Aquamarine Crystal
$ 0.00
Medina, Minas Gerais, Brazil Weight 401.2 grams Size 7 x 1.25 x 1.25 inches This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00
Hall of Fame
All the items in this section are not available for purchase. They have been previously sold by Astro Gallery to private collectors. If you would like to purchase items of this quality, please contact the Gallery.
We are highlighting some of the finest minerals and fossils we've acquired over the last 60 years. These specimens have ended up in some of the finest private collections and museums in the world.
For your enjoyment...
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Aquamarine on Albite
$ 0.00Gilgit, Pakistan Size 8 x 5.12 x 4 Inches This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
AZURITE AND MALACHITE STALACTITE
$ 0.00Bisbee, Arizona, USA This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Edmontosaurus Foot
$ 18,000.00Juvenile Edmontosaurus Foot Late Cretaceous 73 million years ago, Lance Creek Formation, Montana
$ 18,000.00 -
Amethyst Stalactite
$ 0.00Artigas, Uruguay Size 15 x 7 x 5 Inches This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Anglesite
$ 0.00Touissit, Touissit District, Oujda-Angad Province, Oriental Region, Morocco This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Velociraptor Claw
$ 12,500.00Velociraptor Claw Cretaceous Period, 75-71 million years old, Montana, USA 6.5 x 2 x 1.5 inches
$ 12,500.00 -
Apophyllite with Stilbite From Pashan Hill Quarry, Pune District, Maharashtra, India
$ 20,000.00From Pashan Hill Quarry, Pune District, Maharashtra, India Spray of translucent emerald green apophyllite crystals surrounded by a cluster of bla...
View full details$ 20,000.00 -
Aquamarine and Schorl on Albite
$ 0.00Erongo Mountains, Namibia Size 11 x 7 x 4 Inches This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Benitoite
$ 0.00San Benito County, California, USA This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Bi Color Rubellite crystals with Lepidolite on Albite Matrix
$ 0.00Pederneira Mine, Brazil Size 6 x 7 x 6 inches This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
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Bi-Color Tourmaline On Quartz With Clevelandite And Lepidolite
$ 0.00Pederneira Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil Size 9 x 8 x 6 Inches This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Bi-color Tourmaline Var. Elbaite
$ 0.00Paprok, Kunar Province, Afghanistan Size 5 x 5 ½ x 4 ½ Inches This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
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Blue Fluorite
$ 0.00Beihilfe Mine, Freiberg District, Saxony, Germany This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
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Botryoidal Hemimorphite from Malipo Mine, Malipo Co., Yunnan Province, China
$ 0.00Malipo Mine, Malipo Co., Yunnan Province, China Size 8 x 6 x 3 Inches This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Calcite on Fluorite
$ 0.00Moscona Mine, Villabona, Asturias, Spain This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Cassiterite
$ 0.00Mt Xuebaoding, Pingwu Co., Mianyang Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Cassiterite Crystals on Matrix
$ 0.00Ping Wu, China Size 3 x 2.25 Inches THIS ITEM HAS ALREADY BEEN PURCHASED BY A COLLECTOR
$ 0.00 -
Cobaltoan Calcite From Congo Zaire
$ 0.00Mashamba West, Kolwezi, Shaba Cu Belt (Katanga), Congo Zaire This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
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$ 0.00 -
Galena From Joplin, Missouri, USA
$ 0.00Joplin, Missouri, USA This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
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$ 0.00 -
GOLDEN CALCITE
$ 0.00Elmwood Mine, Carthage, Central TenneseeBa-f-Pb-Zn District, Smith Co., Tennessee USA This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00 -
Golden Calcite on Matrix
$ 0.00Verchny, Rudny, Russia This Item Has Already Been Purchased By A Collector
$ 0.00
Pederneira tourmaline, Erongo aquamarine, Bisbee azurite, Touissit anglesite and Cretaceous dinosaur material from Montana.
Purchase Landmark Specimens from the Hall of Fame Tier, by Locality, Scale and Provenance
The Hall of Fame is the tier a specimen reaches when its size, locality and condition put it beyond the ordinary run of the species rather than merely at the top of it. Buy at this level and you are acquiring a documented object with a named mine, a measured footprint and a record of who owned it, not a shelf ornament. Astro Gallery of Gems has assembled these 59 landmark minerals and fossils across six decades of pocket buying and estate purchases, from a 401.2 gram aquamarine crystal out of Medina to a juvenile Edmontosaurus foot from the Lance Creek Formation.
What Puts a Specimen in the Hall of Fame Tier?
Four tests decide entry, and a piece has to satisfy all four rather than compensate for a weakness in one with strength in another. Astro Gallery applies them before a specimen is catalogued at this level, and applies them again whenever a piece returns from a collection.
Size measured against the speciesA landmark crystal is large for what it is, not large in absolute terms. The Medina aquamarine runs 7 inches on a 1.25 inch square section, and the Erongo aquamarine and schorl group occupies 11 by 7 by 4 inches, both figures well beyond ordinary beryl production.
A locality that has closed or thinnedBisbee in Arizona, the Beihilfe Mine at Freiberg in Saxony and the benitoite ground in San Benito County no longer produce at collector grade. A specimen from worked out ground cannot be replaced at any price, which is what fixes its value.
Terminations, contacts and honest repairA trophy piece must show complete crystal terminations and a clean display face. Astro Gallery states any contact, repair or restoration in the description, because an undisclosed glue line is the single fault that destroys resale value at this level.
Association and matrix balanceSpecies that grew together outrank the same species alone. The Pashan Hill apophyllite sits in a collar of bladed stilbite, and the Gilgit and Erongo aquamarines stand on albite with schorl, so each specimen records a pocket rather than a single crystal.
Which Mines and Formations Do the Landmark Pieces Come From?
Pederneira Mine, Minas GeraisThe Pederneira pegmatite produced the bi-colour elbaite tourmaline groups here, crystals grading green to rubellite pink on lepidolite and cleavelandite. Elbaite is a complex boron silicate at Mohs 7 to 7.5, hard enough to display open rather than under glass.
Erongo Mountains and GilgitNamibian and Pakistani granites yield aquamarine, the blue variety of beryl at Mohs 7.5 to 8, perched on white albite beside black schorl tourmaline. That colour contrast is why these two pieces read from across a room and command the prices they do.
Bisbee, Arizona and San Benito CountyBisbee gave the azurite and malachite stalactite, both copper carbonates grown in an oxidised zone that closed decades ago. San Benito County is the type locality for benitoite, a barium titanium silicate that fluoresces electric blue under shortwave ultraviolet light.
Touissit, Morocco and Freiberg, SaxonyTouissit in the Oujda-Angad province produced the gem anglesite, a lead sulphate at Mohs 2.5 to 3 with a specific gravity above 6. Beihilfe at Freiberg supplied the blue fluorite, calcium fluoride at Mohs 4 with perfect octahedral cleavage.
How Big Are They and Where Does One Stand?
Scale governs the room a landmark piece needs, the mount it takes and the shipping method that follows. These five bands cover everything catalogued at this level.
| Scale band | What occupies it and how it displays |
|---|---|
| Small cabinet, under 6 inches | Benitoite in natrolite matrix from San Benito County and gem anglesite from Touissit sit here. Both belong in a lit vitrine at eye level, where a loupe and an ultraviolet lamp can reach them. |
| Cabinet, 6 to 9 inches | The Gilgit aquamarine on albite at 8 by 5.12 by 4 inches and the Malipo botryoidal hemimorphite at 8 by 6 by 3 inches occupy this band. A single shelf and a raked spotlight are enough. |
| Large cabinet, 9 to 12 inches | The Erongo aquamarine with schorl at 11 by 7 by 4 inches and the Pederneira tourmaline on quartz at 9 by 8 by 6 inches need depth behind them. Buyers usually commission a black acrylic base at this size. |
| Museum shelf, above 12 inches | The Artigas amethyst stalactite at 15 by 7 by 5 inches and the 6.3 pound Pashan Hill apophyllite with stilbite anchor a case on their own. Each carries point loading, so the shelf has to be rated for it. |
| Fossil trophies | The juvenile Edmontosaurus foot from the Lance Creek Formation and the 6.5 inch Cretaceous raptor claw from Montana display best on a plinth with an angled mount. Both attract questions no mineral ever does. |
Ask before a landmark piece is cataloguedAstro Gallery places much of this material privately, so collectors who tell us what they are hunting hear about a specimen before it appears online.
Shop all 59 landmark pieces
Join the acquisition list
Which Pieces Can You Buy Today, and Which Are Archived?
This page carries two kinds of entry side by side. Specimens still available show a figure drawn live from the catalogue, while pieces already placed with a collector remain visible with their locality and dimensions as a record of what has passed through the gallery.
| Piece | Detail | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Aquamarine Crystal | See listing | $ 0.00 |
| Aquamarine on Albite | See listing | $ 0.00 |
| AZURITE AND MALACHITE STALACTITE | See listing | $ 0.00 |
| Edmontosaurus Foot | See listing | $ 18,000.00 |
| Amethyst Stalactite | See listing | $ 0.00 |
| Anglesite | See listing | $ 0.00 |
Where a listing carries no live figure, its description says the piece has gone to a collector. Astro Gallery keeps those records public deliberately, since a buyer weighing a Pederneira tourmaline against an Erongo aquamarine wants to know what comparable material has sold rather than only what remains in stock.
Trophy Mineral or Trophy Fossil: Which Should You Purchase First?
The trophy mineralCrystallised minerals reward close viewing, since lustre, termination and colour zoning only resolve within arm's length. Species like anglesite and fluorite carry soft or cleavable structures, so a case protects the investment as much as it presents it. Most collectors begin here because a mineral tier builds logically by locality.
The trophy fossilVertebrate material carries a formation, an age in millions of years and an animal, which gives it narrative reach a crystal cannot match. The Lance Creek dinosaur foot and the Montana raptor claw need a plinth and an angled mount rather than a shelf. Buyers who want one commanding object in a room usually order fossil material.
What an Appraiser and an Insurer Need From the Invoice
A landmark specimen belongs on a household or business policy as a scheduled item, and both the appraiser and the underwriter work from paper rather than photographs. Astro Gallery issues an itemised invoice naming the species, the mine and district, the measured dimensions, the weight where relevant and the price paid, and repeats any disclosed repair or restoration on the same document. Collectors normally have the piece valued independently every few years, since the market for closed localities such as Bisbee and Pederneira moves. Keep the invoice, the listing photographs and the condition notes together, because a claim or a resale later depends on that file.
Words the Catalogue Uses at This Level
ProvenanceProvenance is the ownership history of a specimen, and a documented chain through a named collection adds measurably to what a landmark piece is worth.
ContactA contact is the flat scar where a crystal grew against another crystal or the pocket wall, and it is a natural feature rather than damage.
RestorationRestoration means filling or reconstructing missing material, which differs from repair, where a broken piece of the original specimen is rejoined.
AssociationAn association is two or more species crystallised together on one specimen, such as apophyllite with stilbite or aquamarine with schorl on albite.
Type localityA type locality is the place where a mineral species was first described, which is why San Benito County benitoite outranks the same species from anywhere else.
MatrixMatrix is the host rock a crystal sits on, and a trimmed, balanced matrix is part of what separates a trophy specimen from a loose crystal.
Lighting, Mounting and Handling a Landmark Piece
Handle every specimen by the matrix and never by a crystal, and move nothing without clearing the surface it will land on first. Anglesite at Mohs 2.5 to 3 marks under a fingernail, and fluorite parts along perfect octahedral cleavage if a piece is knocked on an edge, so both travel between hands on a padded tray. Amethyst from Artigas fades under sustained direct sunlight, and the Pashan Hill apophyllite loses water and flakes in dry heat, which rules out a sunlit window and a radiator shelf for either. Dust with a soft brush and dry air, and keep water off any sulphate, carbonate or zeolite entirely.
Buying, Crating and Delivery at This Level
Astro Gallery of Gems has traded landmark material since 1961, and the mechanics stay the same whether a piece leaves for Manhattan or for Singapore. The figure shown on an available listing is the figure charged, secure checkout settles through Shop Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay or a Visa, Mastercard, Discover and Diners Club card, and larger acquisitions are frequently arranged by phone against an itemised invoice.
Astro Gallery crates heavy and fragile specimens in cut foam inside a rigid outer case, ships tracked and fully insured at the declared value, prepares customs paperwork before dispatch and quotes freight separately so you approve the cost in advance. Our returns policy and the guarantee published on about us apply to every purchase at this tier.
Rated everywhere we trade
Photographs, dimensions and condition notes on requestTell us the species or the locality you collect and we will send the current file on any available piece before you order.
Browse the landmark tier
Speak to a specialist
What Collectors Ask Before They Buy at This Level
What does Hall of Fame actually mean here?
It is the tier we reserve for specimens that are exceptional for their species by size, locality, condition and association together. A piece has to pass all four tests, and Astro Gallery reapplies them whenever a specimen comes back from a collection.
Can I buy a Hall of Fame specimen today?
Yes, where the listing carries a live figure and shows as in stock. Much of this material is placed privately before it reaches the site, so collectors who tell us what they are hunting are contacted first.
Why do some listings show no price?
Those specimens have already gone to a collector, and their descriptions say so. Astro Gallery keeps the archive visible because the record of what has sold is how a buyer judges what comparable material is worth.
How much does a landmark specimen cost?
Fossil trophies such as the Montana raptor claw and the Lance Creek dinosaur foot sit in the five figure range, and large mineral associations from closed localities reach further. The table above carries live figures for everything currently available to purchase.
Will you supply the documents an appraiser and an insurer need?
Yes. Every purchase leaves with an itemised invoice naming the species, mine, district, dimensions, weight and price paid, together with any disclosed repair or restoration. That document is what an independent appraiser and an underwriter schedule the piece from.
Is the specimen in the photograph the one that ships?
Yes, without exception at this level. Astro Gallery photographs every landmark piece individually from several angles, because no two pockets at Pederneira, Erongo or Bisbee ever produced the same specimen twice.
How do you crate and deliver a heavy specimen?
Heavy and fragile pieces you order travel in cut foam inside a rigid outer case, tracked and fully insured at the declared value. We complete customs paperwork before dispatch and quote freight separately, so you approve that cost before the crate leaves.
Can I return a landmark piece after delivery?
Yes, the returns policy published on our site covers acquisitions at this tier. Requesting the full photograph set, the exact dimensions and the condition notes before you order settles the question for most collectors in advance.
Where the Landmark Tier Sits Beside the Rest of the Catalogue
Collectors who work at this level usually build sideways as well as upward, following a species, a country or a class rather than a single price band.
Other collector tiers
Species in this tier
Fossil and meteorite trophies
Before you commit