Chinese mineral specimens are widely known among collectors for two main reasons – the sheer volume of specimens that originate in the country, and secondly, their near endless variety. It seems that nearly every year at least one new find of minerals is made in China. The small, little mechanized nature of the mines and quarries there makes recovery of specimens extremely profitable for both the miners and the mining companies. It is fair to say that a majority of mining communities in China are aware of the demand for mineral specimens and many of those communities feed that demand by producing specimens.
The mineralogy hobby is growing fast in China. The nation held its first large “American or European” style mineral show in 2013 in the city of Changsha, Hunan Province. The show was called the Changsha International Mineral and Gem Show and was officially endorsed by China’s Ministry of Land and Resources. Many international dealers attended and there was an expansive selection of fine end specimens at the show indicating the growth of China’s economy to the point that luxury collectables are in demand.
China is very large and very diverse, which is reflected in culture, language, geography, religion, food, and…you guessed it! Minerals! There is a locality to find most popular mineral species in China though many of the minerals found in the nation are a direct byproduct of metal mining. Specimens formed in hydrothermal veins, skarns, and oxide zones therefore make up a good majority of the specimens produced by China. Fluorite is a species that is especially prevalent- China is the largest producer of fluorite in the world and there are many localities that produce stunning crystals of many colorful varieties. China produces the finest specimens of scheelite, babingtonite, cinnabar, and stibnite in the world.
Only for the last thirty years or so has China been producing large volumes of mineral specimens. Among the first produced were the famous cinnabar and stibnite crystals. They were initially very expensive but now prices have dropped due to the quantity of Chinese specimens available. Still, many Chinese localities are nearing depletion of specimens. Some people say Chinese minerals are future classics. That seems to be a pretty safe assumption.