Crystal Mine

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

NEWS:

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.

February 21, 2025. New Arrivals Page 1, Tucson update #2; has been updated with an assortment of mixed world wide minerals; most of these purchased at the Tucson show a couple of weeks ago.

February 16, 2025. New Arrivals Page 4 has been updated with a suite of mixed world wide minerals. This is the 1st post Tucson (2025) show update. Most of the pieces on this update are from the Tucson mélange.

I spent a week combing what seems like hundreds of dealers. First area I hit was the Kino sports complex in south Tucson. In the past it has always had several dealers there, almost all from outside the United States. This year there were even more than last year. There were several dealers from Africa...Mali and the Congo, with tons of malachite from the Congo it seems like. Most of it pretty run of the mill. From Mali there was very little of the epidote that was so prevalent the last few years; still lots of prehnite though. There were a couple of Brazilian dealers selling the vivianite from Cabeca do Cachorro claim, Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazon, Brazil. I saw very little of ludlamite from there though...and what was available has gone up remarkably more expensive. There were several Moroccan dealers selling their wares. Mostly mediocre material, lots of low end vanadinite and other low end species; a few had some nice quality vanadinites, much more expensive than they used to be for the most part. Other venues had Moroccan material and much more reasonable prices, one just had to shop around. There were literally tons of Uruguayan amethyst in geodes. From hand sized to 6 feet or more tall. Lots of quartz also, mostly Brazilian...crystals to a few tons and over 6 feet tall...how about a rose quartz bath tub? There were also a couple of Mexican dealers...lots of Las Vigas amethyst, mostly quite light color, at rather high prices. So much of this around I'm surprised the prices aren't a bit more reasonable.

There was a lot of the "grape agate" from Indonesia...actually little tiny ball like aggregates of amethyst...99% of it had no luster at all...rather drab, but pretty purple to greenish/bluish color.

Next I hit the motel shows on the west side of I-10. Most of these dealers are selling beads, polished stuff, lapidary material and the like...the smell of pot was a bit much here and there. There were a mix of Chinese dealers, most of them selling fluorite in all colors, and rather expensive also. Very little azurite, pyromorphite around, some had Tong Bei spessartine at significantly higher prices...literally 100's of dollars for pieces that used to be $50 or so. A couple of them had nice stibnite pieces, very bright and pretty. I could not resist a couple. One Chinese dealer had a few of the Chalcopyrite pieces from Kaiwu...these were plentiful several years ago, but rather scarce now, especially in good quality...could not resist picking up a couple of those. There were some of the older Inner Mongolia arsenopyrite etc. from Huanggang. Recent good ones have pretty much tapered off...the ones I saw were from the original finds, so I could not help but purchase a few of those.

Peruvian dealers were scattered around, lots of pyrite (Huanzala), most with some damage, but here and there some nice stuff. Somewhat newer material a few of them had was the axinite-epidote combos from Cullhuay, Canta. I ended up getting some of these as they are rather nice. The new green fluorites from Atacocha were somewhat plentiful, but with outrageously high prices. I call them "ouch" prices.

A couple of the Moroccan dealers had some decent silver specimens...most rather expensive compared to years past.

Next to hit was the 22nd street tent show...a whole lot of dealers selling just about everything...lots of Afghan and Pakistan dealers, nice material mostly in the megabuck range...tourmaline and aquamarine the main feature for these folks. That venue wiped out half the day.

One thing I noted in several of the tent venues...a lot of dioptase...supposedly from the Kapata mine, Kolwezi...although different African dealers peddling the stuff didn't seem sure where it came from, or just didn't want to say. There were literally thousands of these scattered through the various dealers. 99% of it damaged. Apparently the collectors were not taking care to keep the material damage free...some of them had just dumped hundreds of pieces onto the tables without boxes or anything else to keep them from banging against each other.

Scattered through the various venues was quite a bit of the "spirit quartz/cactus quartz" from South Africa. This material has been around for quite some time. Some of it was really nice quality and quite pretty. 90% of it is so-so.

Next I visited the "Mineral City" dealers on and about Lester street...this is where most of the moderate to high end dealers we are familiar with have there wares. Shockingly high prices for the most part...difficult to find a nice specimen for under $500 or so...thousand to multi-thousand $$ specimens in abundance. Fun to look...sort of like visiting a world class museum.

The most obvious thing I noticed was the lack of new material...most of what was available appears to be from re-cycled collections. As a side note...the La Morita mine wulfenites that came out a few years back have largely disappeared, and the specimens available now are way up in price...many exceeding $1,000 or so.

Even spending a week looking around, I still missed some of the venues along Oracle road...so may have missed something great for all I know.

So much for my meanderings about Tucson...great fun, great weather...snowing in Reno when I left, and in the upper 70's to 80's in Tucson...a nice change for sure.

January 22, 2025 New Arrivals Page 3 is a mix of worldwide pieces as well as a few self collected specimens, and some stock that has been overlooked and needed to be photographed and added to the site.

January 13, 2025. New Arrivals Page 2 Has been updated with a suite of mixed world wide minerals. I found a couple of flats of the fluorite from the Dixie mine, Nevada, I collected in 2022, with specimens not posted before, so they are added to this update...just a few of the better pieces in the flats. Also, found a flat of the scheelite/andradite from the Merrill prospect in Inyo county, California, that haven't been put on the site before, so I added some of them also. In addition are several world wide pieces that I hadn't posted before, so added them to this update too. In addition, there are a couple of pieces that have been on the site for awhile and haven't sold as yet, so I slashed their prices considerably.

We have adjusted the site to contain more pages under General Stock. There are now 25 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 specimens over $300. General Stock Page 26 is a bit of a misnomer. I'm reserving it for photos from my collection, photos of interesting field trips and finds, and the like. More of an information/fun page.

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.