A very beautiful doubly terminated crystal of beryl that grades from heliodor near the top, to aquamarine near the base.  

Despite this being my fourth trip to the country, I had only ever come away with a few beryl samples previously-- usually nothing particularly gemmy.  I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to claim that the pieces recovered from this pocket are probably some of the best beryl specimens to come from Madagascar in the last 10-15 years.   

There is some sub-surface pocket dirt-- this is visible more on one side than the other.  I have included pictures of both sides (to see the dirtier side, see the pictures below the description and at the very bottom).  It is somewhat difficult to get the color right in the pictures, so I have photographed it with a few different backgrounds-- the super bright image is an iPhone picture in direct winter sunlight-- as you can see, the thing really glows if you light it correctly, and the effect can be recreated with a well-placed LED.

A very large and impressive specimen of deep green dioptase from the Republic of Congo. A plate this size is almost impossible to get from any other location, and this is one of the larger examples I've seen from this area. 

A monstrously large and remarkably complete crystal of sphene from Madagascar.  The crystal is a twin, and a complete floater with no visible point of attachment.  I showed this piece to a dealer who has been in the business for decades and interacted with numerous museums and collectors, and it was the largest complete example he could recall seeing.

A spectacular large cabinet specimen of dioptase from recent finds at Ntola.  This piece has unusually large crystals for the locality, and a pleasant sprinkling of small yellow orbs of another mineral-- I am guessing a mixture of mimetite and mottramite.  

A beautiful, terminated aquamarine with a greenish tinge, from Madagascar.  This piece comes from a recently discovered pocket that produced a small quantity of excellent heliodors and aquamarines.  Some are obviously one or the other, this one is somewhere in between. 

A beautiful cabinet sized example of dioptase richly covering its matrix.  There have been a number of circular, radiating casts or pseudomorphs that have appeared on the market, no one is exactly sure what mineral the dioptase has replaced--I suspect it is plancheite.  Whatever the case, they have tended to be single pieces, generally off matrix--most were thumbnails.  

A large cabinet specimen of dioptase, with a display face richly covered with small, but bright green dioptase crystals.  Exceptionally rich. 

A gemmy, temrinated heliodor crystal from a recent find in Madagascar.  

As I mentioned in the introduction, good matrix specimens of tourmaline are extremely rare, on account of the decomposed nature of the pegmatite, the mining methods, and the emphasis on obtaining gem rough. When a matrix specimen does occur, the matrix will almost always consist of quartz crystals. Over two separate trips to Madagascar, this is the best matrix tourmaline I have been able to get my hands on. It consists of a purplish-red liddicoatite with a black and yellow core, the yellow part of the core lending some of its color to the hue of the termination. This yellow is best visibly under strong lighting (see the image where I am holding it) As is typical of many Malagasy liddicoatites, this specimen has a very steeply pointed termination. What truly sets this piece apart however, is its association with the quartz crystals that are perched on its side. I realize I am repeating myself here, but to find a matrix specimen is relatively rare. To find a matrix specimen where the tourmaline is not damaged is even rarer, but to find a piece where the interplay between the matrix and the tourmaline is actually aesthitic is VERY difficult… like I said, despite having purchased many tourmalines in Madagascar, this is the best piece I have gotten in two trips there

A doubly terminated aquamarine with a greenish tinge, from Madagascar.  This piece comes from a recently discovered pocket that produced a small quantity of excellent heliodors and aquamarines.  Some are obviously one or the other, this one is somewhere in between. 

A gemmy, terminated aquamarine crystal from a recent find in Madagascar.  

An unusually large example of aquamarine from Erongo, both crystals are terminated.  The smaller one has better color than the larger-- I had considered splitting it in two but decided against it because finding such large specimens is quite unusual for this locality.  Typically, when you get a piece of this size, it will be a felspar matrix covered in small aquamarines.  Associated with siderite and feldspar. 

A classic rhodochrosite from N"chwanning. This is a rather unusual habit for the mine, composed of compressed scalenohedrons. This habit was encountered in the early 1980"s.

Specimens displaying this habit are usually sawed at the base to improve translucency and to make them more displayable. This one has not been sawed, and as a result is somewhat wedge-shaped. When viewed under magnification, small cleaves are visible on the terminations of the crystals, but it is exactly as shown in the photos.

An especially large cerussite crystal from Mfouati.  This piece hosts a single well formed, smoky colored crystal that shares its matrix with mimetite and minor smithsonite. I would argue that this is a significant piece for the locality, most of what is found is 1) smaller, 2) off matrix and 3) it just gets broken.  Cerussite is especially prone to chipping, and when you see the way that the local miners beat at the rock with pry bars and hammers, it is actually something of a miracle that anything of this size can survive intact.

A beautiful example of sharp, lustrous schorl crystals aesthetically positioned on matrix.  As a mineral dealer, there are a few species you quickly learn to stay away from-- black tourmaline tops the list, but I thought these were quite exceptional, especially with the contrast offered by the vivid yellow-green, day-fluorescent hyalite highlights near bottom edge.  That color is best appreciated in sunlight, and you can see the glow even in shade of indirect, 4 pm winter sun. 

A nicely arranged example of fluorite with quartz, from Erongo.  The matrix is a mixture of quartz and schorl tourmaline with a number of green fluorites (some with brown cores) scattered around a central quartz crystal.  As is typical for Erongo fluorite, it does need strong lighting for the color to be appreciated-- the ones near the edges light up particularly well. In order to display better, some of the back has been carved away as well to help light pass through.  

A great fluorite on matrix from finds made in late 2021.  There is a lot of fluorite that comes from Erongo, but most of it comes out broken.  What isn't, is often covered with unsightly coatings, etched surfaces, or the crystals are so etched that they come out loose. This one has a couple exceptionally well positioned crystals on matrix, with great color-- and when backlit, it only improves.  The crystals are well exposed from pretty much every angle, and make for a great display. 

A gemmy and terminated multicolored tourmaline crystal in a quartz matrix.  This one displays particularly well with even slight back lighting, as the translucent quartz matrix allows the entire specimen to light up.

A exceptional large cabinet gaudeforyite from the Kalahari manganese fields. This piece is richly covered with terminated gaudefroyite crystals, the largest reaching 1.4 cm. The gaudefroyite crystals lie on a matrix composed of bright red andradite garnets, and when displayed from the angle shown at right, the red matrix and black gaudefroyite shows beautiful contrast. Good gaudefroyite is nearly impossible to obtain today, and large matrix specimens such as this one are rarely encountered. This one was kept in storage in South Africa for years, until being brought to Tucson where I acquired it.

A very beautiful plate of dioptase crystals, from recent finds near Mindouli.  There is no damage, and the crystals are usually gemmy.  The piece has and overall pleasing visual balance, I like that the larger crystals are positioned near the top edges of the piece. 

This type of material was one of the things being discovered while I was in the area.  One of the holes at the first camp on the main trail leading up the mountain had just started to produce schorl included quartz, as well as a number of these interesting fluorite formations.  This is the best example I saw during the trip-- most were somewhat smaller, and for obvious reason: the delicate formations are easily shattered during extraction.  Somehow this one was preserved-- maybe the muscovite acted as some sort of shock absorber....

In the United States, Europe and Japan, the majority of available tourmaline is of Afghan or Pakistani origin, largely thanks to the number of Pakistani nationals who export the material. This is followed closely in terms of quantity by specimens from Brazil, Pala, etc. Madagascar is home to some of the most stunningly colored tourmalines, yet good specimens are seldom seen for sale. This piece is one of the few matrix tourmalines that I was able to acquire. There is no shortage of minerals in Madagascar, but good pieces are few and far between. Although this piece is not gemmy, the wine-red color is among the best available from Madagascar, and out of literaly thousands of tourmalines that I saw, this specimen had the largest terminated and undamaged crystal that was available on matrix. I would estimate that about 99.8% of Malagasy tourmalines are sold as single crystals.

A rich cabinet sized specimen of green demantiod garnet from the northern tip of Madagascar.  This one has numerous lustrous, bright green crystals in a vug. 

In 2016 there was a rather spectacular find of this blue-green borosilicate mineral in southern Madagascar, long considered to be among the world's rarest gems.  I has seen some available on my previous trip, but the quality was horrible-- they were basically formless shards, and few if any had crystal faces much less a termination.

A great example of dioptase form the Mindouli area, with particularly large crystals. This piece can be displayed either vertically (to accentuate the largest crystal) or horizontally.  There are scattered overgrowths of quartz.

A terminated and reasonably gemmy topaz crystal from Madagascar.

A terminated and reasonably gemmy topaz crystal from Madagascar.

A cabinet sized combination specimen of green dioptase with beautifully contrasting yellow mimetite.  The dioptase crystals are arranged in ball-shaped aggregates, which are clustered together over the mimetite coated matrix.  

Among the interesting new finds from Congo are several habits of hemimorphite.  Most come from various workings in the same general area, and the appearance varies from plates that are nearly identical to the botryoidal blue material from Wenshan, China, to clusters of white radiating crystals that look similar to the Ojuela material, only more robust.

A sharp chrysoberyl twin on matrix, from recent finds in Zimbabwe.  Good matrix examples are exceedingly hard to come by, pretty much everything I saw last year were either single matrixes crystals, or crystals on clusters of more crudely formed alexandrite.  This one has been well exposed on a schist matrix (you can see a bit of the work around the crystal) and is exceptionally sharp and well formed.  It also shows pretty significant color change, from a dark grass green in daylight or equivalent lighting, to a sort of purplish green under incandescent lighting.  Please note: the color is NOT purple as shown in the pictures, for some reason the camera picks up on this color, when in reality it is more of a dark purplish green mix.  All in all however, this is a great alexandrite specimen-- very hard to find this sharp, on matrix, with good color change-- and I think this is a very good piece for the price.

A great combination of green dioptase with light blue plancheite.  In my opinion, the contrast between the blue and green creates one of the most aesthetically pleasing color combinations that this area produces.  This one is somewhat larger than most of the others I came across, and the dioptase was fortunately shielded from damage in a shallow vug.

A cabinet specimen of bright red vanadinite from the latest season of mining in the Mibladen area.  This piece is entirely damage free, and hosts numerous sharp blood red crystals, with none of the brown alteration that is so often seen on inferior pieces.  

Scapolite of this quality is better known from Mpwawa, Tanzania, and crystals like this one are virtually unheard of from Mozambique (actually, this crystal would be large even for Tanzania.) According to the mine owner, this crystal came from a small batch of 3 or 4 crystals. The others were faceted, this one was preserved. This is an exceptional scapolite for any locality, but is doubly rare being from Mozambique. The crystal is terminated and very gemmy. I have never seen another of this size and quality from the country.

A double terminated crystal of liddicoatite tourmaline on a cluster of terminated smoky quartz crystals. The specimen is a floater, freed from a decomposed pegmatite with no clear points of attachment.

A large and exceptionally rich example of this rare sulfoarsenide.  I usually stay away from pieces this large, but it isn't common to see such large masses of this rare species, and the display face was especially clean and well crystalized-- again, not something you often see in such large pieces.  It could easily be trimmed into two nice cabinet specimens-- I might just do that if no one takes it, but for now I want to leave it intact, as it is a really good representative of the species. 

A great example of quartz from a 2021 find about halfway up the southern face of the mountain, this pice combined colorless quartz with green fluorite. There were a number of lone quartz crystals (as expected, many destroyed in just the wrong places) but this one was relatively clean, and the bright green fluorite adds a pleasant accent. What particularly sets this piece apart however, is that some of the fluorite is actually included in the secondary crystal.

A beautiful cabinet sized specimen of dioptase on matrix, with a light sprinkling of interspersed, yellow mimetite crystals.

A cabinet specimen of demantoid garnets on matrix. Interestingly enough, the matrix is actually composed of garnet, not sedimentary rock, as was originally thought. As with all of these, the color is best in sunlight. In incandescent light, the green tends to look somewhat dull. By now most people know this, but the locality for these specimens is situated in a mangrove swamp which gets flooded by the tide every day. For the size, I think the price is quite reasonable given what people have been asking for these....

A double terminated crystal of liddicoatite tourmaline on a double terminated smoky quartz crystal.  The specimen is a floater, freed from a decomposed pegmatite with no point of attachment.

A nice nearly complete alexandrite sixling on a bit of matrix, making for a superbly well balanced thumbnail/ toenail sized specimen.

A cabinet sized combination specimen of green dioptase with beautifully contrasting yellow mimetite.  The dioptase crystals are arranged in ball-shaped aggregates, which are clustered together over the mimetite coated matrix.   The visual balance and contrast on this one are exceptional. 

A very beautiful piece from this interesting new find!  

A great example of dioptase from Reneville.  This location is further east than the bulk of the other dioptase producing localities, and is also one of the older ones-- the mines in this area were once operated (and later abandoned) by the French, and today are gradually coming to life again thanks to the efforts of Chinese companies and locals hunting for specimens. 

A nice hand-sized example of blue aquamarine on a matrix covered with schorl crystals-- many of those overgrown with small aquamarines themselves. Minor saw marks on the back edge

A gemmy, temrinated heliodor crystal from a recent find in Madagascar.  

Another difficult to come by matrix tourmaline specimen from Madagascar, this one hosting a perfectly terminated pink and green crystal on a quartz matrix.

A large, hefty liddicoatite crystal from Madagascar.  On every trip I am shown at least one of these, and I inevitably have to turn them down because the combination of price, damage, and color are not particularly favorable.

A large and deeply colored crystal of this exceedingly rare cesium-bearing mineral. The type material was discovered in Madagascar in 2002, and a very small number of morganites from Afghanistan were subsequently found to also be pezzottaite-- apart from that however, this mineral has not been found anywhere else. 

In 2016 there was a rather spectacular find of this very rare blue-green borosilicate mineral in southern Madagascar.  I has seen some available on my previous trip, but the quality was horrible-- they were basically formless shards, and few if any had crystal faces much less a termination.

An unusual topaz crystal, completely gem except for one end that has some stringy inclusions.  This comes from the same find that produced the blue bicolored specimen also on this update.

A large cabinet sized specimen form a recent find of fluorite in Madagascar, certainly the best examples from the country found to date.

A double terminated crystal of liddicoatite tourmaline on a cluster of terminated smoky quartz crystals. The specimen is a floater, freed from a decomposed pegmatite with no clear points of attachment.

A very clear yellow diamond, weighing 0.9 ct from West Africa.  The first dimension is the longest point to point distance, the second two are sides. 

A nice prism of bright polychrome tourmaline with a steep, very sharply pointed and fairly gemmy termination. Under ordinary lighting, it will appear as in the photograph directly to the right of this description, and the bottom photograph. Please note that there is some chipping on the back near the termination, but this is only visible directly from the back. Under strong lighting, its colors really start to shine through--as in the image directly below this description. For the price, I think this is an excellent specimen. Malagasy liddicoatites with good color are not often seen for sale, the few I have seen online have been thumbnails priced from $200-$400... this is clearly much larger, and it has very good color.

A fairly large, reddish-purple Liddicoatite tourmaline with a sharply pointed and steeply slanted termination. Compared to most, this thing is pretty big. I have also noticed that the colored specimens tend to top off at much smaller sizes than the darker pieces... why this is though, I cannot say.

A cabinet specimen of bright red vanadinite from the latest season of mining in the Mibladen area.  This piece is entirely damage free, and hosts numerous sharp blood red crystals, with none of the brown alteration that is so often seen on inferior pieces.  

A liddicoatite crystal showing bands of pink, blackish, and colorless, with the steep termination typical of liddicoatite tourmalines from Madagascar.  

As an ex-pyromorphte collector, one of the more pleasant surprises encountered on this trip were examples of pyromorphite from a few different localities.  In the past, the only Congolese specimens I had seen were old examples of dull hexagonal prisms on a contrast-lacking matrix.  While not the most well crystalized, examples from this location certainly had the most vivid coloration and richness.  Also of particular note, is that the pyromorphite occurs on a malachite matrix.  I suspect this is the same location that also produces the malachite-cerussite combinations.

A cabinet specimen of bright red vanadinite from the latest season of mining in the Mibladen area.  This piece is entirely damage free, and hosts numerous sharp blood red crystals, with none of the brown alteration that is so often seen on inferior pieces.  

A terminated and reasonably gemmy topaz crystal from Madagascar.

A large cluster of the rare hydrated variety of zircon called malacon.  These were recently dug by a miner searching for monazite at Abatofotsikely, there were a few smaller ones and then this was the best large example available.  It is quite rich, though somewhat ugly.  Contacted on the reverse.