#phenomenalgems

[phenomenalgems]

🌍 Absolutely beautiful Labradorite sphere we saw last year at the Tucson Shows! We’re getting SO excited to see you all there very soon!! 🤩

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🐬 Blue isn’t the most common color in minerals, and especially this shade of turquoise blue stands out. Blue Ajoite included Quartz with native copper, black tenorite, and colorless needles (could be colorless Ajoite). This crystal is from Messina Mine, late 1980s-early 1990s production. The cluster of needles in 3-5 colors is classic for Messina, and most crystals (like this one) had a thick crust that required polishing the faces. A fantastic collector’s piece that’s available! Dm for details.

[phenomenalgems]

💙 💜 Macro Monday, and a mineral mystery! Unknown blue acicular mineral intergrown with Chrysocolla, fluorite, and amethyst from Maricopa County, Arizona—similar material collected from mines including Prism and Spectrum mines. Thanks for the cool specimen, Julie! 💙 #mineralmystery #macromonday #amethyst #fluorite #unknown #maricopacounty #arizona #mineralsofarizona #americanminerals #microminerals #macrophotography #phenomenalgems #tucsongemshow

[phenomenalgems]

🛸👽 Today’s #macromonday shot was taken at the Munich Gem Shows, where I took a closer look at this kickass Seymchan Nickel-Iron Meteorite sphere!

The macro shows a unique structure that can only form in meteoritic metal: Widmanstätten patterns, aka Thomson figures. This structure forms due to 2 alloys within the nickel-iron material, kamacite and taenite—as the meteor (often an asteroid fragment) is flying through space, it cools slowly, and the 2 alloys differentiate and form distinct crystals.

When the meteor impacts with earth (becoming a meteorite), it is cut and treated with acid. The acid etches the meteorite and reveals its interior lattice structure, and these fine patterns of crystallization we call Widmanstätten patterns. A super cool formation that teaches us more about meteorites and the universe around us!

🛸👽 #widmanstatten #thomsonfigures #meteorites #spacestuff #spacerocks #seymchan #meteors #macro #macrophotography #macroworld #minerals #rocks #munichgemshows #munich #phenomenalgems

[phenomenalgems]

❄️ Our favorite finds of 2024 continues with #6 — the gorgeous, delicate Selenite clusters we dug in Agrigento, Italy! This whole trip was a total dream, and the selenite “snowflakes” we collected in Italy were so unexpected! Not only were we surprised to be able to extract them, we were amazed that they made it back to the US intact. Overall, a gorgeous crystal to be able to hold in the palm of your hand and know you collected personally. ❄️ #selenite #topfindsof2024 #agrigento #italianminerals #rockhounding #findyourowncrystals #miningmybusiness #icycrystals #rocksandminerals #crystalsforlife #visititaly #phenomenalgems

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#tfw you realize how big these Amethyst geodes really are! 🤯 One of the craziest, coolest things we saw in Tucson this year!

[phenomenalgems]

🇨🇿 💫 #2 and #1 on our Top 10 Finds of 2024…

…Our individual best pieces of moldavite dug this November in Besednice, Czech Republic! We put these pieces at the top of this year’s rockhounding list for their unique beauty, the digging experience that went into finding them, and the adventure of exploring Český Krumlov and the surrounding area.

This is one of the few rockhounding experiences of the year that we didn’t have planned in advance; we didn’t know anything about it until we went to the Munich Gem Show in Germany. But taking the opportunity to visit Czech Republic on the fly ended up being one of our best decisions, and favorite places, on the Europe trip. This area of Czechia has a spellbinding beauty, and a sense of peace that felt different from anywhere else we visited.

Keith found the largest piece of moldavite in the last few minutes of our dig day (by now you know that this fits the pattern for my very gifted, very lucky rockhound of a husband). The moldavite twist was my personal best piece, and the delicate shape and hollow tubes running through it really set it apart from any other pieces we saw. Digging moldavite was something I’ve wanted to do for many years, so it was a real bucket-list experience! The combination of a super cool travel experience, new adventures, and exceptional moldavite from world-famous Besednice pushed these beauties to the top two spots on our 2024 list. Looking forward to the new experiences and new specimens 2025 will bring! 💫 🇨🇿

#toptenfindsof2024 #rockhounding #moldavite #selfcollected #czechrepublic #ceskykrumlov #besednice #findyourowncrystals #unexpectedadventure #bucketlist #europetrip #visitczechia #besednicemoldavite #lifegoals #phenomenalgems

[phenomenalgems]

🍋 #4 on our list of top finds of 2024: amazing lemon yellow Native Sulfur crystals, from the legendary Agrigento province, Sicily, Italy! These sunny sweeties were beautifully crystallized, and the bipyramidal habit was unexpected and super unique. Getting the opportunity to dig this Sicilian classic mineral was a major highlight of our rockhounding adventures in 2024! 🍋 #sulfur #nativesulfur #italiansulfur #sicily #agrigento #rockhounding #yellowcrystals #findyourowncrystals #top10findsof2024 #phenomenalgems