Petrified Wood Slab Opal Colored fluorite clusters atop candle

Colored fluorite clusters atop candle quartz bases are some of the most distinctive mineral specimens to originate from the mines of Inner Mongolia

This naturally occurring form of relatively common pyrite remains highly sought after by collectors as a specimen or for use as a gem or in jewelry

in iron smelting and other metallurgy

a ghost or phantom of the crystal during its formation still remaining in the interior

Chalcedony has a unique crystalline structure that gives it an enormously variable appearance

Petrified Wood Slab Opal Colored fluorite clusters atop candlePerhaps the most well known fossil material in the world, petrified wood is not wood at all but rather the fossilized remnants of trees from millions of years ago. Tree trunks, limbs, and branches that died under conditions that favor fossilization gradually become replaced with minerals until what remains is a replica of the original piece of wood consisting entirely of mineral material. Like the trees they capture the form of, each is unique and