Rubble Rock and Gem – Monthly Rock Box

What's in the box: The site does not list box contents on its main page, but the shop's stock is mostly mineral specimens, crystals and fossils, so expect pieces from that range.

Rubble Rock and Gem has a physical store at 250 SW Marine Drive in Vancouver, BC, and calls itself Canada's biggest rock shop. Its online store lists prices in US dollars. It carries a wide range of fossils, crystals and mineral specimens from places like Morocco, Brazil, Madagascar, Pakistan, Romania and South Dakota. The featured one of a kind pieces are serious collector items. They include dinosaur teeth, a T. rex bone fragment, a mammoth tooth and large barite and vanadinite specimens. Newer additions include smaller items such as faceted Oregon sunstone, and the shop says new stock arrives weekly. That range is a good sign for a monthly rock box, because the pieces would come from a specialist's large stock rather than a generic supplier. The catch is that the main site does not explain the box itself. It does not say what each shipment contains, how many pieces you get, what it costs or how cancellation works, so read the product page carefully before you subscribe. US buyers should know that the shop is based in Canada. It does advertise free shipping to Canada and the USA on orders over $200. If you already like this shop's selection, a subscription is a reasonable way to get regular finds from it.