Updated September 29th, 2004

This page will carry the entire series of  updates for the 2004 Denver Show.

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Brookite	September 29th Brookite -  Scott Werschky of Miner's Lunchobox had the best value in these new brookite specimens from Pakistan.  Prices for these are all over the map but Scott's had the highest quality for the buck of any that I saw at the show. These first came to the market at the Sainte Marie show in France last June.  Brookite is a simple oxide of titanium and it shares identical chemistry with rutile and anatase - TiO2.
Dolomite	September 29th Brazilian Dolomite -  I was talking with Jerry Rosenthal and Andy Seibel the last day of the show when Andy pulled out a box of specimens and said do you know what these are and do you want them?  I guessed apatite initially and was surprised when he said that they were dolomite from Brumado, Bahia, Brazil.  I said "how much?" and his response did not make me gasp for air so I said "ok".  These are gemmy smoky and two toned crystals of dolomite associated with quartz, magnesite and uvite in one case.  These are from a new find.
Azurite & Malachite	September 29th Azurite & Malachite -  At the show I picked up a lot of azurite and malachite combos from Guichi, Anhui Province, China.  These have been out for a year + now and the quality is as good as ever.  The material is very reminiscent of Bisbee and as the saying goes - these won't be around forever. One specimen in particular is exceptional in this group with a small stalactite.
Chalcocite on Pyrite	September 29th Chalcocite on Pyrite -  Casey Jones of Geoprime minerals had a flat of pyrite crystals from the Chino Mine in New Mexico - a large copper mine - that were coated in chalcocite. The specimens were all loose crystals and range in size from thumbnails to small miniatures. An interesting curiosity.
Chinese Mimetite	September 29th Chinese Mimetite -  I picked up what has to be one of the last great hoards of Chinese mimetite from the famous and now defunct Pingtouning mine in China.  The hoard consists of singles and fine matrix specimens.  Everyone I have talked to has confirmed that this locality is now out of production and that specimens will become as scarce as those from Thailand which were abundant just a few years ago.
Calcite & Quartz	September 29th Chalcocite on Pyrite -  One of the people I always look forward to visiting with is Robert (Rocko) and Mandy Rosenblatt of Rocko's Minerals and Jewelry.  This year Rocko was in a side room near the lobby and he had a new and very recent find of calcite and quartz specimens from the Ron Cari Quarry, East Granby, Connecticut. Many of these specimens are centered or grown around casts of long gone anhydrite crystals. The quartz is drusy and lustrous and the calcite crystals are scalenohedral in form.  I picked through his batch and ended up with a baker's half dozen specimens in all.
Tourmaline - Afghan Rose Quartz - Brazil	September 29th Denver Show minerals -  This link will take you a group of random minerals found at the Denver Show.
Moroccan Fluorite	September 29th Fluorite from Morocco -  Ian Bruce and Wayne Leicht had two specimens of greenish blue colored fluorite with violet tinges from the El Hamman mine in Morocco.  When I saw them I bought them.  Unique colors I have not seen before!  In the tent in the back of the hotel I found a moroccan dealer who had a fine selection of bluish green fluorites covered with small quartz crystals and micro marcasite.  The fluorite from the latter group are very reactive under SW UV light glowing a bright bluish violet color.  On one of the specimen is found a small pseudomorph of marcasite after pyrrhotite.  These are also from the El Hamman mine.
Fluorite	September 29th Fluorite -  This is a smal group of fluorite specimens I picked up at the show from KARP. All keepers and all from the Yaogangxian area.
Apatite	September 25th Blue Apatite from Burma -  KARP had a fine supply of blue apatite crystals from Mogok Burma available. Ivo has found a way to obtain and get new material from Burma into the US where there is an import ban of Burmese material in place...hmm...  The crystals are typically pencil-like with long prisms and full terminations with pyramidal faces. Most have a matted luster due to natural etching on the surface.  Underneath they are typically gemmy.  KARP first had these on display at the Sainte-Marie Show last June and several other dealers here in Denver had them as well including Andy Seibel and Leonard Himes. The pricing levels between dealers for these is all over the place.   I bought all but a few of the specimens KARP had left which was about 35 specimens.  I have posted 16 of them for this update.  These crystals are weakly fluorescent yellow under SW UV light.
Jeremejevite	September 25th Jeremejevite! -  At the main show I had time to visit with Harald Muench and Charles Cecil.  These two have been hovering over Namibia for years and have generally had access to just about everything that has come out of there for the past 2-3 decades.  I was blown away by the incredible crystals of Jeremejevite from the find made a few years ago in the Erongo Mountains.  The crystals they had were sharply crystallized with lustrous surfaces.   These have all but disappeared from the market as they were quickly absorbed and many sent to faceters.  I obtained a very fine selection of these crystals many of which are two toned with blue bases and white terminations.  These are very rare for jeremejevite with the majority of crystals found being of a uniform color.  Extraordinary!   Until this find made a few years ago the best jeremejevite crystals were from another Namibian locale.  These specimens commanded stratospheric prices! I believe this will be one of the last best chances to obtain a great specimen of this rare aluminum borate.
Fluorite	September 25th Fluorite from Brazil -  Steve Perry came to Denver with a flat of loose fluorite crystals from Brazil. These come from the Belmont mine - noted for its rich production of emeralds.  These crystals are striking with their sharp hexaoctahedral habit.  Most have attached remnants of albite or muscovite betraying their igneous origin.
Vanadinite	September 25th Arizona Vanadinite -  Collector's Edge came to the Denver Show loaded for bear! One of the items that caught me eye were new specimens of exceptional vanadinite from the Geronimo Mine in La Paz County, Arizona.  This mine is on the same vein system as the Red Cloud mine noted for its wulfenite production.  This is easily some of the finest specimens of vanadinite to come out of the USA in a long time.
Scorodite	September 25th Scorodite from China -  Martin Jensen, of Collector's Edge, spends a lot of time across the Pacific looking for interesting minerals from China.  He came across a small lot of a new find of scorodite from the Pingtouning Mine, Guangdong Province in China.   There were only 8 specimens available and I picked out 5.  Several of these lended themselves to further trimming which I did. Other species found with the scorodite include anglesite, arsenian siderite and beudantite. Unfortunately, Martin informed me that the scorodite was found as the last of the zone was hauled off to the crusher and smelter. He estimated that less than 30 specimens exist from this locality with an untold number now lost forever.   The scorodite specimens have outstanding color change between indoor and outdoor lighting and have bright mirror-like luster. The crystals on some of the specimens reach up to 1 cm across!
Wurtzite	September 25th Wurtzite from China -  Collector's Edge also had what Tom Gressman (president of the Mineralogical Record) and I believe to be the best new find material at the Denver Show. Up until this new find the best wurtzite was known to be from Potosi, Bolivia.  Collector's Edge had some of the best wurtzite specimens ever found available from Yaogangxian Mine note for a wide variety of minerals including fluorite and scheelite.  Wurtzite is a polymorph of ZnS2 (sharing the same chemistry with sphalerite) and has been found primarily as small hexagonal shaped crystals.  This new find is an order of magnitude above previously known specimens with crystals to 1 cm across of sharp hexagonal plate shaped crystals.
Getchellite	September 25th Getchellite -  Reno, Nevada dealer Scott Kleine had some fine crystalline specimens of the rare mineral getchellite.  Getchellite, named after the Getchell mine in Humboldt County, Nevada, is an antimony bearing sulfide of arsenic.  Crystals of this mineral are quite rare!
Gold!	September 14th Gold - California & Colorado -  Wayne & Dona Leicht always have fine specimens of crystalline gold available from the Eagle's Nest mine in California.   I picked up about a small hoard from this locality.  Doug Wallace, working with Bill Forrest, has new gold specimens from the Prescott Vein, of the Badger Mine, in Mariposa County, California.  These are not crystalline but they are attractive and a new locality for gold. Scott Werschky had a small group of sharply crystalline gold specimens from the Star of the West Mine, Central City, Colorado. Lastly, I found a few specimens of leafy gold from the Phoenix mine in Idaho Springs, Colorado.