Crystal Mine

Crystal Mine
P.O. Box 18941
Reno, NV 89511
775-852-6046
Jack Crowley
jcrowley@crystal-mine.com

NEWS:

September 3, 2010. New Arrivals Page 1 is updated with a selection of world wide minerals.

August 30, 2010. New Arrivals Page 3, has been updated with a suite of pyromorphite specimens from a somewhat limited find made next to Gute Hoffnung in Germany, in 2009. As I understand it a few enterprising collectors found these in a pit near the old mine and opened up several very narrow veins with these brilliant yellow green to green to blue green crystals and thin botryoidal coatings. Extracting specimens without damage was quite difficult due to the narrowness of the veins in a conglomeratic/pebbly sandstone. 14 of these are exhibited here. Most have very little or no damage.

August 25, 2010. New Arrivals Page 2 has been updated with a suite of pyromorphite specimens from China. I purchased a flat of small cabinet to thumbnail sized specimens when these were coming out a couple of years back. I finally got around to getting them photographed and onto the website. Prices are from $5 to $30. On the small TN specimens shipping will be about $3... up to $5 on the larger pieces.

Ludwigite: The site has been updated with a suite of ludwigite crystal specimens from Idaho. These are the best in the world, with clean, sharp black crystals present, rather than the usual sprays and radiating masses of indistinct crystals found elsewhere in the world. One of the crystals is an incredible 8 cm long! I X-rayed several pieces to verify their identity and the CPDS Standard Card and my x-ray diffraction charts are shown below. These can be seen on General Stock Page 4.

These ludwigites are frequently altered to an unknown Mn-Fe-B hydroxide (Lanny Ream, verbal communication). Where this alteration has occurred, the ludwigite prisms are rather etched looking, although still retaining a good bit of luster. Many of the specimens are unaltered, sharp, bright, black prisms in calcite. Magnetite is a frequent associate of these specimens, with, occasionally, small black spinels a mm or two across.

August 14, 2008

I read the issue of the Mineralogical Record and noted in the letters to the editor one of the complaints mail order specimen receivers have is that they have to pay for both the postage to receive the specimen, and the postage to return the specimen if they do not care for it. So I decided on a trial basis to pay for the return postage on any specimens you receive from me that you do not care for. I'll just send a check for the postage amount, or give a credit on the next purchase, whichever is preferred. This is only for specimens where you have paid the postage to receive the specimen.

In addition I have added additional pages to the site. There are New Arrivals Pages 1, 2, 3, & 4. In General Stock there is General Stock page 1, all minerals starting with A. General Stock Page 2, all minerals starting with B. General Stock Page 3, all minerals starting with C, D, and E. General Stock page 4, all minerals starting with F, G, H, I, J, K, & L. General Stock page 5, all minerals starting with M, N, & O. General Stock page 6, all Nevada minerals. General Stock page 7, all minerals starting with P. General Stock page 8, all minerals starting with Q, R. General Stock page 9, all minerals starting with S, T, & U. General Stock page 10, all minerals starting with V, W, X, Y, & Z. General stock page 11 is for thumbnail minerals. General Stock page 12 is the SALE PAGE, where minerals are offered at discounts of from 30% to 80% off...these are usually specimens that have been on the site for awhile.

December 26, 2002 I purchased two small collections of specimens mostly purchased in the 1950's through early 1970's. Mostly inexpensive pieces, I will be adding them to the site a few on each update. These are heavy in U.S. and Mexico localities.

March 20, 2002 I have made General Stock page 6 into an all Nevada page, as I keep finding neat specimens in my collecting expeditions around this great mineral collecting state.

December 2000
We are a mineral dealership located in Reno, Nevada. We are ardent field collectors and have been dealing in and collecting minerals for many years. You can see us in person every year at the following shows: San Francisco show in August; and Denver, Colorado in September.

I have been a mineral collector since I was taken underground at the Clayton Silver mine in Idaho at the ripe old age of 9, by my grandfather, who worked there as a foreman. My first look at the mine's working face of solid sparkling galena had me hooked on minerals from that moment on. Since then I went on to get my Masters' degree in Geology with a focus on economics and mineralogy. My favorite mineral is pyromorphite. I'm always on the lookout for pyromorphite specimens. I am particularly interested in Canadian specimens.