About Us

WORLDWIDE LEADERS IN FINE MINERALS

Kristalle and Crystal Classics have worked together in partnership for over seven years. Together we have a client base of thousands worldwide and are known to always have the finest and rarest specimens available, we are the only truly international mineral company with offices in California and England

Kristalle

Kristalle was founded in 1971 by Wayne and Dona Leicht and has gained a worldwide reputation for offering the finest quality gold specimens and minerals. Gold specimens from California are what brought Kristalle to the attention of the world, and no other dealer in the history of collecting has offered the numbers or quality of specimens that are obtainable at Kristalle. We are delighted that many museums from around the world consistently come to Kristalle to acquire specimens for their collection, and we can count amongst our customers numerous prominent collectors.

The Kristalle Gallery at Christmas

Located in a landmark cottage in Laguna Beach, California, USA, just south of Los Angeles, Kristalle operates one of the finest galleries of Natural History items for sale. The gallery has thousands of specimens on display to interest the beginning collector to the advanced. Recent renovation has created a quaint and comfortable surroundings in which visitors can spend time browsing the inventory; and the gallery now includes its own ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’. The Kristalle gallery is open 'by appointment’ on weekdays, as well as Saturday and Sunday.

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Crystal Classics

Crystal Classics is one of the best known sources for fine and rare mineral specimens worldwide. Our highly skilled team of mineralogists travels the world to bring the best of new finds from working mines and also the finest classic minerals from old collections. We supply the world’s top private collectors and Natural History Museums with the best specimens that come to the market.

Tourmaline, Brazil.

Crystal Classics’ purpose-built offices are based in the beautiful county of Somerset in Southern England (about 3 hours drive southwest of London) in the ancient village of East Coker. We have a very extensive selection of minerals for viewing at our showrooms, and a state of the art mineral preparation (trimming and cleaning) laboratory. Our selection of fine minerals is certainly the largest in Europe. Please visit us in East Coker at our showrooms, open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.

Crystal Classics Showroom

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Our credentials

Some of our international Museum customers include: The Natural History Museum in London, England; The Sorbonne Museum in Paris, France; The Museé d’histoire natural in Paris, France; The South Australian Museum; The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA; The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Texas, USA; The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Los Angeles County Museum, LA, California, USA; American Museum, New York, NY, USA; and the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada. These Museums hold an important position in the world of fine minerals. We are also pleased to have been involved in many exhibitions at Museums including the Natural History Museum in London, England; and San Diego Natural History Museum, California, USA. Museums form only a small portion of our clients, we are pleased to include customers from the world’s finest private collectors to fledgling enthusiasts.

Kristalle and Crystal Classics have been involved in the purchase and dispersal of many of the major mineral collections to come on the market in recent times, and have handled some of the world’s finest mineral treasures over the last decades. Kristalle alone has dealt in more than 150 collections. Major collections include The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - over 20,000 specimens (PA, USA); the Martin Zinn III Collection (USA); the Norman and Roslyn Pellman Collection (AZ, USA); and recently the Karlheinz Grosch Tsumeb Collection (Germany). We are always interested to acquire new individual specimens or whole collections, and are instant cash buyers – please contact us to appraise any items you may wish to sell. Together we buy more mineral collections than any other mineral company worldwide.

Our websites ( www.kristalle.com and www.crystalclassics.co.uk ) are well known and very extensive, providing a successful way for customers to view and purchase minerals. The websites are very easy to use with thousands of fine mineral specimens available online at all times. We update our specimens weekly with new and exciting items, and have a very active online news section which reports on all major events in the mineral world and has gained quite a following.

Mineral Shows

You can meet us in person at all the major mineral shows worldwide:

January/February – Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, AZ, USA

April – Aue Mineral Show, Saxony, Germany

May – West Coast Gem and Mineral Show, Santa Ana, California, USA

May – Houston Fine Mineral Show, Texas, USA

June – Tokyo International Mineral Fair (TIMA) – Tokyo, Japan

June – Mineral and Gem, Sainte Marie-aux-Mines, France

August – East Coast Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA

September – Denver Gem and Mineral Show, CO, USA

October – The Rock Exchange, Bakewell, Derbyshire, UK

October - Mineralientage - Munich, Germany

November – The Sussex Mineral Show, Haywards Heath, Sussex, UK

December – Tokyo Mineral Show, Tokyo, Japan

The Kristalle and Crystal Classics Team

Wayne Leicht's interest in gold and mineral specimens began in grade school with visits to his grandfather's log cabin in the California gold country near Yosemite. This led to a degree in Earth Science and Physics; continuing into work in low temperature Physics research, in which Wayne now holds several patents. Wayne married his wife Dona in 1964, and in 1976 Wayne left the research to take Kristalle ‘full time’ with Dona, at the urging of their friend and mentor, the late Paul Desautels of the Smithsonian Institution. Wayne and Dona were active field collectors, collecting all over the world. Wayne has officially mapped the Grandview Mine for the U.S. Park Service with over a dozen trips to the locality. It was Wayne's initial work on a mineral named "Mineral #5" that eventually led to its formal description and new name of 'Grandviewite'. Over the years in the business Wayne has assembled a library on the California gold rush that is considered one of the finest in the country (including superb first editions, maps, letters and memorabilia) as well as a vast library of early works on mineralogy, western exploration, gemology and Arizona history - nearly 6,000 volumes!!

Wayne

Dona Leicht is the secret behind the running of Kristalle and the partnership of Kristalle and Crystal Classics. She spends her time managing the business side of the company, organizing exhibits at mineral shows, and the numerous trips for Wayne and Ian. Her elegance and flair for décor has led to their beautiful gallery and the gorgeous relaxed ambience of our booths at the mineral exhibitions. Kristalle is also renowned for the parties it has thrown over the years, the highlight of many a show, thanks to Dona.

Dona

Crystal Classics was formed in the early 1990s by Ian Bruce fuelled by a lifelong passion for collecting minerals and an unquenchable fascination with their form, beauty and sheer rarity. From the age of four Ian was captivated by minerals and has collected them ever since he can remember. Graduating from the University of Wales, Cardiff with an Honors degree in Exploration and Mining Geology, Ian has an unusually strong understanding of mineralogy. During the years 1998 to 2000 Ian was heavily involved in the attempts to reopen the famous Tsumeb mine to recover mineral specimens, but the team was beaten due to the backfilling of the upper levels by the former Tsumeb corporation.

Ian

Ian has traveled the globe extensively in a relentless quest for the finest minerals, he is well known on every continent for his fine taste and knowledge of rare minerals. Earlier this year a newly discovered mineral from the Tsumeb mine was named in Ian’s honour and the small blue crystals associated with Leiteite were named Ianbruceite (A zinc arsenate)

Ian and Diana

Ian works endlessly with Wayne to locate the finest minerals – if you have a fine specimen or collection you wish to offer, please email him at ian@crystalclassics.co.uk.

Wayne and Ian

Kristalle has two staff members Lois Nelson and Stephanie Andrews who help at both the Gallery and at the many mineral shows that Kristalle attend. Lois has a background in Gemology and has worked for Kristalle for over 15 years. She is very involved with exhibiting at mineral shows, running several shows on behalf of Wayne and Dona and is in charge of all the American sales, she can be contacted on lois@kristalle.com.

Stephanie joined Kristalle in 1990 and is the smiling face that greets customers at the Kristalle Gallery.

Stephanie and Lois

Crystal Classics employs five full time staff, Diana Schlegel, David Lloyd, Robin Hansen, Steve Rust and Dave Whipp.

Diana has spent a life in the world of minerals, her Parents and grandparents are well known and highly respected mineral dealers and collectors in the Saxony region of Germany. Diana runs the German part of the website and all German speaking enquiries can be made directly to her at diana@crystalclassics.co.uk.

Diana

David Lloyd has been a mineral collector for almost 40 years, specializing in British Isles and mining exploration, and has more field collecting under his hat than almost anybody. He has found several first occurrences of minerals to the UK, including one new world species – Barstowite. Dave took Ian under his wing when he was a teenager teaching him all about Cornish minerals. Dave assembled one of the more important collections of English minerals during the last decades of the 20^th century and his high quality specimens always seem to be present whenever we buy collections. Dave specializes in mineral preparation, working for over a decade in this field, and runs our laboratory in England.

Dave and Audrey Lloyd

Dave collecting

Robin, born in Perth, Australia, has always had a love of minerals, completing Geology with Honours, and recently gaining her FGA with distinction from the Gemmological Association of England. Robin joined Crystal Classics in 2005, and manages the Crystal Classics and Kristalle websites.

Robin

Steve has spent a lifetime collecting minerals and is a very regular contributor to Mindat.org. He has very strong mineral identification skills and is a specialist in rare minerals. Steve has discovered several new minerals, including one named in his honour – Steverustite. Steve helps prepare specimens for sale on the internet and at shows.

Steve Rust

Dave Whipp is our newest member to the team. He grew up with a love of minerals, achieving qualifications in Geology and a Diploma in Gemology, and has been dealing in minerals and gemstones for nearly a decade. He is in charge of European sales, successfully helping customers find the right specimen to add to their collection. If you have any particular wants, please let Dave know by contacting him through our website - by clicking here

Dave Whipp

Crystal Classics and Kristalle have a superb team of mineral experts that help us (we have nicknamed them the ‘Dream Team’). This includes Audrey Lloyd, Dave's wife; Dave and Liz Hacker (English dealers specializing in Northern England minerals);

Dave and Liz Hacker

Dave Spiller (owner of Natural Wonders based in Swanage, England); Arizona mineral collector Roberta McCarty (longtime friend of Wayne and Dona); and Tana Daugherty (geologist and long time friend of Wayne and Dona). The knowledge, expertise and friendliness of our group is second to none!

Longevity, honesty, integrity, knowledge, communication, trustworthiness and reputation.....a perfect combination! If you wish to build a serious mineral collection or have fine single specimens or a collection for sale, please contact us first.