Richard here from Mineral of the Month Club with information on our March 2012 featured mineral, Compound-Stalactitic Quartz from India. We arrived home February 17 after a very successful show in Tucson--The March newsletter you'll be receiving soon will have some information on the show. We brought home lots of outstanding new minerals, and you'll find details on some of them in the March Offer Sheet. (The rest will have to wait until next month.) Here's a link to the new Offer Sheet: March 2012 Offer Sheet And we're so glad this is a Leap Year! We plan to take advantage of our bonus day by picking out and shipping you the minerals you order from this Email! We take it very seriously when you order your minerals, and we focus very hard on getting you just the right--but it's certainly enjoyable examining the specimens as we handle them! I find these Compound-Stalactitic Quartz pieces to be quite fascinating, and hope you will, too! Quartz is of course the most common mineral on earth, but to find these stalactite-like pieces is quite unusual. When you examine your specimen in conjunction with the write-up, you'll see at the "bottom" the dark central core that served as a seed for the rest of the crystallization; around it, you'll notice the concentric ring of bright chalcedony; and on the outside, you'll see the layering of the small, lustrous, hexagonal crystals! The write-up has more information on how these formed, and if you decide to order a piece from this Email, we'll send you the write-up so you can read up on it.               We grouped these Stalactitic Quartz pieces mainly according to size, and how they display. This was a challenging Email, as there is a lot of variation in the specimens. As the specimens increase in size, so do the size of the small quartz crystals on the edges. As always, we have the Gold-level Compound-Stalactitic Quartz available for $26.50. Most are single stalactites about 2.5" to 3.5" long and about .5" to 1" thick. Some are clusters of several smaller stalactites grown side by side. Specify which habit you'd prefer, and we'll do our best to accommodate you. Group 1 Compound-Stalactitic Quartz pieces are similar to Gold-Level pieces, only larger, about 4.5" long and about 1" wide and slightly larger, as seen in the photo below. They are available for $36 and $45, according to size. If you just want to have one of these unique pieces to examine, we recommend a Gold-level or a Group 1 piece. Group 2 Compound-Stalactitic Quartz specimens are groups of two or more stalactites, as seen in the photo below. These sit up and display quite beautifully, and the quartz crystals on all the surfaces are a larger than on the Group 1 pieces. They are about 3.5" by 3.25" to 4" by 2" to 5" by 3.5", and are available for $60, $70, $80, and $90, according to size and quality. We also have a couple of smaller ones about 3" high by 2" wide for $45. Group 3 Compound-Stalactitic Quartz specimens are the larger, showier groups of two or more stalactites, with slightly larger crystals on the edges, as seen in the photo below. They are about 5" to 6" tall and 3" to $4" wide and wider for $120, $150, and $180, according to size. Group 4 are the rarest, most unusual Compound-Stalactitic Quartz pieces to be found. Rather than having hexagonal quartz crystals on all the surfaces, they have more of a scale-like appearance, which gives them a slightly different color, as you can in the photo below. These are large, decorator-style pieces, and whichever one doesn't sell we'll probably keep and display on our coffee table at home. They are available for $300, $400, $500, $600, and $1000, and if you're interested in something spectacular, we can send you photos or even send one on approval for you to examine in person. Please take a look at the attached Offer Sheet and let me know if you have any questions or wish to order something from this Email and Offer Sheet. If you're planning on passing on this month's mineral, please let me know so I know you received the Email OK. Thanks in advance! Richard Mineral of the Month Club 1770 Orville Ave Cambria, CA 93428 1-800-941-5594 Richard@mineralofthemonthclub.org www.mineralofthemonthclub.org