WHAT'S NEW

Here, we post new material or references to it, so that by checking here frequently you may know what additions we have made to the website. After a month or two, we will delete them in most cases. Expect a lot of periodic changes, improvements, and additions. We are absorbing the contents of the Original Site, updating the articles, and adding images whenever time allows.

Earth Treasures, set up to sell or swap redundant specimens to refine the collection and fund the "Corundum Project" has recently been updated. Offerings include not only corundums, but also other minerals and fossils for collecting or lapidary work. We are also back on Ebay, selling under the I.D. "corundumaniac".

Images are thumbnailed - left click on one to see the full resolution picture.

Last update: January 19, 2012

25: MOROGORO, TANZANIA RUBIES

In 2010 and 2011, these superb specimens were found by the local miners. The gem dogtooth crystal on the left was obtained in Tucson, February, 2011. Below are images of the other two, both floaters (no visible point of attachment). The one on the right arrived today (pictures to be taken). 1/19/2012

24: KILLER PAINITES FROM BURMA

Once upon a time, a friend from Kuala Lumpur asked me about minerals from Burma, so I told him about the recent painite discovery. It turned out that he had been to the Kyauk Pya Thart Monastery in the past. He returned and, because of his already established friendship with the monks, was able to purchase the previously ratholed specimens seen below. The collection of about 200 specimens was memoed to me for sale about three years ago, and although a few of the lesser ones have been liquidated the heart of the suite remains intact. After some friendly negotiations, it is now ours.

The painite formed in a skarn between ruby-bearing calcite and leucogranite on the edge of the Wet Loo Ruby Mine just outside the Mogok Stone Tract, so some of the specimens are hybrids (or “half-breeds"), and some show strong alteration (a few may be completely replaced by ruby corundum). The mineral is extremely rare (even a thumbnail was once hyped as the Holy Grail for mineral collectors, though a few crumbs and faceted stones do show up on Ebay). It appears the deposit has been effectively mined out, so the extraordianry quality of the four specimens below may never be challenged.

See the Burma page for more images of specimens in this collection, more information, and links to related articles.

500 carat painite DTXL

900 carat ruby encrusted painite XL

2,500 carat partially altered cluster

ruby after painite pseudomorph

23: JANUARY, 2012 SHIPMENT FROM JOHN SAUL

The large crystals on the left are from Tanzania, and the polished section sawn perpendicular to the C-axis on the right may be from similar material – note the hex phantom inside. The color of the crystals may improve as acid seems to be removing brownish ironstain which was prominent when I got them. The pale green crystals are also Tanzanian.

In the same collection were the tabular blue crystal from Africa (probably Mozambique) and a doubly terminated ruby from Fröland, Norway. The huge pyramidal crystal to the right is from Sri Lanka

Madagascar produced these crystals, from Betroka (left), Ampanihy (near right), and Ihosy (far right). The pale green twin is quite unusual (ex coll. Alexandre Delerm).

22: FUCHSIA SAPPHIRES FROM AZAD KASHMIR

There is a recent discovery near Batakundi in Azad (Free) Kashmir that is beginning to produce striking fuchsia and pink sapphires. The two on the left are the finest I have seen. The pink oval weighs 3.57 carats and the purplish pink trilliant weighs 3.27 carats. They were purchased from Akira Kono (Seraph & Co., Osaka, Japan). Akira had obtained the oval from Ed Cleveland (Kashmir Blue) who slightly recut it to enhance its brilliance. The trilliant exhibits a "blue veil", something not seen before in corundum and whose origin is not yet certain (it may be due to Rayliegh scattering). On the right are three more stones donated to our collection by Akira, who sent several additional stones to be forwarded to Americn museums for their collections after their first exhibition at the Houston Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show, November 11-13, 2011.

21: MORE SPECIMENS FROM JOHN SAUL

In addition to allowing us to acquire specimens from his personal collection, John is scouring Europe for others. On the left are two very old specimens from Madagascar. The incomplete hex prism (first two images) is from Vohitany (Ampanihy), and is ex coll Henry Bessaire. The large laterite coated poker chip is from an unknown locality in Madagascar (ex coll. Alexandre Delerme). The blue oval in the next photo is a 3.55 carat sapphire from Chimwadzulu Hill, Malawi. The last image shows a trio of ruby crystals from "north of Lilongwe, Malawi".

20: QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA SAPPHIRE

This unusual crystal was shown to me in Tucson (February, 2011), and it was recently added to our collection. Aside from its large size, it has some interesting twinning and rutilization.

19: CALIFORNIA SAPPHIRE CLUSTER

Sadly, my truck was burglarized in Tucson in February, 2010, and among other things an iconic "Mount San Jacinto" California sapphire cluster was stolen. Police reports and World-wide searches have not found it, so I am assuming the thieves did not want to deal with it and trashed it.

In February, 2011 I found out there was another, which serendipitously became part of our collection. It is in the center of the photo on the left, which shows our entire family of fourteen "cone heads". It appears with "The Whale", perhaps the most notorious specimen from the locality, on the right.

These crystals occurred in sections in the host rock and had to be laboriously extracted, cleaned, and epoxied together by the two brothers (Ken and Dana Gochenour) who found them. They are not only unique American corundums, but fine examples of "art imitating nature". This coming summer, I will be updating the terribly obsolete information presently found on the SOUTHWESTERN U.S. page of the website. (4/30/11)

18: TUCSON, 2011 SPECIMENS

The two left specimens are from Winza, Tanzania (note gem blue kyanite on the first). Next is a Sri Lankan corundum that resembles a jawbone segment (gift of Rob Lavinsky). Two Mogok, Burma crystals appear next. Last is a ruby in gemmy, deep green fuchsite from Karnataka (Mysore) Province, India (gift of Nikhil Zhaveri).

17: ACQUISITIONS FROM JOHN SAUL (January 20, 20i0)

I received an email from John Saul, who had seen our Mineralogical Record article and wanted to know if we would be interested in some of his old specimens. After the excited “Do bears go in the woods?” reply, we got down to business; and now there are several more great specimens from his collection in ours. Because of this provenance, the suite will be kept together.

The John Saul Mine in Kenya is well known to collectors, jewelers, and gemologists as a highly regarded source of rubies, including large quantities of sizeable stones suitable for the manufacture of fine cabochons. It is also the one place on Earth I am aware of where secondary deposits included rubies in silicified clay containing fossils (opalized land snails).

The specimen pictured on the left had been owned by John, who reminisced about it in recent email conversations. It has been in our collection for about ten years. On the right was John's plastic model of the finest ruby crystal to be found at the mine. Unfortunately, the real one was "lapidated"; but with this very accurate replica we can still admire it!

The Longido, Tanzania locality is famous for its red and green “ruby in zoisite”, also called “anyolite” in the gemstone trade. There is a lot of legend surrounding the discovery of this site, which is well expressed in two Internet articles. One, written by John and published on his sons’ website, is entitled “The first gemstone discovered in East Africa” (URL is http://www.swalagemtraders.com/news/2008/02/06/7-the-first-gemstone-discovered-in-east-africa). Another is “Longido Ruby”, by Ed Swoboda. It can be found on Bill Larson’s website at URL http://www.palagems.com/swoboda_longido.htm.

The two stories cannot be totally reconciled, but what we do know is that Prince "Stash" Sapieha gave John two very early specimens from the site. It would not be unreasonable to think of them as the first to reach gem or mineral dealers’ hands. Both are now part of our collection. The specimen on the left was acquired in 2000 from Cal Graeber, and the other (right) just arrived in a parcel from John.

This incredible breccia included polished freeform anyolite is almost certainly from Longido. It was the subject of the cover photo on the Abatract of the 31st International Gemmological Conference, Arusha, Tanzania, 2009.

15 TEXAS CORUNDUM

Texas corundum is very rare, and this is our first Texas specimen. Though I had heard of some minor occurrences in Big Bend country, this euhedral doubly terminated ruby crystal is from a proprietary locality in the Hill Country northwest of Austin. (Gift of Rebecca Whittaker, Balcones Gem and Mining, Bertram, Texas) Dec. 19, 2010

Once I contact the person who found it and check the provenance, I may be able to say exactly where it came from.

14A: LARGE KASHMIR SAPPHIRES

Legend has it that two giant Kashmir sapphires were found "lying on top of the rocks as the glacier melted back". Both were purchased by Ed Cleveland (www.kashmirblue.com) and sent to us on memo. Being broke at the time , we sent them back and crossed our fingers. The twinned crystal on the left is about 65 carats, and it is now ours. Note the gemmy green tourmaline crystals attached, which should look even better after we clean it. The one on the right was about 122 carats before it was cut.

14B: UNUSUAL INDIAN SPECIMENS

Two huge specimens from the Subramaniam mines in Karnataka Province, India were picked up (with some difficulty) in Tucson in 2009 and 2010. The 118 pounder on the left has embedded rubies up to 4" (10 cm.) across. Note the halo of blue zoisite in the third image. The amphibolite specimen on the right weighs about 165 pounds (note large garnet in upper left).

These are the first corundum specimens from a new discovery in Tamil Nadu Province, India. Two views of the best cluster of tabular crystals are on the left, and images of the two strangest are shown on the right. In the last, note the aftergrowth of ruby on grey sapphire.

13 KILLER YOGO SAPPHIRE

I am greatly indebted to my friend and mining partner Amos Knapstad, who donated this incredible Yogo Gulch, Montana sapphire to our collection in August, 2010.

What makes this 4.04 carat "absoluely flawless" gem unique is the large and well-defined violet phantom inside the cornflower blue body (visible in the photo to the right)! It was found by Yogo Creek Mining, maybe round 2006. Amos, who was on the YCM staff at the time, purchased it to save it from the crystal killers who would have turned it into a bay cut oval; and now it is safely ours!