CompuServe Messages

Hi, I've read the earlier replies and there is good advice there. But everyone has their own opinion and that includes me. One extension of the "you can not possibly go home without" is "am I going to feel bad if I find a better or cheaper one later?" This is a question best answered before you buy. I bought a sturmanite because it was new and rare for $100 because I thought I might not be able to get one later if they found no more, but if they found more it was not enough that I would cry about it. A year later I bought one that was a lot better for $20. I do not regret the first one, because I was prepared for it. Your example of a tourmaline brings up another problem. It is a gem mineral. As such, if it has cutting potential you will have to pay the equivalent of the cut stone or more to save it. Pala International, which owns the Himalaya Mine in San Diego County, California, will not sell you one of their tourmalines for $100 that they can cut and sell for $100 per carat even though Bill Larson who owns the company is a voracious mineral collector himself. This is economic reality. Even carving grade (not gemmy, but good color) is going for several dollars per gram. Gem crystals just make the pricing problem a lot more complicated. As to a "Blue Book," the AMS and IMA could care less about the collector. They are looking for samples to grind up for analysis. But there is a guy, somewhere in the southeast that has been putting together a "Collectors Guide to Buying Minerals" for several years. I see him at Tucson and other shows. He is always updating his book with references to what he saw for sale, where and at what price. As with all such references, they need to be viewed with a grain of halite, because as you have already been told prices always change, he cannot see every specimen sold and keep up with even a fraction of what is happening. If you want, I can the correct book title for you as I have a freind that has a copy. – Bill