Crystal Mine

9-22-15 In order to make payment try: jcrowley@crystal-mine.com when you go to Paypal. Also, the search function is not working and so far I haven't figured out how to make it work. pages are alphabetical...see below.

June 15, 2026. New Arrivals Page 4. Has been updated with a suite of ludwigite specimens from Lemhi county, Idaho. Not the prettiest of minerals, as they are jet black, semi lustrous or satiny luster to matt black crystals. They have been etched from calcite, and they frequently have a slightly corroded look, with some showing a bit of oxidation to an amorphous orange coating. These are far and away the best ludwigite ever found from any locality in the world., as they are discrete crystals, occurring, as individuals and as sort of jackstraw aggregates. A few are terminated, which is very rare for ludwigite. Terminations are flat and rather non descript. These were dug in July and September of 2020, with my collecting partner Tony Potucek. Ludwigite is a rare magnesium/iron borate; usually found as sprays or micro crystals, as a search of the internet shows. This particular offering has some of the best pieces found at this locality. A mention of this occurrence is written up in the May-June 2026 Mineralogical Record issue under "what's new in minerals, Tucson show 2026", and a piece is illustrated on Page 420 of this issue, as a few were sold by Tony at the 2026 Tucson show. Next update will be mixed minerals from around the world.

June 4, 2026. New Arrivals Page 3. Has been updated with a suite of mixed world wide minerals. Featured is a fine Inesite and hubeite on quartz from China.

May 20, 2026. New Arrivals Page 2 Has been updated with a suite mixed world wide minerals. Featured are more fine specimens from the late Barney Ritter's collection, as well as other colorful minerals from around the world.

April 22, 2026. New Arrivals Page 1 has been updated with a suite of mixed minerals. Most of these are from the late Barney Ritter's collection. Some are a bit pricey, but of great quality, most purchased in the late 1990's and early 2000's. .

First day, visited the whole sale dealers. Not much new. Lots of African dioptase, supposedly from a Kapata mine, a comment on mindat...no Kapata mine as such, so who knows where they are from, anyway 98% of which is damaged+ some nice Huanzala large pyrites at a reasonable price. Otherwise nothing new there, a few minor things from Sta. Eulalia, such as chabazite I hadn't seen before.

Next visited a big tent show near the wholesalers....jewelry, lapidary, minerals. African dealers selling various things...Congo guys...haven't figured out how to sell minerals...they just piled up minerals in loose piles...so most were beat all to heck...and on top of that, overpriced. Few Moroccan dealers, nothing new. Mostly low end/grade stuff.

Next day went to the Kino Sports Complex, which is about 100 acres of dealers selling everything...minerals, rugs, pelts, skulls, jewelry, metal sculptures, massive furniture made out of massive rose quartz etc. Anyway, a couple of Mexican dealers, nothing but junk or over priced Mexican amethyst...boy has that gone up. Several Moroccan dealers, nothing but junk, couple of Columbian dealers selling quartz crystals. Pretty but lots of it.

Next visited the dealers along the west side of I-10....a few hundred of them. One Moroccan dealer had some nice vanadinite...pricey but very nice. Several Chinese dealers with tons of fluorite, some stibnite, a few other things...some were reasonable, others were way overpriced...big variance.

Next went to what is called "The Mineral City Show" which is where most of the more mainstream mineral dealers are. Only three things of note as far as new stuff...some Los Lamentos wulfenites...thin window pane type stuff...not spectacular, and any decent ones were very expensive...some were shown in the latest Mineralogical Record under "What's New". Other somewhat new thing was some arsenopyrite from the Huanggang mine complex in China...sort of pencil shaped crystals sticking up with milky quartz crystals...rather pricey...but I got one of the cheaper ones. Also from same mine some big glassy Ilvaites. So other than that, didn't see much of anything new.

New from Nigeria is drusy amethyst on fluorite...an odd combo I have not seen before....only one dealer had these, and they were somewhat reasonable, so I picked up 5 of those as quite different...other than that I didn't see anything new...of course there probably were some things I missed....there were a few other mineral related shows/ venues, but they tend to be jewelry or fossil related and not much in minerals...but still, I could have missed something. Prices over all were astronomical.

We have adjusted the site to contain more pages under General Stock. There are now 26 General Stock Pages. There are New Arrivals Pages 1, 2, 3, & 4, which are the same. In General Stock there is General Stock page 1, "A thru Ay", General Stock page 2 is "Azurite", General Stock page 3 is "B", General Stock page 4 is "C", General Stock page 5 is "D", General Stock page 6 is "E", General Stock page 7 is "F and G", General Stock Page 8 is "H, I, J, K", General Stock page 9 is "L and M", General Stock page 10 is "N and O", General Stock page 11 is "P through Py", General Stock page 12 is "Pyromorphite", General Stock page 13 is "Q", General Stock page 14 is "R", General Stock page 15 is "S", General Stock page 16 is "T", General Stock page 17 is "U and V", General Stock page 18 is "W", General Stock page 19 is "X, Y, and Z", General Stock page 20 is the "Nevada" page, General Stock page 21 is "Thumbnail" size specimens at 40% off original price, General Stock Page 22 is the first "Sale Page", General Stock page 23 is the 2nd "Sale Page". General Stock page 24 is the 3rd "Sale Page". General Stock Page 25 is now dedicated to self collected minerals for show, not for sale, just to let folks see some of what I have collected over the years. General Stock Page 26 is a now composed of fluorescent minerals, arranged in alphabetical order.

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.

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.