Rock Currier sadly died September 25th 2015.

Background: College dropout. First job out of school was working in the Chemical Control laboratory for U.S. Borax at Boron, California. This where I got interested in borate minerals and minerals in general. Spent the next ten years making chemical reagents for hospital laboratories, first in California and then in New York. During that time I was strictly a collector doing extensive photography of minerals, field collecting, silver picking. At the end of this time I became a mineral dealer and spent the next 30 years visited many countries to buy specimens for my business. During my many trips to India, Peru, Namibia, China etc I developed an interest in the minerals from those places and know something about them. Author of several articles in the Mineralogical Record and Rocks and Minerals. Am occasionally asked to give lectures and appraisals of mineral collections. Have a 1000 square meter+ warehouse full of specimens and related items in Baldwin Park, California which is the location of my warehouse and business. It is a wholesale only business and has been for about 40 years. Have been a dealer at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show and others for the last 40 years. I had a collection of 5,000+ systematic and rare species (about 3200 species if you believed the labels) which I gave to the University of Arizona. I still have a collection of 6K+ micromounts and about 9000 specimens many of which are of display quality. Have been working for the last several years on a computer program to catalog specimens and print labels. I will collect almost any size specimen from micros to large cabinet. Am still adding to my collection but don't chase them like I used to when I was traveling. I never know what will walk through my warehouse door, appear via email or what the next phone call may bring.

I am one of the many managers on Mindat. Since no one tells us what to do, we all work on Mindat in areas that we find congenial or feel obligated to oversee or help with. My main interest is the Best Minerals section of Mindat and circumstances permitting that is where I like to spend my time. I'm also moderator of the Specimen Valuation and the Cleaning and Preparation forums. I have written several articles for Mindat including one about cleaning quartz that has been viewed more than 150,000 times. As time permits I hope to add more. I have uploaded 9000+ pictures to Mindat of mineral specimens that I have taken over the years in various museums and private collections as well as pictures of many localities I have dug at or visited during the last 50 years. I have written a number of articles for various amateur mineral magazines and am occasionally asked to give lectures to amateur groups and do specimen appraisals. I am a past president of the Mineralogical Society of Southern California and a graduate gemologist of the Gemological Institute of America.

Rock Currier
Arcadia, California April, 2014.