For more than forty (40) years, Excalibur Mineral Corp.
has been providing private collectors, researchers, major universities
and museums throughout the world with reliably identified, rare and unusual
mineral samples for science and display. In a major expansion move twenty
years ago, Excalibur's president, Tony Nikischer, purchased the assets
of the Cureton Mineral Corporation in 1993. The Cureton firm had been
a world leader in supplying rare mineral species since 1950, and the combined
inventories of these two former competitors now exceeds 200,000 mineral
samples, comprising over 3300 different mineral species.
Since the merger, Excalibur has also opened its own in-house analytical
laboratory equipped with a Scanning Electron Microscope and state-of-the-art
EDAX detectors utilized for Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy in mineral,
gem, and industrial solids identification. These services are now available
economically for private collectors, dealers and institutions as well;
see our Analytical Services page for further information.
We are also pleased to announce that the mineral "nikischerite"
was approved by the International Mineralogical Association in recognition
of Tony's discoveries of new mineral species and his on-going work with
the scientific community. An article describing the mineral has been published
in Mineralogical Record (2003, #2, pgs 155-159) . Tony was elected a director
of the Friends of Mineralogy, serves as Chairman of the Board of The Hudson
Institute of Mineralogy dba Mindat.org, an IRD-approved not-for-profit
organization devoted to research, preservation and education, and he is
also the publisher of Mineral News, a monthly periodical devoted to mineral
collecting.
Excalibur issues a descriptive mineral catalog monthly, generally detailing
some forty to fifty species. Special sales and other features are often
included. You may review this month's Current List on the net, as well
as a handful of earlier catalogs that are noted under Recent Lists. If
you'd like to receive our monthly catalog by mail, please contact us in
order to be added to the physical mailing list for either minerals (monthly)
or meteorites (semiannually). To receive these lists each month via email,
please send us your complete street address for our records as well as
your email address. Note that non-purchasers are dropped from our mailing
lists quickly, however, so an occasional order must be placed to ensure
continuous receipt of the catalogs.
We have slowly begun compiling an all-inclusive database of our 200,000
specimens, and the most recent compilations can be found on our many Rare
Species pages that are arranged alphabetically. Please note that these
pages are not all inclusive as we are probably many years away
from listing every specimen. If you are looking for something not
yet entered into the database, please call, write or fax us for a specific
quote. We probably have it!
Equipment for collectors, including microscopes, a broad selection of
Raytech gear, plus a selection of special mineralogical reference books,
our quirky Mining Models and railroad cars, a good assortment of Meteorites
and various mineral Collections for sale can be perused elsewhere on our
web site. Just select them from our table of contents.
In 2013, the company relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia, and the
new showroon is open to the public from Tuesday-Saturday, 9:00 AM to
4:00 PM.
Special appointments at our warehouse can also be made in advance. Our
warehouse and laboratory facilities are not open to the
general public without prior arrangement!
(Complete information regarding payment and shipping methods can be
found on our Ordering Instructions page. Thanks for visiting!!! )
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