Steve Smale's Home Page


Steve Smale







Note: Herminorphite from the Esmeralda Mine, Durango, Mexico; 6 imches across.
Hemimorphite is a zinc silicate which usually occurs in white crystals. Sometimes it also occurs in this blue form, called botryoidal. I have not seen another specimen of the botryoidal type as fine as the one illustrated.







Back









Note: Barite crystal with many small calcite crystals at the base. The piece comes from Elk Creek in South Dakota and measures 4 inches across. It was obtained from the mineral dealer Ken Roberts of Twain Harte, California. Other than South Dakota, beautiful barite crystal come from Engrand, Sardinia, Romania, and Colorado.








Back













Note: An aquamarine crystal set naturally in feldspar, mica and small black tourmalines; 3 1/4 inches across. It comes from Saidu, Pakistan.
Pakistan has recently become an important site for gem minerals such as aquamarine. I believe this is related to the opening of the Karakoram Highway through the Himalaya Mountains.
Looking for crystals, I rented a car in Islamabad and took this highway nearly to China and back. I feel quite lucky to have survived the various dangers of that trip.
Pete Bancroft brought this particular specimen back from Pakistan. I traded it from my friend Jack Halpern who had bought it from Bancroft.








Back