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THE  CORUNDUMINIUM

 
  Home            Shelf  #1            Showcase #1              Vault #1  
     
 

EARTH  TREASURES

 
 

 

 
 

SPECIMENS   FOR  SALE

 
     
     Please note that I will be traveling in the field approximately from May 10 until June 8, 2011, and again from July 10 until August 15, 2011.  We post additional items on Ebay, using the ID "corundumaniac".   
     
       Specimens for sale are organized according to price ("Shelf" specimens are up to $99.00,  "Showcase" specimens are from $100.00 to $999.00, and "Vault" specimens are $1,000.00 and above).  These pages will be numbered chronologically, based upon posting date, so that you can easily find any new ones.  We will always keep a few teasers on this page as well. 

      Please email me at  wheierman@corunduminium.com (best to copy to williamh@wcjc.edu ) if you are interested in something, and I shall reply at my earliest convenience.  If it's here, you may refer to it by the code in the upper right of the description.

 

 
  OUR  SELLING  PHILOSOPHY  
       As a collector for more than twenty years, I met many wonderful people (miners, collectors, dealers) with rocks for sale.  I asked one of them, who lives in Pakistan, if he would want us to represent him in America.  What followed was a great consignment deal, and the seeds for "Earth Treasures" were sown!  
       Wondering if there would be enough stones to make a business, I asked several other foreign colleagues the same question.  To my surprise, our problem is not inventory - it is cataloguing and publishing all the specimens and finding enough collectors who would love to own some.   
       Though this is not a new way of doing the mineral business, it may be unusual as I do not make as much as one who ties up his capital by buying for resale.  Fortunately, it is not my main job (by day, I teach Math at Wharton County Junior College near Houston, Texas).  I have no visions of getting rich (see day job), but do hope to make enough money money to maintain this website, continue the research, and refine the collections while helping others acquire some of the Earth's great treasures for their own!  
     
     We prefer to do business the good, old-fashioned way; but if paying by check or money order we may require clearance of funds prior to shipment.  We can take PayPal payments, but are not set up for credit cards.  We might swap for corundums.  
     
     
      Our offerings feature some interesting lapidary materials (Shelf #1) and fossils (Shelf #1, Safe #1).   There are also many corundums from World-wide localities (Shelf #1, Safe #1).  It's a work in progress, so please pardon our appearance, c'mon in, and take a look.  Do not be afraid to buy something to support the Corundum Project!   
 

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        Painite has been listed in the Guinnes" Book of World Records as the World's rarest gemstone mineral.  For about 20 years, only two specimens had been identified.  Recently a find of painite in situ generated enough specimens that it began to appear on the market (although at exacerbated prices).  For more about this rarity, you should see two seminal Internet articles by George Rossman ( http://minerals.caltech.edu/files/Visible/painite/Index.htm ) and Vincent Pardieu  ( http://www.aigsthailand.com/(A(KK_21TCYyAEkAAAAZmQ4YTJmYmEtMTQyNS00YzlkLWExNDItMjcwM2EzM2RhNTQ4sK  ).   
    Last updated December 21, 2010