YuccaPatrol wrote:I then searched for other cave formations.
I'm guessing that all the Mexican and Chinese formations for sale are not protected since they do not originate in the US?
Correct.
I'm also unconvinced that any of Big Hick's specimens except perhaps the one labeled Tennessee cave crystal are indeed speleothems. He lists them as "cave crystal" but the mineral as quartz. The ''white cave crystal" seems to be massive quartz or maybe some sort of massive gypsum-- doesn't even look like calcite, and certainly not "spirit amethyst" which he also has it labeled. The "yellow cave crystal" looks to be quartz, and what we call 'blossom rock' or quartz druse with a pockmarked surface around here. The 'yellow cave crystal' also has the disclaimer that he gets all his cave crystals out of an "old quarrie". The photo enlargements aren't clear enough for a positive ID, except to positively ID that the fellow doesn't know what he is talking about. He may have gotten them out of limestone vugs, and hence, they are "cave crystals". There are a lot of geode related specimens out there labeled as cave this or that, but they don't pass the acid test.
And the auction is still up at 8:35 p.m. Thursday. Go crazy and take out all the real stal auctions you want, folks, but I'm not certain enough of the ID on these, or the mineral knowledge of the vendor, which seems to be sketchy at best.