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@doktrock@toad.social
2026-09-17 00:27:29

I'm going with #Cassiterite ! Here with quartz and ankerite. From a friend's collection #MinCup26 ⚒️ #minerals

Small display box with a specimen of ankerite on which are clear quartz crystals, and dark colored euhedral cassiterite crystals.

Label: Cassiterite, Quartz, Ankerite

SnO2, SiO2, CaFe(CO3)2

4.D.02-40, 4.D.01-10, 5.B.03-20

Viloco Mine, Loaya Prov. Bolivia

@doktrock@toad.social
2026-10-01 20:55:21

#Quartz aka rock crystal carved vase, Francesco Tortorino, Milan, 1550-75. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. #MinCup26. My own ⚒️

An elaborate, two handled, clear vase, with a lid.

Museum Text:
Hunting vase

Francesco Tortorino,

Milan, 1550-75

Rock crystal
Carved with exceptional skill, the decoration of the central section may refer to Charles V or Philip Il's military deeds.
The figure holding a rabbit is possibly a reference to classical Hispania.

@doktrock@toad.social
2026-09-30 20:27:40

#Quartz var. Flint - school children promoted the idea Knife River Flint should be the state rock of North Dakota. It was approved! Historically widely used and traded by indigenous peoples #MinCup26

$A dark brown vitreous rock, approximately 7 × 8 cm, with light yellow weathering surface. It shows conchoidal fracture. My photo.$

@doktrock@toad.social
2026-09-27 14:11:02

#Halite centered on this shelf of a mineral display. A cluster of light pink halite crystals accompanies two large crystals, one of which is clear while the other transitions from clear to black. #MinCup26 contender #sphalerite

Portion of a vitrine with glass shelves and mineral specimens. These include potassium feldspar, hornblende, fluorite, gypsum, sphalerite, galena, and muscovite. Description says:

Minerals
Minerals are naturally occurring solids with definite chemical compositions and highly ordered internal structure. Minerals are crystalline and they grow as trillions of atoms connect in regular, three-dimensional patterns. Each crystal starts small and grows as more atoms are added.

Crystals grow from wat…

@doktrock@toad.social
2026-09-26 20:20:20

A cluster of #Quartz crystals from the Tucson show ⚒️🧪 #MinCup26

A cluster of light green, elongated, quartz crystals, probably 10 or so cm across, pointing in all different directions. Label says

Quartz
1,500 (not sure if that's a price?)

Huanggang Mine, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
#02705 K

@doktrock@toad.social
2026-09-26 19:37:21

The intricate crystallography of #quartz is well described at The Quartz Page - there's more to it than one might assume! For example, each silica tetrahedron is a member of 2 threefold and 2 sixfold helices. Plus, rotational axes, etc. ⚒️🧪 #MinCup26

@doktrock@toad.social
2026-09-17 17:49:55

Sphalerite (var schalenblende) from the Pomorzany Mine, Olkusz, Poland. A favorite desk specimen, given to me by a mine geologist there.
Exhibits typical concentric brown to yellow fine grained mineral layers, along with galena, pyrite. #MinCup26 #MineralMonday ⚒️