About Crystal World Exhibition Centre
Tom Kapitany’s Crystal World and Prehistoric Journeys grew organically, out of a deep love and passion for collecting all things Natural History. After completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne, where he majored in Botany, Geology and Molecular Biology ( Masters prelim), Tom worked alongside his brothers to establish the specialist retail nursery selling rare plants known as Collectors Corner at Garden World in Braeside, Melbourne.
This nursery proudly specialises in collecting rare plant-life hailing from all four corners of the world such as Cacti, Orchids, Bonsai, Carnivorous Plants and Bromeliads. In this very shop, Tom first decided to start selling Fossils, Minerals and Meteorites from his personal collection- this endeavor marked the beginning of a very important chapter in Tom’s life, eventually allowing him to open Crystal World back in 1999 to focus on Crystal Mining in Australia.
Today Crystal World is Australia’s largest importer and exporter of gems, crystals, minerals, fossils, meteorites, carvings, unique specimens, and operates more than 35 mining leases to source these treasures. Our Exhibition Showroom is filled to capacity with new and unusual specimens from Australia and around the globe.
With such an enormous inventory spread across our five-acre property, including outdoor tubs of rough rock and specimens, only a small fraction of our range can be displayed inside the Exhibition Showroom at any one time. Our Exhibition Centre also includes a dedicated work shop for cutting, polishing, and processing a wide variety of Australian rough stone and crystals, along with a dinosaur fossil preparation laboratory.
Tom is a global leader in the fascinating field of mining for gems, minerals, and fossils, holding more than thirty-five mining tenements and exploration licences across Australia. We have a special interest in mining crystals, including giant garnets, tourmalines, dravites, magnetite crystals, mookaite, variscite, amethyst, crinoid fossils, Marra Mamba Tiger’s Eye, banded iron formation Tiger Iron, prehnite, and many more. We also specialise in deep-time geology, scientific, and educational specimens such as stromatolites (first life), Acasta Gneiss — the oldest rock in the world, later melted by a giant meteorite impact — Jack Hills metaconglomerate containing 4.4 billion-year-old zircons, lunar meteorites, and carbonaceous chondrites such as the Murchison meteorite, which contains organic compounds believed to be the building blocks of life, along with many other rare and unique geological specimens.
We manufacture a wide range of products for both the national and international retail industry, including gifts, souvenirs, gemstones, and jewellery. We also strive to import high-quality crystals, minerals, gems, and fossils from countries around the world, with Tom travelling constantly to visit mines and suppliers internationally.