Winter Mineral Sales in Colorado--Tourmaline, Rubies, Emeralds and more!

I purchased a number of Gems from Dr Tourmaline (John) and these are a few I added to my collection

Getting quality gems at good prices takes a bit of effort.  I've been trying to broaden my collection as everything in my cabinet is blue/green amazonite and black quartz. Going to mineral and rock stores to purchase and/or trade specimens is a tough and expensive way to build a collection.  Merchants often purchase their material for rock-bottom prices (pun intended) and then bump everything up more than 200% (they claim overhead costs are killing them).  As an example, I traded $240 worth of mineral specimens for a very nice green tourmaline at a rock show valued at $240.  I was offered $80 by one dealer and $100 by another.  I passed by these offers and finally settled for a merchant offering $200 cash.  Cash is more desirable than rocks. I felt I got a reasonable deal, but haggling over prices and hustling around town to local dealers is not my idea of time well spent. I've gone to local mineral shows and they seem more eager to deal, but there are few large shows in Colorado during the winter. I’ve been looking on the internet for specimens but everything seems ridiculously overpriced, faked, or has other issues. I can’t believe the number of blurry pictures people put up on the internet and then ask $100+ for something you can hardly see. Another option could be putting up a site to trade or sell minerals, but there would be a large effort associated with setting up and maintaining an on-line store.  I prefer to remain a hobbyist. 

Collector's best rhodochrosite (my opinion)

A friend of mine, said he knew of a gentlemen who was selling some of his seconds from home and was willing to discount especially if you purchased minerals in bulk (by the flat).  I decided to give it a try and loaded up a couple flats of trade material and headed north with Austin to Denver.  I’ve always been a fan of tourmaline, topaz, and aquamarine but have never had the wherewithal to purchase mineral specimens other than those that I need a microscope to view.  John, the seller, was willing to take mineral trades and cash. Because I am overstocked in quartz, amazonite, goethite, and fluorite (local crystals from my claim), I thought I might bring some trade material along and see if I could get some nibbles.  John seemed amiable enough and quite cordial. The first order of business was taking in his collection. Tourmaline after tourmaline after tourmaline.  Incredible!  Then there were the rubies, emeralds, rhodochrosite, aquamarine, topaz, and much more! 

Overwhelming--one shelf of tourmaline in two chock-filled display cabinets!

I wondered what his seconds would look like as his favorites could grace any mineral museum I’ve ever been to.  John's seconds exceeded my expectations and they would most likely be firsts to many collectors including myself.  While John seemed partial to my mineral oddities, he was also willing to pop on smokies, but only if they were of exceptional quality.  I quickly picked out a flat of topaz while my friend went for some tourmaline.  John accepted some of my crystal specimens in trade and I made up the difference with cash. My friend, who drove me to John's house, is fairly new to collecting but made some smart purchases and deals with John.  We both got nice discounts for purchasing entire flats.  Shortly after we left we traded a few specimens with each other so that we both had some topaz and pink tourmaline.  I got 16 topaz, the largest sherry colored weighing in at 1600+ carats, as well as a few other minerals I couldn’t resist. My friend walked away with about 30 pink and 5 blue/green tourmaline.  I’ve had various opportunities before and let them get away as I was not willing to drop so much cash for gems, but this deal was too good to pass up. I guess time will tell whether I have buyer's remorse (probably not). I've already unloaded a couple of the more expensive topaz and now have plenty of topaz to add to my collection as well as a few other fantastic gems at a very moderate cost.

Deer near seller's house say goodbye but please come again (haha)

My favorite purchased aquamarine!

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