During research in early stages of my collecting I came across certain mineral photos that made me fall in love.
I saw a Wulfenite in the Smithsonian book and thought, I have got to get one of those!
For Dioptase, this piece was my paradigm. The spark. I suspect others like me once saw this exact piece, discovered Dioptase, and aspired to acquire one similar.

The Dioptase icon - a "perfect" mineral specimen. This iconic piece is now heavily published in mineralogical literature and spread all across the internet.


It’s featured in the Bancroft book right next to Tsumebs’ greatest azurite. Those two pieces went on to become Bill Severances most iconic specimens.