Wayne Downey ( downeyite ) has informed me that his entire stash of minerals, from the burning coal beds in PA, was disbursed illegally from a storage facility. There were two 50 gallon drums packed with specimens and it is uncertain if the reciever through them out or knows what he has and will be selling. Please contact me by email if any volume of these specimens show up for sale. http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,158959#msg-158959 Mon, 20 May 2013 08:30:41 +0000 Phorum 5.2.15a http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,203927#msg-203927 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,203927#msg-203927
As a lad I often went to the burning fields at Williamstown before they were extinguished. I have some specimens of sulfur bloom and other minerals stashed away in my collection if you should ever need a sample for scientific purposes.
Just FYI.
G]]> Gary Lentz Lost and Stolen Specimens Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:45:42 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,174543#msg-174543 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,174543#msg-174543 Including, Shenandoah, Burnside, Forrestville, Glen Lyon, Shamokin, Wanimee, Laural Run, Williamstown, Centrailia, Ashley, PA and some samples from Philippi,WV and a few samples from eastern Montana and Wyoming near the Acme mine fire.
They included type mineral specimens of 13 new species that had not been named yet. No Downeyite was in this storage facility since it requires permanent storage in a vacuum desiccator to exist. Most of the samples were in plastic air tight containers and labeled on the lid. Almost all contained delicate crystals on fragile matrix and rough handling would destroy them. Several samples were slated to go to the Smithsonian collection including a type sample of beta-germanium disulfide which was the first terrestrial example of a new crystal system dubbed VLS. I had first discovered this material at Shenandoah, PA. in 1968 but didn't identify it as a new species until 1973 when it was analyzed and photographed at the USGS in Washington ,DC using an SEMQ.
I don't hold much hope at this time for recovery. But if you come across some of this material please contact me, most of these fires have been extinguished and no longer produce the mineral sublimates. This makes them rare and at least to me, historically priceless. By the way, most of the samples are truly amazing under a binocular microscope.
wfdowney2@yahoo.com]]> Wayne Downey, Jr. PG Lost and Stolen Specimens Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:49:31 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,160305#msg-160305 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,160305#msg-160305 Rock Currier Lost and Stolen Specimens Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:02:45 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,160285#msg-160285 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,160285#msg-160285 Donald Vaughn Lost and Stolen Specimens Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:07:40 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159608#msg-159608 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159608#msg-159608 Skip Colflesh Lost and Stolen Specimens Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:36:22 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159515#msg-159515 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159515#msg-159515 anything - a couple of Kg would be plenty!]]> Alfredo Petrov Lost and Stolen Specimens Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:15:04 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159082#msg-159082 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159082#msg-159082
I agree with your assessment about the downeyite find. I remember collecting beautiful botryoidal sulphur and other micro crystals at the Shenandoah site.

It's ironic that most of the coal fires were started by town residents who burned gargage at the town garbage dumps.

Best,

Joe]]> Joseph Polityka Lost and Stolen Specimens Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:13:23 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159077#msg-159077 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159077#msg-159077
MRH]]> Mark Heintzelman Lost and Stolen Specimens Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:35:45 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159029#msg-159029 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159029#msg-159029
This sounds like minerals from the coal mine fire in Shenandoah, PA (my birthplace) that got out of control in the 1960s. This is around the same time that the fire in Centralia started. There were also other sites that had the same issues. When I was a teenager we used to sit next to the steam vents (not smart) to keep warm in the winter. We were doing the usually teenager stuff, like drinking cheap beer and wine and smoking cheap cigars and found the rock waste piles a convenient and private place to hang out.

Shenadoah is the birthplace of the Dorsey brothers and MRS T's pierogis. The town has really gone down hill in the last 50 years, yet I still go back to visit my parents graves and to buy some of the best Polska Kielbasa in the world at a local butcher shop. .

There are still some scattered smoking vents, but the main area where the minerals were formed is the site of a Little League ballpark.

Best,

Joe .]]> Joseph Polityka Lost and Stolen Specimens Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:19:26 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159011#msg-159011 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159011#msg-159011 -------------------------------------------------------
> "from the burning coal beds in PA"
>
> From several localities (which ones?) or only from
> one?


It must be Centralia PA (http://tinyurl.com/ydedqe3) which is the only underground mine fire in PA that I know of. I recall seeing crusty, smelly deposits when the fires were near the surface (they move around in the maze of underground anthracite mines). Also piles of drill cores (they were forever drilling holes, trying to find the fire, and succeeded in only feeding oxygen to the underground fires). Well worth a visit if you are anywhere in the region.

John K.]]> John Krygier Lost and Stolen Specimens Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:11:45 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159008#msg-159008 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159008#msg-159008 Rock Currier Lost and Stolen Specimens Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:43:24 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159002#msg-159002 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,159002#msg-159002
From several localities (which ones?) or only from one?
Colour of the drums?]]> Uwe Kolitsch Lost and Stolen Specimens Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:48:37 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,158972#msg-158972 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,158972#msg-158972
General appearance of material is likely similar to attached photos.

MRH]]> Mark Heintzelman Lost and Stolen Specimens Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:14:53 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,158968#msg-158968 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,158968#msg-158968 Albert Mura Lost and Stolen Specimens Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:59:59 +0000 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,158959#msg-158959 http://www.mindat.org/forum.php?read,56,158959,158959#msg-158959 skip colflesh Lost and Stolen Specimens Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:52:49 +0000