2012 appeared in my timeline today.
Not many of these specimens of cerussite with pyromorphite from Daoping Mine appeared, this must be one of the best examples.
Thanks to...
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10 years ago in 2007 we were visited by Somerset based collector Colin Palk. Colin's specific interests were minerals from Scotland, aided and abetted by his regional work in Scotland for the BBC.
Subsequently Colin moved his collection on, it arriving...
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Expert photographer and mineral collector from Austria, Andreas Schmid has recently being showing some excellent photographs using a light source at an extreme angle to the faces of the subject crystals.
I would have trouble explaining the physics...
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George turned up today with a little collection of mainly Scottish Minerals.
This is some native silver from Alva Mine, Central Scotland.
8mm across - rare stuff!
The discovery of a native silver deposit in 1715 also coincided with the Jacobite rebellion...
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Today is Halloween, a fun time of dressing up, lighting lanterns and "trick or treating".
Our own ghoul face agate lives all year round on a shelf with the family pictures above our stairs. We bought him back in 2000 when Christian (my wife) and I were...
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Our technical department at e-Rocks (AKA my wife and George) have been on at me for some time to get a decent mobile phone as I am usually hard to track down when offline.
Coupled with this we have a mobile version of the cataloguing/inventory system...
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For those of you who check out my personal timeline on Facebook you will already be aware that I keep this fed with a steady stream of mineral photographs and sometimes (not so) witty captions!
I just do this for a bit of entertainment and interaction as...
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Some highlights from today's photography at TV Towers
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It is that time of year again and I am sure you will have noticed a number of "Munich" themed auctions lining up on the schedule.
Suffice to say there have been some tremendous minerals coming through and still more to come over the next week or so, and...
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Back in 2009 the late Paul Lowe was disposing of the mineral collection of the late Dr Fred Armitage.
Dr Armitage lectured in Chemistry at London Universities from the 1970s until the early 2000s. He had a huge interest in puzzles particularly polycube...
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It was down to Carsten to wrap up August 2015, and boy did he find something a bit unusual!
Brunogeierite is an insanely rare iron germanate found only (so far) in a few places, plus Tsumeb. The crystal habit is black octahedral crystals.
For a Tsumeb...
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e-Rocks seller and field collector Tasos Tsinidis has recently been collecting these fine sanidine specimens at the locality, Kakourou Peak, Promachoi, Pella Prefecture, Central Macedonia, Greece.
Tasos also kindly posted these photos of the collecting...
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The Hampshire Mineral & Fossil show is on Saturday 5th September at its usual venue in Lyndhurst Community Centre.
Time: 10:00am - 16:30pm.
The Hampshire show although small is always well attended and usually has some nice things to see, with...
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Quite often minerals appear online from places that one is never likely to visit, some places like Tsumeb or Trepca are well photographed and beautiful, some of course ugly.
One place I have never visualised is the Tatra mountains spanning Poland and...
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The new year continues this week with a full program of auctions from the e-Rocks sellers.
As usual a huge and diverse range covering most aspects of collecting.
This diamond listed in the latest SAL minerals auction is a good example, weighing in at 57....
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On our way home, we recently encountered an unusual - for mineral collectors - scenery: a snow-covered Saint Marie-aux-Mines!
With these pictures Plinius Earth Treasures wishes all its e-rocks friends a Happy 2018 full of health, joy and new specimens....
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This really odd habit of cuprite has just come to light from the copper mines at Rudabanya, Hungary.
Not seen before from here, the habit appears to be octahedral modified by cubic faces - FOV 1.5mm.
The specimen is in the collection of e-Rocks seller...
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Gwennap Pit started out as a sharp indentation in the landscape caused by mining subsidence in the mid C18th.
It gained a reputation as an outdoor "church" when John Welsey preached there no less than 18 times between 1762 and 1789.
After Wesley's death...
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Liroconite is just one of those minerals that attracts attention; it is rare, colourful and good specimens usually only found in old collections.
When a piece is listed on e-Rocks we usually get excited and this one is definitely no exception.
We saw...
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New book announced - Genesis & Classifying Agates & Jaspers: A New Theory, By
Marco Campos-Venuti
In English
As described,
Cracked one of the greatest mysteries of the geology!
A Guide for the collector.
A Bible for a geologist.
This book shows...
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A Sunday lay-in follows the early Saturday start at Bakewell. The show does not open until 9am. This allows the dealers to get back or recover from various excesses of the previous night.
Last night in addition to the Dealers' dinner there were at least...
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We got up early this morning and traveled to Heathrow, and then on to Munich, arriving at 15:00 local time.
Although the show officially opens on Friday and many dealers have not arrived yet, there is already so much to see and take in; it feels as if...
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Nearly 3 years ago now, we checked out and invested in "spin" technology for capturing 360 degree presentation of minerals.
The concept is simple, you set your mineral centre on a turntable and then control the movement of the turntable with your camera...
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Recently listed online by Roberto Rojas of Minerat minerals is a remarkable specimen of kröhnkite & blödite from Coronel Manuel Rodriguez Mine, Mejillones, Antofagasta, Chile.
At 25cm across the bright blue kröhnkite would be impressive in its own...
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Here is an old book, with a wonderful fantasy cover.
It would be hard not to pick up this combination of graphics and illustrations and look inside.
Schubert's Natural History of the mineral kingdom for school and home dates to the late 1880s and was...
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Another feature we have put in place for the new website is a table of most popular searches on the site within the last 7 days.
A search counter increments each time during a session, a search term is entered. The table is displayed under "Searches" in...
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The Christmas Holidays are nearly upon us and it is time to launch "Mark & Christian's Christmas Cracker 2015".
This is the 9th annual cracker auction and this year Christian Rewitzer and I have filled it with some diverse and interesting minerals....
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We got our new xray diffractometer this week. It will come with a two dimensional detector which enables out of plane bragg peak measurement. This allows ultra fast measurements or extremely low concentrations of mineral samples.
In 2018 we will offer a...
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George & I took a morning out from website work to visit the third, Oxford show for 2015.
The Oxford shows are run by Paul Lowe and have for the last years provided regular a venue for sellers and collectors in the UK.
A small venue and a small show...
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Recently e-Rocks enabled the sale of a very rare mineral - Ramazzoite. The specimen above, measuring 1 × 2.5 × 1.2 cm, sold by Ligurian Minerals for £681. Found so far only at the type locality, Mount Ramazzo Mine, Genoa, Italy, the specimen is part of...
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It was in August last year that we reported the our page on Facebook had reached 8,000 likes, well now we have risen to the 10,000 mark.
We continue to use our page to provide our Facebook followers a daily snapshot of the e-Rocks site new listings,...
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Back in 2007 when we began cataloguing Warren Taylor's Tsumeb minerals we came across a real stand out rock.
It was oddly labelled as "Quartz Psm Azurite" but was obviously gypsum and appeared to have formed around something round like a pipe.
Warren...
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As we head towards Twelfth Night and the final demise of Christmas trees worldwide, we have got back to work with quite a bump.
Over the last few days we have been finalising a very large software release and plan to get this deployed in the next week or...
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A couple of weeks ago we were contacted by a collector who had stopped collecting and was interested in moving his specimens on.
After completing a purchase last week and having been away in Bakewell all weekend, today was the day we had arranged to pick...
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Belgian collector Jean Dehaye has recently been showing pictures of his recently collected specimen from Beez, Naumur, Belgium.
A little over 2cm across comprising a hollow fossil cast with calcified internal ribs covered with micro honey coloured...
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Here we are at the 2017 Bakewell Show, and what a day it has been.
Having stayed overnight in town last night we started the day early in the main "gymnasium" hall and straight into the business of looking at minerals and meeting people.
The Main Hall...
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Last weekend was the last planned road trip for George and I for 2017. We were off to sunny Kent to pick up Norman Cogger's collection, and so there is it all packed and ready to come back.
Remarkably we have found space to store it!
At TV Towers we have...
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A very early start from TV Towers, to Heathrow and onto the short flight to Munich.
Really it is a very easy journey and a good time for George and I to catch up on business and plan for the next few days.
The view of mountains of Bavaria as we came into...
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This project is all about new finds which were confirmed by XRD and other methods.
It will be updated from time to time.
The download of the file for December 2017 is available here:
http://mineralanalytik.de/images/REMBILDER/mineralreport3.pdf
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This week we are planning to make some upgrades to e-Rocks.
Everything will be going on behind the scenes.
There maybe a few occasions you will find a page to slow to load or will need a "refresh" for this to complete as the new software synchronises...
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Congratulations to long standing customer of e-Rocks, Andy Christy for the naming of new mineral "andychristyite" after his good self.
Andy joins an ever growing list of sellers, customers and visitors to our site to which this honour has been bestowed....
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Castle Drogo, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK
Castle Drogo is a large stately home on the eastern side of Dartmoor. Constructed between between 1911 to 1930 by architect Edwin Lutyens for English enterpreneur Julius Drewe in the image of a medieval castle...
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The other day we added the new mineral wildenauerite to the database.
This phosphate mineral with the formula:
Zn(Fe3+,Mn2+)2MnFe3+(PO4)3(OH)3(H2O)6·2H2O was approved pending being published by the IMA in August/September 2017.
Isostructural with new...
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Weishanite is a very rare gold-silver amalgam, which had two localities. Recent investigations of a unknown metallic hexagonal phase on an old sample hosting verified magnolite showed that this is Weishanite in beautiful hexagonal crystals.
I have not...
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Late to bed and up with the lark, is the usual routine at Munich Shows and today was no different.
Our Hotel breakfast was excellent, very unhealthy and would set anyone up for the day.
A quick ride on the U-bahn and we were back in the Halls and set up...
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I spotted this specimen in the latest Sal Minerals auction.
Salvator was puzzled enough by the colour and habit of the cranberry tourmaline crystals to have these analysed.
The results came back as Darrellhenryite, a rare tourmaline member only known...
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George uncovered this photogenic little millerite specimen last week and the picture caused quite a stir on Facebook over the weekend.
Labelled as being from the Windsor Colliery, Abertridwr near Caerphilly, Wales it displays a very pretty array of...
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Okoruso Fluorspar Mine From The Air - (Gecko Namibia (Pty) Ltd)
Collectors of fluorite will already know of the vast array and plentiful supply of beautiful fluorite from Okoruso in Namibia.
Specimen mining has been managed under license to Peter...
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Along with everything else that is going on we have been doing some background work on some phosphate minerals spurred on by a request by seller Modris Baum (LMB Minerals) and something he had discovered on a Brazilian hureaulite specimen.
Modris has...
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Here we are back in Bakewell for the 15th consecutive year.
By comparison with others a short innings but one of the constants throughout the life and times of TVM.
George and I celebrated with a Chinese meal in the restaurant that used to be an Indian...
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One more yellow sphalerite, this one from Spain, 18+ct "Markoh-i-noor" cut, best choice to boost the dispersion!
Sphalerite Cut & Photo by Egor Gavrilenko
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You know you’re a rockhound when cries of “Froodite! I’ve got froodite” are heard echoing from the rafters. And before you step back in alarm, it’s not contagious… it’s the name of a mineral.
Please, allow me to make introductions. My husband Reiner and...
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Those of you who read my last Oxford Show report will remember a mention of Paul Nicholson at Waveney Minerals.
We have known Paul as a collector for well over 15 years, and more recently as an occasional show dealer in the UK. As of the last Show report...
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This chance discovery in the TVM shed turned out to be very interesting indeed.
The specimen itself comprises very rich crystalline cinnabar in quartz matrix, coming to us from old collection material from Germany.
Labelled simply as Grube Sizma, b....
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Dont forget as of 1st October 2017, the e-Rocks.com website will be transferring to ownership by e-Rocks Ltd.
Please refer to our previous notice, linked below.
Looking forward to our new jobs on Monday: as rock group the Who said back in 1971 in the...
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Love this photo posted by Megan Scott showing behind the scenes with e-Rocks seller Jason Smith, AKA Bucket of Holes Minerals.
Jason has been active on e-Rocks now since December 2012 and has been providing a super range of rare and interesting minerals...
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We recently uncovered a specimen of botroidal marcasite and siderite from Hector Mine near Ibbenbüren in Münsterland (North-West Germany).
The specimen itself is typical of the "schalen" or shell type ore formations distributed across this area famous...
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As it is my birthday today I thought this little bit of mineral related trivia would brighten up the day.
Early last year I was listing an aragonite (and gypsum) specimen from Tomnadashan Mine, Wester Tullich, Loch Tay, Scotland.
An intrguing...
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Hi all!
There is a new photo contest on the way, the second Mineral Photo Contest MinerElx is open for entries until 30th of November.
This year there are two categories: macro photos and micromount photos.
No age limit and every participant can submit...
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George and I are back from our Christmas road trip into Germany via Belgium and France.
What we didn't pick up in minerals we certainly made up for with adventure and festive fun.
Normal service with email replies etc will return from today, after a bit...
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Apart from EDS analysis at a charge of 15€/sample, we now offer our e-rocks customers, who buy more than five specimens per month, five analysis for free per year.
For more information have a look at: http://www.mineralanalytik.de/en/energydispersive-...
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GPSmineral, located mineralogy, is a new project that wants to share mineralogy passion all around the world, we have started with a few articles about spanish, italian and USA mineralogy.
We have a map to locate.
For the moment we only have one...
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Whilst sorting through some Tsumeb minerals recently we came across this label, with the dealer information cut off.
All we had to go on was the hand writing and a "crossed hammers" symbol on the left.
With a little help and research we have traced this...
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I spotted our third ever specimen of santanaite go under the virtual gavel the other day and in my tiny brain the name resolved to "santanaite, named for Carlos Santana legendary Mexican guitarist"!
Of course santanaite is named for its type and only...
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A nice photograph of our home for 2 nights over the Bakewell Show weekend.
This has been our regular stop over for 14 years - now equipped with WiFi we will be online answering emails etc and hopefully adding some news from the show.
Looking forward to a...
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Flicking through the auctions yesterday I spotted a specimen of Mineevite-(Y) - always inquisitive to see the composition of these more obscure minerals I looked at the mineral data.
I was even more curious to discover that in the formula, was the...
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This excellent shared photo from e-Rocks seller Edward Coghlan sort of sets the mood for the day at e-Rocks.
The photo shows a group of explorers at Twll in Rhosydd Slate Mine, Wales standing in a large damp cavern with the light streaming in.
We are up...
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You may have noticed today's home page centre has changed; usually we display "today's auctions closing", but today we are showing "all auctions". There is a simple reason for this.
Because of demand from our sellers, we have had to increase our schedule...
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Cornish Explorers on Facebook usually carries a series of really interesting mining and exploration photographs for Cornish localities.
One of the members, Keith Russ has just got himself a Gro Pro and a lifting drone.
Fantastic toy and some fantastic...
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What a great start to Munich Show 2015 it has been.
We arrived at the Show at around 1400Hrs local time and things were already buzzing.
Almost immediately we were directed to the booth of Wendell Minerals to look three! cabinet sized fluorite specimens...
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Whilst doing some tidying on the website I came across the mineral postite recently listed. I needed to check out the composition the relation to other minerals. It was not long before I was looking into the range of minerals containing the decavanadate...
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Jasun and Mandy McAvoy, AKA Mineralman999 have been recently showing off this fine and historic gem topaz crystal.
The crystal itself is a well terminated gem specimen from Murzinka, Ekaterinburg, Middle Urals, Russia and at 3.1cm x 2.7cm x 2.5cm it is...
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James Tennant (1808-1881) was in his time one of the UK's most notable mineralogists and dealers in minerals, fossils and shells.
His specimens can be found in many museums around the globe, and in many notable historic collections.
In his heyday he...
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I have had this little box of granular and crystalline gold on my desk since 2007. It originates from Pilgrims Rest, Witwatersrand in South Africa.
It belonged to the Warren Taylor collection part of which will be making a splash later on in the year....
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Something we do not see very often (maybe twice a year), the administrator's "auction items closing panel" for the next 24 hours is blank!
This means we don't have any auctions closing on Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day with a full...
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Having just been away for a fine week's stay at the village of Belstone, near Okehampton on Dartmoor, it was a neat coincidence that an auction selection coming through is from Belstone Consols Mine.
Whilst staying in Belstone I had already checked into...
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Hedyphane is seldom seen from Tsumeb, but here it is formed out in small flat hexagonal crystals with white faces resting on a bed of pale green calcio-duftite.
There are more excellent photographs and a specimen currently listed on e-Rocks by Christian...
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This super quality pure blue Lapis polished freeform 77cm tall and weighing over 48Kg is going under the hammer next month at an auction in Billingshurst, Kent, UK.
The auctioneers estimate is £5,000 - £7,000 - see link below.
Looks a really good one,...
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Yesterday George was off at a stag party so I was left in charge of setting up the new auctions beginning on the day.
One of the sub tasks required is to cross check and ensure that any new localities added to the database are cross checked online and...
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Back in early 2004 I offered a suite of minerals from Palabora mine collected by John Gliddon when he worked there.
This specimen was part of that collection that never sold and became misplaced in our stock system.
It was discovered recently dusty and...
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George and I were discussing a mineral "anatolyite" newly added to the e-Rocks database, and couldn't find out who it was named for via the usual sources.
We know Anatoly Kasatkin very well, and through his involvement with systematic minerals and the...
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The Nick Bartlet collection, we purchased in 2004 still continues to provide interesting and uncommon items from its boxes.
This most recent discovery is a specimen of schröckingerite from the Peath Lode on the 17th Level at Geevor, Cornwall.
The find...
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Here we are enjoying a fairly non mineralogical week away in Harlech, Wales.
This seagull apparently comes with the rental, certainly knows when the meal times are, and if not on time will tap at the window.
As seagulls go, he is very placid.
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When I started examining micro minerals I came across a nice specimen hosting olive green bartelkeite. It was pure luck to find this mineral. This is what I can say now looking back at the small number of specimens I had.
This makes the species to one...
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Back on the old e-Rocks, in January we introduced our first "spin presentation" for minerals displayed online.
The concept is quite simple - you set up a camera and synchronise the stepped revolution of a turntable with the camera shutter to take a...
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The La Fossa crater on the Aeolean Island of Vulcano has spectacular fumaroles. This one is venting gas at around 400°C, surrounded by an aureole of sublimates; white salammoniac and 4 allotropes (or polymorphs) of sulphur -
α-sulphur, or orthorhombic...
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As I posted yesterday's blog covering Roger's venture into Scottish gold panning I decided to share it into the excellent Facebook group Collectors of British Minerals - also known as COBM.
I am sure I have mentioned this before; COBM is an excellent...
Blog entryI have just been updating 2 new minerals recently added to the e-Rocks database and made a sad but interesting discovery about the name. Edtollite and alumoedtollite are comparatively newly IMA approved minerals pending publication. Edtollite Minerals...
Blog entryAhead of our trip to Munich we have just installed another new feature for all users of e-Rocks and Facebook. Within the e-Rocks Facebook page there are now 5 new page tabs with Apps that let you do the following. e-Rocks Auctions look up and open...
Blog entryMarc Allen Fleischer owner of the Fleischer Museum has been showing of this interesting specimen from Tsumeb. One of the main directions of the Fleischer collection is "Rough and Cut" where a mineral is displayed side by side as natural mineral with a...
Blog entryThis unusual specimen featured in my Christmas auction in 2013/2014. Smithsonite Psm Calcite. Whatley Quarry, Somerset, UK. Size: H:12.7cm x W:9.4cm x D:6.6cm Largest Crystal: 2cm
Blog entryA new feature on e-Rocks for both sellers and collectors is the ability to add analysis information to specimens in their inventory. Too often important analytical information is posted as an "aside" to the main pictures and not very readable. Here you...
Blog entryIn terms of desirability, the specimens collected by NASA in ‘69 would be hard to beat. Their superb provenance is excellently documented. They are holotypes of three minerals new to science, and brave men risked their lives to collect them. There were...
Blog entryDuring September we undertook the appraisal and purchase of Peter Uuerpmann's collection located in Guadamar Del Segura near Alicante, Spain. As the collection was in secure storage there were some challenges in getting access and seeing the minerals,...
Blog entryFormer e-Rocks seller and gemstone dealer from downunder, Klaus Brucksch has just been showing off some grizzly remains trapped in amber. These amber specimens come from Myanmar and the creatures are a bit different to the flies ants and other insects we...
Blog entryAlways fun to see some good collecting going on, this time USA style with some "big" results. Georgia based digger Jason Barrett posted these photos of the results of a joint dig a few months ago with Brandon Coleman, Larry Michon, Michael Lieb, Gina...
Blog entryBernissart Show is an annual event in Hainaut region of Belgium. The 28th show was held this weekend (29-30 August) Here are some photos of the show and a link to the original write up posted by Belgian collector Max Tom on his excellent blog site (in...
Blog entryWhen water freezes, it forms the mineral ice. The most beautiful specimens soon melt, so e-Rocks has never sold any. Don’t be dismayed by the prospect of an article on ice though, just wade through a next bit about snowflakes, then the post livens up...
Blog entrySalvatore Natalizia is continuing with the sale of his mineral collection today with another 107 items closing tonight. Some really excellent and quite large classic specimens are on offer - see photo gallery below, or follow the link to the auction....
Blog entryToday we saw our e-Rocks User registration count reach 7500; this means that barring the odd D.Duck and K.Kong we are connected to 7500 mineral collectors worldwide. Great news if you are prospective seller, re-assuring if you have not already signed...
Blog entryAs Facebook does, this fantastic specimen photo posted by Val Collins in May 2012 appeared in my timeline today. Not many of these specimens of cerussite with pyromorphite from Daoping Mine appeared, this must be one of the best examples. Thanks to...
Blog entry10 years ago in 2007 we were visited by Somerset based collector Colin Palk. Colin's specific interests were minerals from Scotland, aided and abetted by his regional work in Scotland for the BBC. Subsequently Colin moved his collection on, it arriving...
Blog entryExpert photographer and mineral collector from Austria, Andreas Schmid has recently being showing some excellent photographs using a light source at an extreme angle to the faces of the subject crystals. I would have trouble explaining the physics...
Blog entryGeorge turned up today with a little collection of mainly Scottish Minerals. This is some native silver from Alva Mine, Central Scotland. 8mm across - rare stuff! The discovery of a native silver deposit in 1715 also coincided with the Jacobite rebellion...
Blog entryToday is Halloween, a fun time of dressing up, lighting lanterns and "trick or treating". Our own ghoul face agate lives all year round on a shelf with the family pictures above our stairs. We bought him back in 2000 when Christian (my wife) and I were...
Blog entryOur technical department at e-Rocks (AKA my wife and George) have been on at me for some time to get a decent mobile phone as I am usually hard to track down when offline. Coupled with this we have a mobile version of the cataloguing/inventory system...
Blog entryFor those of you who check out my personal timeline on Facebook you will already be aware that I keep this fed with a steady stream of mineral photographs and sometimes (not so) witty captions! I just do this for a bit of entertainment and interaction as...
Blog entrySome highlights from today's photography at TV Towers
Blog entryIt is that time of year again and I am sure you will have noticed a number of "Munich" themed auctions lining up on the schedule. Suffice to say there have been some tremendous minerals coming through and still more to come over the next week or so, and...
Blog entryBack in 2009 the late Paul Lowe was disposing of the mineral collection of the late Dr Fred Armitage. Dr Armitage lectured in Chemistry at London Universities from the 1970s until the early 2000s. He had a huge interest in puzzles particularly polycube...
Blog entryIt was down to Carsten to wrap up August 2015, and boy did he find something a bit unusual! Brunogeierite is an insanely rare iron germanate found only (so far) in a few places, plus Tsumeb. The crystal habit is black octahedral crystals. For a Tsumeb...
Blog entrye-Rocks seller and field collector Tasos Tsinidis has recently been collecting these fine sanidine specimens at the locality, Kakourou Peak, Promachoi, Pella Prefecture, Central Macedonia, Greece. Tasos also kindly posted these photos of the collecting...
Blog entryThe Hampshire Mineral & Fossil show is on Saturday 5th September at its usual venue in Lyndhurst Community Centre. Time: 10:00am - 16:30pm. The Hampshire show although small is always well attended and usually has some nice things to see, with...
Blog entryQuite often minerals appear online from places that one is never likely to visit, some places like Tsumeb or Trepca are well photographed and beautiful, some of course ugly. One place I have never visualised is the Tatra mountains spanning Poland and...
Blog entryThe new year continues this week with a full program of auctions from the e-Rocks sellers. As usual a huge and diverse range covering most aspects of collecting. This diamond listed in the latest SAL minerals auction is a good example, weighing in at 57....
Blog entryOn our way home, we recently encountered an unusual - for mineral collectors - scenery: a snow-covered Saint Marie-aux-Mines! With these pictures Plinius Earth Treasures wishes all its e-rocks friends a Happy 2018 full of health, joy and new specimens....
Blog entryThis really odd habit of cuprite has just come to light from the copper mines at Rudabanya, Hungary. Not seen before from here, the habit appears to be octahedral modified by cubic faces - FOV 1.5mm. The specimen is in the collection of e-Rocks seller...
Blog entryGwennap Pit started out as a sharp indentation in the landscape caused by mining subsidence in the mid C18th. It gained a reputation as an outdoor "church" when John Welsey preached there no less than 18 times between 1762 and 1789. After Wesley's death...
Blog entryLiroconite is just one of those minerals that attracts attention; it is rare, colourful and good specimens usually only found in old collections. When a piece is listed on e-Rocks we usually get excited and this one is definitely no exception. We saw...
Blog entryNew book announced - Genesis & Classifying Agates & Jaspers: A New Theory, By Marco Campos-Venuti In English As described, Cracked one of the greatest mysteries of the geology! A Guide for the collector. A Bible for a geologist. This book shows...
Blog entryA Sunday lay-in follows the early Saturday start at Bakewell. The show does not open until 9am. This allows the dealers to get back or recover from various excesses of the previous night. Last night in addition to the Dealers' dinner there were at least...
Blog entryWe got up early this morning and traveled to Heathrow, and then on to Munich, arriving at 15:00 local time. Although the show officially opens on Friday and many dealers have not arrived yet, there is already so much to see and take in; it feels as if...
Blog entryNearly 3 years ago now, we checked out and invested in "spin" technology for capturing 360 degree presentation of minerals. The concept is simple, you set your mineral centre on a turntable and then control the movement of the turntable with your camera...
Blog entryRecently listed online by Roberto Rojas of Minerat minerals is a remarkable specimen of kröhnkite & blödite from Coronel Manuel Rodriguez Mine, Mejillones, Antofagasta, Chile. At 25cm across the bright blue kröhnkite would be impressive in its own...
Blog entryHere is an old book, with a wonderful fantasy cover. It would be hard not to pick up this combination of graphics and illustrations and look inside. Schubert's Natural History of the mineral kingdom for school and home dates to the late 1880s and was...
Blog entryAnother feature we have put in place for the new website is a table of most popular searches on the site within the last 7 days. A search counter increments each time during a session, a search term is entered. The table is displayed under "Searches" in...
Blog entryThe Christmas Holidays are nearly upon us and it is time to launch "Mark & Christian's Christmas Cracker 2015". This is the 9th annual cracker auction and this year Christian Rewitzer and I have filled it with some diverse and interesting minerals....
Blog entryWe got our new xray diffractometer this week. It will come with a two dimensional detector which enables out of plane bragg peak measurement. This allows ultra fast measurements or extremely low concentrations of mineral samples. In 2018 we will offer a...
Blog entryGeorge & I took a morning out from website work to visit the third, Oxford show for 2015. The Oxford shows are run by Paul Lowe and have for the last years provided regular a venue for sellers and collectors in the UK. A small venue and a small show...
Blog entryRecently e-Rocks enabled the sale of a very rare mineral - Ramazzoite. The specimen above, measuring 1 × 2.5 × 1.2 cm, sold by Ligurian Minerals for £681. Found so far only at the type locality, Mount Ramazzo Mine, Genoa, Italy, the specimen is part of...
Blog entryIt was in August last year that we reported the our page on Facebook had reached 8,000 likes, well now we have risen to the 10,000 mark. We continue to use our page to provide our Facebook followers a daily snapshot of the e-Rocks site new listings,...
Blog entryBack in 2007 when we began cataloguing Warren Taylor's Tsumeb minerals we came across a real stand out rock. It was oddly labelled as "Quartz Psm Azurite" but was obviously gypsum and appeared to have formed around something round like a pipe. Warren...
Blog entryAs we head towards Twelfth Night and the final demise of Christmas trees worldwide, we have got back to work with quite a bump. Over the last few days we have been finalising a very large software release and plan to get this deployed in the next week or...
Blog entryA couple of weeks ago we were contacted by a collector who had stopped collecting and was interested in moving his specimens on. After completing a purchase last week and having been away in Bakewell all weekend, today was the day we had arranged to pick...
Blog entryBelgian collector Jean Dehaye has recently been showing pictures of his recently collected specimen from Beez, Naumur, Belgium. A little over 2cm across comprising a hollow fossil cast with calcified internal ribs covered with micro honey coloured...
Blog entryHere we are at the 2017 Bakewell Show, and what a day it has been. Having stayed overnight in town last night we started the day early in the main "gymnasium" hall and straight into the business of looking at minerals and meeting people. The Main Hall...
Blog entryLast weekend was the last planned road trip for George and I for 2017. We were off to sunny Kent to pick up Norman Cogger's collection, and so there is it all packed and ready to come back. Remarkably we have found space to store it! At TV Towers we have...
Blog entryA very early start from TV Towers, to Heathrow and onto the short flight to Munich. Really it is a very easy journey and a good time for George and I to catch up on business and plan for the next few days. The view of mountains of Bavaria as we came into...
Blog entryThis project is all about new finds which were confirmed by XRD and other methods. It will be updated from time to time. The download of the file for December 2017 is available here: http://mineralanalytik.de/images/REMBILDER/mineralreport3.pdf
Blog entryThis week we are planning to make some upgrades to e-Rocks. Everything will be going on behind the scenes. There maybe a few occasions you will find a page to slow to load or will need a "refresh" for this to complete as the new software synchronises...
Blog entryCongratulations to long standing customer of e-Rocks, Andy Christy for the naming of new mineral "andychristyite" after his good self. Andy joins an ever growing list of sellers, customers and visitors to our site to which this honour has been bestowed....
Blog entryCastle Drogo, Drewsteignton, Devon, UK Castle Drogo is a large stately home on the eastern side of Dartmoor. Constructed between between 1911 to 1930 by architect Edwin Lutyens for English enterpreneur Julius Drewe in the image of a medieval castle...
Blog entryThe other day we added the new mineral wildenauerite to the database. This phosphate mineral with the formula: Zn(Fe3+,Mn2+)2MnFe3+(PO4)3(OH)3(H2O)6·2H2O was approved pending being published by the IMA in August/September 2017. Isostructural with new...
Blog entryWeishanite is a very rare gold-silver amalgam, which had two localities. Recent investigations of a unknown metallic hexagonal phase on an old sample hosting verified magnolite showed that this is Weishanite in beautiful hexagonal crystals. I have not...
Blog entryLate to bed and up with the lark, is the usual routine at Munich Shows and today was no different. Our Hotel breakfast was excellent, very unhealthy and would set anyone up for the day. A quick ride on the U-bahn and we were back in the Halls and set up...
Blog entryI spotted this specimen in the latest Sal Minerals auction. Salvator was puzzled enough by the colour and habit of the cranberry tourmaline crystals to have these analysed. The results came back as Darrellhenryite, a rare tourmaline member only known...
Blog entryGeorge uncovered this photogenic little millerite specimen last week and the picture caused quite a stir on Facebook over the weekend. Labelled as being from the Windsor Colliery, Abertridwr near Caerphilly, Wales it displays a very pretty array of...
Blog entryOkoruso Fluorspar Mine From The Air - (Gecko Namibia (Pty) Ltd) Collectors of fluorite will already know of the vast array and plentiful supply of beautiful fluorite from Okoruso in Namibia. Specimen mining has been managed under license to Peter...
Blog entryAlong with everything else that is going on we have been doing some background work on some phosphate minerals spurred on by a request by seller Modris Baum (LMB Minerals) and something he had discovered on a Brazilian hureaulite specimen. Modris has...
Blog entryHere we are back in Bakewell for the 15th consecutive year. By comparison with others a short innings but one of the constants throughout the life and times of TVM. George and I celebrated with a Chinese meal in the restaurant that used to be an Indian...
Blog entryOne more yellow sphalerite, this one from Spain, 18+ct "Markoh-i-noor" cut, best choice to boost the dispersion! Sphalerite Cut & Photo by Egor Gavrilenko
Blog entryYou know you’re a rockhound when cries of “Froodite! I’ve got froodite” are heard echoing from the rafters. And before you step back in alarm, it’s not contagious… it’s the name of a mineral. Please, allow me to make introductions. My husband Reiner and...
Blog entryThose of you who read my last Oxford Show report will remember a mention of Paul Nicholson at Waveney Minerals. We have known Paul as a collector for well over 15 years, and more recently as an occasional show dealer in the UK. As of the last Show report...
Blog entryThis chance discovery in the TVM shed turned out to be very interesting indeed. The specimen itself comprises very rich crystalline cinnabar in quartz matrix, coming to us from old collection material from Germany. Labelled simply as Grube Sizma, b....
Blog entryDont forget as of 1st October 2017, the e-Rocks.com website will be transferring to ownership by e-Rocks Ltd. Please refer to our previous notice, linked below. Looking forward to our new jobs on Monday: as rock group the Who said back in 1971 in the...
Blog entryLove this photo posted by Megan Scott showing behind the scenes with e-Rocks seller Jason Smith, AKA Bucket of Holes Minerals. Jason has been active on e-Rocks now since December 2012 and has been providing a super range of rare and interesting minerals...
Blog entryWe recently uncovered a specimen of botroidal marcasite and siderite from Hector Mine near Ibbenbüren in Münsterland (North-West Germany). The specimen itself is typical of the "schalen" or shell type ore formations distributed across this area famous...
Blog entryAs it is my birthday today I thought this little bit of mineral related trivia would brighten up the day. Early last year I was listing an aragonite (and gypsum) specimen from Tomnadashan Mine, Wester Tullich, Loch Tay, Scotland. An intrguing...
Blog entryHi all! There is a new photo contest on the way, the second Mineral Photo Contest MinerElx is open for entries until 30th of November. This year there are two categories: macro photos and micromount photos. No age limit and every participant can submit...
Blog entryGeorge and I are back from our Christmas road trip into Germany via Belgium and France. What we didn't pick up in minerals we certainly made up for with adventure and festive fun. Normal service with email replies etc will return from today, after a bit...
Blog entryApart from EDS analysis at a charge of 15€/sample, we now offer our e-rocks customers, who buy more than five specimens per month, five analysis for free per year. For more information have a look at: http://www.mineralanalytik.de/en/energydispersive-...
Blog entryGPSmineral, located mineralogy, is a new project that wants to share mineralogy passion all around the world, we have started with a few articles about spanish, italian and USA mineralogy. We have a map to locate. For the moment we only have one...
Blog entryWhilst sorting through some Tsumeb minerals recently we came across this label, with the dealer information cut off. All we had to go on was the hand writing and a "crossed hammers" symbol on the left. With a little help and research we have traced this...
Blog entryI spotted our third ever specimen of santanaite go under the virtual gavel the other day and in my tiny brain the name resolved to "santanaite, named for Carlos Santana legendary Mexican guitarist"! Of course santanaite is named for its type and only...
Blog entryA nice photograph of our home for 2 nights over the Bakewell Show weekend. This has been our regular stop over for 14 years - now equipped with WiFi we will be online answering emails etc and hopefully adding some news from the show. Looking forward to a...
Blog entryFlicking through the auctions yesterday I spotted a specimen of Mineevite-(Y) - always inquisitive to see the composition of these more obscure minerals I looked at the mineral data. I was even more curious to discover that in the formula, was the...
Blog entryThis excellent shared photo from e-Rocks seller Edward Coghlan sort of sets the mood for the day at e-Rocks. The photo shows a group of explorers at Twll in Rhosydd Slate Mine, Wales standing in a large damp cavern with the light streaming in. We are up...
Blog entryYou may have noticed today's home page centre has changed; usually we display "today's auctions closing", but today we are showing "all auctions". There is a simple reason for this. Because of demand from our sellers, we have had to increase our schedule...
Blog entryCornish Explorers on Facebook usually carries a series of really interesting mining and exploration photographs for Cornish localities. One of the members, Keith Russ has just got himself a Gro Pro and a lifting drone. Fantastic toy and some fantastic...
Blog entryWhat a great start to Munich Show 2015 it has been. We arrived at the Show at around 1400Hrs local time and things were already buzzing. Almost immediately we were directed to the booth of Wendell Minerals to look three! cabinet sized fluorite specimens...
Blog entryWhilst doing some tidying on the website I came across the mineral postite recently listed. I needed to check out the composition the relation to other minerals. It was not long before I was looking into the range of minerals containing the decavanadate...
Blog entryJasun and Mandy McAvoy, AKA Mineralman999 have been recently showing off this fine and historic gem topaz crystal. The crystal itself is a well terminated gem specimen from Murzinka, Ekaterinburg, Middle Urals, Russia and at 3.1cm x 2.7cm x 2.5cm it is...
Blog entryJames Tennant (1808-1881) was in his time one of the UK's most notable mineralogists and dealers in minerals, fossils and shells. His specimens can be found in many museums around the globe, and in many notable historic collections. In his heyday he...
Blog entryI have had this little box of granular and crystalline gold on my desk since 2007. It originates from Pilgrims Rest, Witwatersrand in South Africa. It belonged to the Warren Taylor collection part of which will be making a splash later on in the year....
Blog entrySomething we do not see very often (maybe twice a year), the administrator's "auction items closing panel" for the next 24 hours is blank! This means we don't have any auctions closing on Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day with a full...
Blog entryHaving just been away for a fine week's stay at the village of Belstone, near Okehampton on Dartmoor, it was a neat coincidence that an auction selection coming through is from Belstone Consols Mine. Whilst staying in Belstone I had already checked into...
Blog entryHedyphane is seldom seen from Tsumeb, but here it is formed out in small flat hexagonal crystals with white faces resting on a bed of pale green calcio-duftite. There are more excellent photographs and a specimen currently listed on e-Rocks by Christian...
Blog entryThis super quality pure blue Lapis polished freeform 77cm tall and weighing over 48Kg is going under the hammer next month at an auction in Billingshurst, Kent, UK. The auctioneers estimate is £5,000 - £7,000 - see link below. Looks a really good one,...
Blog entryYesterday George was off at a stag party so I was left in charge of setting up the new auctions beginning on the day. One of the sub tasks required is to cross check and ensure that any new localities added to the database are cross checked online and...
Blog entryBack in early 2004 I offered a suite of minerals from Palabora mine collected by John Gliddon when he worked there. This specimen was part of that collection that never sold and became misplaced in our stock system. It was discovered recently dusty and...
Blog entryGeorge and I were discussing a mineral "anatolyite" newly added to the e-Rocks database, and couldn't find out who it was named for via the usual sources. We know Anatoly Kasatkin very well, and through his involvement with systematic minerals and the...
Blog entryThe Nick Bartlet collection, we purchased in 2004 still continues to provide interesting and uncommon items from its boxes. This most recent discovery is a specimen of schröckingerite from the Peath Lode on the 17th Level at Geevor, Cornwall. The find...
Blog entryHere we are enjoying a fairly non mineralogical week away in Harlech, Wales. This seagull apparently comes with the rental, certainly knows when the meal times are, and if not on time will tap at the window. As seagulls go, he is very placid.
Blog entryWhen I started examining micro minerals I came across a nice specimen hosting olive green bartelkeite. It was pure luck to find this mineral. This is what I can say now looking back at the small number of specimens I had. This makes the species to one...
Blog entryBack on the old e-Rocks, in January we introduced our first "spin presentation" for minerals displayed online. The concept is quite simple - you set up a camera and synchronise the stepped revolution of a turntable with the camera shutter to take a...
Blog entryThe La Fossa crater on the Aeolean Island of Vulcano has spectacular fumaroles. This one is venting gas at around 400°C, surrounded by an aureole of sublimates; white salammoniac and 4 allotropes (or polymorphs) of sulphur - α-sulphur, or orthorhombic...
Blog entryAs I posted yesterday's blog covering Roger's venture into Scottish gold panning I decided to share it into the excellent Facebook group Collectors of British Minerals - also known as COBM. I am sure I have mentioned this before; COBM is an excellent...