Mineralica 2025-2

We begin with a special conversation with Christopher Smith-Duque, an artist who held a PhD in geochemistry and worked in a lab. Today, he brings the beauty of minerals to life on canvas. In his studio, fascinating works emerge: dark backgrounds, luminous colors, crystalline precision. In the interview, he shares how nature led him to art — and why he now uses a brush to reveal minerals in a new light.

Next comes a highly detailed feature by Martin Grüll on fluorite from Austria. Structured by federal states, it presents the full range of this mineral — from colorless cubes to deep violet octahedrons, from legendary localities like Weisseck Mountain and Hocharn Mountain to little-known sites described here in detail for the first time. Many of the specimens shown come from private collections and have never been publicly displayed before. This richly illustrated article makes it clear why fluorite has become one of the most coveted collector minerals in the Alpine region.

A completely different scale awaits us in the Azores. In May 2023, a group led by Henk Smeets traveled to São Miguel, the largest island of the archipelago. Amid green crater slopes and pumice quarries, they discovered microscopic minerals such as aegirine, arfvedsonite, and true rarities found nowhere else on Earth. The landscape is breathtaking, the finds tiny — but under the microscope, entire worlds unfold.

And finally, a look far, far back: In a remarkable contribution by Walter Ungerank, we turn to a sensational Stone Age rock crystal site at Riepenkar in the Zillertal Alps. At over 2,800 meters, mineral collectors uncovered quartz artifacts like blades and arrowheads. It is the highest archaeological site ever discovered in Austria — a fascinating testament to the deliberate search, extraction, and shaping of raw materials as early as the Mesolithic. This article is one of the last Walter completed, and I’m deeply grateful to be able to publish this glimpse into prehistory.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed creating it. Perhaps you’ll find something that inspires, surprises — or simply brings joy.

Warm regards,
Maximilian Schiller
Editor-in-Chief