I’ve added excellent new specimens from the John S. White collection. The theme of this update began as quartz with inclusions, but there are specimens exhibiting other phenomena as well – phantoms, zoning, selective deposition.

I’ve posted a great selection of U.S. specimens from many different collections in the new US Update. There are specimens from the collections of Rock Currier, Robert Bartsch, John S. White, Pete Richards, Steve Szilard and from my collection too.

I’ve posted the second update of many specimens to come from the John S. White quartz collection. In this update there are many specimens with inclusions.

I’ve added an update with great new specimens from the Steve Szilard Collection. These are beautiful specimens from Quebec and Eastern Canada. This is the first of many more Canadian minerals that will grace the website this year.

I’ve added super new specimens in this latest US Update, including a great Vesper Peak grossular, a top quality rutile from Graves Mountain, a Bisbee malachite after azurite, new lightly-amethystine quartz from North Carolina, and Colorado amazonites with excellent colour.

The Rochester Mineralogical Symposium is one of the best annual events in Mineral World. This post about RMS 2017 includes lots of great mineral photographs, with many from prominent mineral photographers Jeff Scovil and Michael Bainbridge. And hopefully, if you missed this year’s RMS, this will help you catch up – and plan for next year…

I’ve posted some great new pieces in this Brazil Update. These include gorgeous stars of rutile on hematite from Novo Horizonte, older specimens of cyclically-twinned rutile from Diamantina, and beautiful muscovite crystals from Mantena, Minas Gerais.

The new Brazil Update on the website features a mix of excellent specimens from Brazil, including spessartine, rutile, struverite-ilmenorutile, alexandrite, montebrasite, brazilianite, kunzite and more.

I’ve posted great new crystals of xenotime-(Y) from Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil. These crystals are dark brown, sharp and lustrous – they are are superb for this species.

This Brazil Update features a few selected excellent pieces from Brazil, from the unusual to the amazing. The update includes two remarkable brazilianite specimens from the closed Telirio Mine, a classic Medina aquamarine, a fantastic rutilated quartz from Novo Horizonte, tourmalines, Sapo fluorapatites, a super Brumado dolomite, blue quartz, and a Novo Horizonte hematite that is a black mirror.

If you’ve ever wondered about mineral shows as they used to be, the smaller-town affairs meant for everyone, from serious collectors to beginners and families, the Bancroft Shows offer a glimpse. There is a lot to be said for this kinds of mineral show, in a beautiful setting among scenery and wildlife, with guided field trips, local collectors and dealers, and some great minerals.