The Crystal Circle – The Blog

Here are two unsolicited comments from customers regarding two different purchases:

Beautiful Tri Color Blue Cap Tourmaline from the Sapo Mine, Brazil

April 15, 2012

Hi Pete,
The blue-cap has the “Pride of place”, under it’s own dome on my writing desk, under perfect lighting to capture all of it’s gorgeous gradated colors, terminating in the stellar blue-cap. How can anything be so beautiful? We are awestruck at this wonder of the planet we call home! The tourmaline has found it’s home where it will be treasured for a long, long time.
Thank you so much.
My best to you and I look forward to acquiring other specimens from you,
Merrill (in California)

April 22, 2012

Hi Peter

The cuprites/copper pieces have savely arrived here in Germany.

So everything is great!

The pieces itself are of great quality. Thanks for dealing! Have a great week!

Cheers

Juergen (in Germany)

Our booth at the Main show in Tucson 2012

We have had a great year so far. We set up in Tucson in room 169 at Tucson City Center (formerly Inn Suites), for two weeks and did very well. We followed it with the “double header,” of the Main show at the convention center for four days. They had  improved attendance and we continued to sell massive amounts of material. During the show I met a friendly geologist who had mined in Chile in the late 1970′s. He had collected Atacamite there, and before I knew it I was out in the parking lot, checking out his collection. I bought it all on the spot, happy to score material that isn’t on the market and that is beautiful, sparkly green. For the first time I posted all the best specimens in one update, instead of spreading them out over months of updates. see update.

Pete cleans Atacamite, with a little helper

I continue to work on the updates, finding the web site is a wonderful medium to connect with collectors that we meet around the country at our mineral shows. I work hard to match the colors of the pics with the pieces, and to be forthright about any and all damage on each piece. Because I have a large inventory to choose from, I’m able to pick the very best examples that rarely have significant damage. I imagine I am receiving the item in the mail and looking at it for the first time and then I re-read the description. If I feel good about the accuracy, I move on to the next step. Here are some of the comments I have had recently regarding transactions online:

on 1/30/2012

“Hey Pete,

Just got both Tourmalines in the mail. I must say, they are absolutely amazing! Both crystals, I can assure you will stay in my personal collection! Truly beautiful specimens…The Crystal Circle has absolutely grabbed my attention with the quality of the specimens that you guys are able to provide. I am quite sure, and very hopeful that we will do business again sometime soon! Thank you as always for your time. Much appreciated! Take care. -Eric from New York

3/30/2012

“I received my order (Greek adamite). We are VERY happy with it. Thanks!” — Penny (from Los Angeles)

The New York Gem and Mineral show is (to my knowledge) the only mineral show in downtown New York City. Tony at Excalibur Minerals runs the show, with the support of the New York Mineral society and goes to significant effort to keep costs down for the dealers, as well as for the attendees ($6 entrance fee is cheap for NYC). It’s in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn on 440 west 57th st. midtown Manhattan. It’s not widely advertised, and many people in the area don’t know about it. It is a worthwhile show, and makes for a fun outing to see some hard-to-find crystals in a city that has everything (else).

It’s a cozy show, with probably 20 -25 mineral and jewelry dealers, featuring several well known mineral dealers: the most well known being John Betts. John is a very smart guy, who has a wealth of information. As a dealer I always enjoy his showcases of clean, colorful specimens that are very well lit and concisely labeled. (it’s much harder than it may seem to accomplish this!)

The Crystal Circle is there with everything from fine minerals in our showcases, to mixed world wide minerals in table flats,  a large selection of silver pendants, enhydro agates, a great array of thumbnails, spheres and eggs on clearance, celestite geodes, moldavite, libyan desert glass, unusual Quartz, tourmaline and much more.

This mineral show has become one of my favorites, due to being in a comfortable setting with my mineral dealer friends, offset by the vast upward expanse of midtown Manhattan. I love the food in New York, and getting to know New Yorkers and turning them on to these amazing “wonders of nature,”  is refreshing compared to just walking by them on impersonal streets.

The New York Gem and Mineral show happens at the Holiday Inn on 440 west 57th st. on Saturday, November 12th from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. and Sunday the 13th from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. Adults are $6 children under 12 are free. You may contact Tony Nikischer at (914) 739 – 1134 for more information. There is a spring show as well, which we don’t currently attend due to space limitations (but we want to do that one too!)

The Crystal Circle Show Schedule

A dynamic Rhodochrosite from the Kalahari

A few of my favorite pieces from Scott Rudolph’s Mineral Collection while on display at the Springfield Gem and Mineral show in 2011.

I shot these pics through the display glass, when I had some free time at the show (we’ve been selling there for over 12 years running.)

I had the opportunity to talk with Scott about collecting minerals. He was friendly and actually humble about the endeavor. He mentioned he sold his coin collection and began mineral collecting by buying several noteworthy collections. (Keith Proctor, Marshal Sussman, and others), about 5 years ago.

He said that by purchasing entire collections he was in effect compressing decades of time and experience, which I understand is a major reason why nearly all his pieces on display were Stunning.

I also really like the style of his custom – made bases. I had recognized the style from Marshall Sussman’s collection. Scott said he liked the simple, rounded look that doesn’t distract from the piece itself.

I have often thought about what I would do with millions of dollars, and how I might build an incredible collection. In my opinion, Scott is “leading the way,” in style and class.

I would much rather have this incredible gold than say artwork. IT SPINS!

The backside shows off its Crystal Circle!!

Pictured below..  along with his stunning display of Smithsonites. These were easily overlooked given the major players nearby. They grew on me as I passed by the displays. I realized slowly how their subtle color differences created something altogether new. I loved how such distinct colors are neatly set as five examples. The starkness of the case accentuates the broad measure of subtle characteristics, in a frankly artistic way.

An actual "Crystal Circle," of fine gold from California

Breathtaking array of Smithsonites

We recently acquired the entire mineral collection of collector, Steve Dowell. Steve is an attorney based in Northern Kentucky, who is also an expert in indian relics, an avid fossil collector, and has collected minerals for about 6 years. Steve has an eye for quality, often grabbing the best piece from past collections we’ve acquired over the years. His good eye

was complimented by his ability to create an amazing display with his mineral collection. He had custom-made lucite bases made for most of his specimens, and purchased two fiber optic cases with black backs to display his treasures. I really appreciated his efforts for good display as I had grown up with my Dad’s collection in our basement, with a light bulb or two and plenty of dust to go around. Steve’s latest project involves a very large Tricerotops…

Hi Peter,

Received bab2 in the morning mail. Got to admit, it was good. Price was fair. There were 2 crystals I thought had damage but on careful examination at least one is just a crude formation of the crystal, the other may or may not be damage or growth problem. In any case, it doesn’t detract and I am very happy. It might not be OK if the piece was a miniature because those I require no discerable damage except at edges. 46 years of collecting made me fussy.

BTW, I rarely buy off the internet because my rate of returns is over 90%!! You must be doing something right! I will anxiously await new additions to your website.

My only suggestion is that wrapping the bab and putting it in the small parcel was a bag risk for a specimen that size. I hope you will consider more wrapping or double boxing larger fragile specimens in the future.

Again thanks,

regards.

Fred P.
Catonsville, MD

We’ve all been working as hard as we can, cleaning, trimming, mounting, labeling and pricing minerals! Next week we’ll set up at the Hannaford Suites in blue Ash, about 10 miles north of downtown, Cincinnati. We really enjoy the venue, as we are provided with over 18 tables in our own large conference room. We bring new finds from Tucscon, and lots of larger items we can’t fit into our typical setup at a major convention-center style mineral show.
Our Spring mineral sale in Cincinnati is also good for finding some real sleepers in our clearance area. We typically bring lots of odds and ends from collections we acquire through the year, and blow them out sometimes for 75% off. I’ve learned a long time ago how valuable it is to move material instead of storing it endlessly.
On our show schedule page, you can see the details and hours of the show. (march 18,19, and 20th)

Whew, we have all been very busy raiding our storage, and processing minerals for the upcoming Tucson show. We have a new location at the Innsuites (now called Hotel City Center — I think there’s a Tucson Ordinance saying they have to change all hotel names every 3 – 5 years just to confuse the rock hounds!) We’re next to Collector’s Edge on the first floor this year, and we are excited to have such a great location at the best hotel show in Tucson!

When we bought all the inventory from Hawthorneden, at the end of 2006 there were 4 large rooms of flats, including an entire store. One room was their wholesale business, one room was all their show stock, and another room was all their “unprepped,” material. We’ve recently had to raid the unprepped material, and its exciting because we find all sorts of unusual crystals like Anatase from Norway, swiss and Italian Quartz, etched aquas (an excellent example is on the site , and a couple flats of 1970′s Adamite, among many other things.

In anticipation of our site re-launch I researched mineral photography over several months. I think accurate, excellent pics are the most important aspect of successful mineral sites. I had several years of experience, but always struggled with getting accurate colors, and a pleasant contrast between the mineral subject and its background.
In my pursuit of better mineral photography, there have been several positive influences. The first was an afternoon spent with Jeff Scovil, watching him shoot minerals (and asking him a million questions) at the Denver show in his third floor room at Marty Zinn’s show at the Holiday Inn Central. Jeff has a complex high-end setup, but utilizes key techniques to create the best mineral pics in the world (I recommend reading his book on the subject). I collected more tips from a local photography store, most of these were things like “put the camera on a two second timer so the camera doesn’t shake (and blur the image) when you take the picture.” I also checked out >http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/photo.htm“> John Betts web site where he describes how he takes pictures of his minerals. Quite informative, I love how John offers so many interesting articles, and commentary about the mineral business and hobby. 

I make a deliberate attempt in my photography to be as realistic as possible. With today’s digital cameras and photoshop, you can make a blue azurite look bright pink if you want. Digital photography involves juggling three major variables: the ISO film speed, the F-stop, and the shutter speed. This has always been a juggle for photographers. However, with digital cameras, these factors are fluid. In the old days, you were stuck with the ISO speed film you loaded. Now it’s possible to manipulate every aspect of the image. I think part of being a reputable mineral dealer is to stand behind the accuracy of your photos, not just the “wow factor,” that can be created by dressing up the image to look as good as possible. Afterall, my goal with customer response is: “it’s as good as the picture… or even better in person!”

I match the colors in the pics to the specimen, and avoid manipulating colors via Photoshop. Typically the only adjustment I make to the subject is auto contrast, this makes the darkest pixel black, and the lightest pixel white. I use a Canon Powershot SX10IS, utilize uniform lighting (5000 lumens cfl), a photographic tent, and a tripod. This approach creates a solid basis for high quality pics. I then use Photoshop Elements to “cut,” the image off of it’s background and onto a white or black background. I want my pics to be accurate, so customers are happy with what they receive. I display the piece as positively as possible with good lighting, however I add angles that may not be as glamorous, but help convey the appearance of the piece overall. There seems to be a balance between showmanship and a CSI clinical analysis. Let me know what you think!

Today we turned a corner with the new web site. Richard Geiger (the web designer) and I finally problem solved our way past multiple bugs while viewing the site in safari, firefox, and windows explorer. Feeling relatively confident, I sent out a mass email to all of our customer’s emails on file. I activated the Gold crystals gallery in anticipation of the email alert. The Crystal Circle website is growing and evolving. Every 2 weeks as a minimum, I add a dozen or so new minerals, rough and cut combos, tektites, or meteorites. Anyone can add their email to the homepage, or contact us page, to be on the updates list, and I will shoot out an alert when I upload new material. The email has a very easy “disenroll,” option if someone doesn’t want to participate.