About Us

Crystal World Australia, wholesale retail crystals, fossils, minerals,  lapidary gems, meteorites.

 Tom Kapitany is the owner of Crystal World Australia.

Tom Kapitany’s Crystal World and Prehistoric Journeys grew organically from a love of collecting all thing Natural History , after completing a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Melbourne, majoring in Botany and Geology, Tom went to work with his brothers and set up a retail nursery called Collectors Corner (http://www.collectorscorner.com.au).

This nursery specializes in rare Plants from around the world such Cacti, Orchids, Bonsai, Carnivorous Plants and Bromeliads.

It was in this shop that he started to sell Fossils, Minerals and Meteorites from his collection, eventually opening Crystal World in 1999.

As well as an interest in Plant Molecular Biology, primarily genetic engineering, Tom specialises in Deep Time Geology travelling the globe extensively collected rare and ancient rocks for museums and research scientists. 


Tom Kapitany

In the past 20 years he has traveled extensively throughout Asia, Europe, Pakistan, India, North and South America collecting rare items of Natural History.

From these travels, Tom picked up important learned basic language skills including: German, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Spanish, Japanese, Bahasa, Portuguese and French 

Many of his travels have been “off the beaten track”, including a trip into the Karakoram Mountains of Pakistan (Western Himalayas) with armed police escorts to the Khyber Pass, Mexico on numerous trips and Tom was even fortunate to visit the Giant Crystal Cave in Naica, Mexico. Tom also went into the jungles of North Vietnam, as well as underground in Antimony mines in China, where even the Chinese guide had trouble with the language!

Tom has been Canoeing with his family to Paskihan falls in the Philippines, dinosaur hunting in the North Dakota badlands, meteorite hunting in Arizona, into the Sierra Madres Mountains of Mexico where he played with tarantula spiders and to the amethyst mines of Rio Grande de Sul, Brazil.

Tom travels extensively in Australia to the outback visiting his mining projects in all Australian states and many of the commercial mines. Tom also owns Australia’s largest Bonsai Nursery with his brother Jeno.

Where we are today

Smoky Quartz Elestial, Victoria Australia

Crystal World is the major importer and exporter of gems, crystals, minerals, fossils, meteorites, carvings and unique specimens in Australia.

Our two showrooms are always fully stocked with new items arriving regularly.

We stock a massive inventory and, as such, only a small part of our range is available on display at any time.

Wholesale & retail customers can visit our warehouse at 13 Olive Rd in Devon Meadows in Victoria, Australia. Our phone number is +61 3 5998 2493.  We have a facility devoted to cutting, polishing and processing Australian rough stone crystals and fossils for export and the local market.

Crystal World is the leader in the field of mining for gems, minerals and fossils and holds over 35 mining tenements and exploration licenses Australia-wide.

We mine crystals, quartz, molybdenite, mookaite, variscite, stromatolites, amethyst, fossils, hematite, Marra Mamba tigereye, tiger iron, prehnite and other commercial and high grade mineral and fossil specimens.

We also manufacture a wide range of products for the gift, souvenir, gemstone, jewellery and retail industry in Australia and overseas. We import fine quality crystals, minerals, gems and fossils from many countries.

Exports

Crystal World is a major exporter of minerals and fossils world wide with agents and suppliers in many countries. We attend the worlds larger mineral and Fossils shows including Tucson, Denver, and Changsha China 

We export raw Australian minerals from our mining leases to many countries were it is prepared into carved products and jewellery.

Imports

Always expect something new when you visit Crystal World. Our modern warehouse is stocked to the brim with hundreds of tonnes of material from abroad and locally. New shipments arrive weekly and can be anything from a small parcel to a 20 ft sea container. It’s all in a day’s work.

Collections Purchased

In order to continue to expand our product line, we are constantly searching for new mineral localities. Mining locations generally operate for a few years only and, once closed, minerals from these mines can become scarce as new localities will generally offer minerals with variations. For this reason older collections are an excellent source of these once common materials. Crystal World is constantly searching for new minerals, if you know of a collection please contact us for an appraisal of its value. We are particularly interested in older Australian Collections. 

To keep up to date with our products and services, we suggest that you check our site regularly.

Crystal World and Prehistoric Journeys is a wholesale and retail supplier to Gift and Jewellery retailers around the world. Through our retail outlets, Collectors Corner in Garden World  and Crystal World in Devon Meadows, we offer an extensive range of material to our retail customers. We now offer our range to the world through this site.

Thomas is also one of 5 Directors managing the National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra , as well as consulting for international Natural History Museums in the UK, China , USA and New Zealand .

We acquire natural history specimens from all over the world.

You are invited to visit our warehouse near Melbourne Australia to view our inventory, If you can’t make it, please browse our online catalogue here.

We are adding stock daily, but it is hard to keep up with the mining activity!

Please sign up for our newsletter here to be advised of new acquisitions.

Much of our material sells out before we have time to list it online!