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| Recent Colorado Mineral Purchases |
Hints of an early spring gave way to a wet cold weather pattern so prospecting has been put on hold for awhile. Still there are plenty of specimens
to see and purchase in the state of Colorado.
An older friend of mine used to put parts of his collection up for sale.
His collection spans decades of prospecting with excellent specimens at
reasonable prices. I made an appointment with my friend to look at his
collection and see what I could find. Many of the pieces I ended up purchasing
were originally found anywhere from 10-45 years ago. While many of these pieces
needed a little TLC and some touch-up cleaning, I could tell there was a lot of
potential in these specimens. I concentrated on his Colorado minerals and bypassed
his thumbnails and other than Colorado pieces. Some of the specimens I
purchased to add to my collection and others to resell. I spent well over 2
hours reviewing flat after flat of crystals. There was fluorite, goethite,
amazonite, smoky quartz, cleavelandite and combinations--it was hard to pick
and choose but I eventually settled on 20 favorite pieces and dropped a bit of
coin. When choosing specimens, I kept a number of things in mind which add up to
an individual crystal’s overall appeal including: aesthetics of the piece,
rarity, size, combinations of minerals in a specimen, quality of the piece to include
luster, gemmyness, perfection and resale value. In the pictures below I will
rate the quality of some of the pieces I purchased by their overall appeal on a scale from 1-5*. Obviously I wouldn't purchase specimens of really poor quality but this way you can see how someone values specimens. My prices are low retail. I have seen comparable pieces in stores with more than a 50% markup to those shown here. If you have ever watched the Prospectors Show, you'll note my prices are considerably lower than their inflated estimates.
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| Score of the day, despite overgrowth on smokys an aesthetic piece (Value $275) If the Smokys had been cleaner this would have been a solid 5* (4*) |
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| Rarity of specimen(onegite), complete (Value $45) Nice 4* piece could probably use a little more cleaning |
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| Combination of amazonite and smokys(rare) (Value $275) Only 3* due to peripheral damage and paleness of amazonite |
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| Double terminated and sceptered smoky(rare), large (Value $225) Downgraded to 4.5* due to some scuffing on edges of smoky |
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| Double Terminated (DT), Good size, lustrous and gemmy (Value $125) 5* DTs don't get much better than this |
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| Nice aesthetic grouping, gemmy & lustrous (Value $35) 3.5* Some minor tip damage |
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| Triple mineral combination (rare), high resale (Value $250) 4* Incomplete amazonite and smoky is not gemmy |
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| Good size, luster, completeness, good color (Value $65) 4.5* Color is a little pale but solid specimen |
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| Exceptional size, good color, aesthetics, complexity, completeness (Value $225) 5* Four complete interwoven amazonites VF! |
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| Aesthetic grouping, luster, completeness (Value $85) 4* Color is a little pale and one central crystal appears cleaved |
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| Rarity of combination(amazonite&cleavelandite) (Value $165) 4* Nice group but amazonite is a bit pale |
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| Large Specimen, aesthetic appeal, color (Value $175) 4* Would be a solid 5* but piece has been repaired on cleaveage planes |
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| Rarity of specimen(combo), (Value $125) 3.5* Amazonite is pale and one smoky has some regrowth damage |
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| Complexity of specimen (Value $75) 4.5* Overall nice piece but a little pale |