Pedigree of Specimens even if low class

Today, I was working through a flat of specimens I purchased last fall at the twice yearly Sterling Hill Garage Sale. It seems for one reason or other many specimens at that sale have old labels included with them. When I find ones with Ex. ______ collection on the labels, I like to Google or Bing the names. Sometimes you get nothing. Often you get a glimpse of a person. This example is perhaps the most fascinating I have found.

The box held two small pieces of elemental antimony from near Los Angeles, CA. Small masses in matrix. Nothing really special except I didn't have any elemental antimony so I picked it up. The box also held three labels. Two were hand written. One was a dealer in Virginia that doesn't exist anymore or at least isn't easily tracked on the internet. One stated James Underhill Collecton on it, the rest had Ex. James Underhill collection on them. I googled Mr. Underhill.

Dr. James Underhill, Engineer, U. S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor for Colorado, authored a book entitled "Mineral Land Surveying" originally published in 1906. It again was published by Wiley and Sons in 1922. It is available on the internet free, but not being much interested in surveying, I doubt I will read it to any degree beyond the preface.

Perhaps I am just strange, this connection and the others I have encountered doing this almost always wows me. To think roughly 100 years ago Dr. Underhill reached down and picked these two little stones up, perhaps he purchased them, labeled them, kept them, passed them on, others took them up and carried them through their lifetimes, and they end up on the other side of a continent on a picnic table to be picked up by me.

This is just such a great hobby.

Mark,

Way to go!!! I wish more collectors paid attention to the provenance of their specimens. Preserving the specimens with the old labels and commenting on the history on your catalog card or computerized catalog database is preserving history. I do so religously, even for minor specimens that have such old labels or equivalent history attached to them.

Chet



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2012 09:48PM by Chester S. Lemanski, Jr..

I agree completely and find that the labels and provenance are oftentimes more interesting than the specimen(s). I will even purchase specimens primarily for the label(s)---some pieces that I've acquired have several old labels and I find these extremely interesting. Great find!

Yes, we've purchased a few specimens just for the Sir Arthur Russell labels. Not outstanding fluorites in themselves, but outstanding historical interest.

It is for this reason that I collect A. E. Foote material. (Contact me if you have any available...)

Mark, one of the benefits of more seasoned collectors mentoring new collectors is precisely what you have discovered, the value of the past history that accompanies the specimen. I just had this conversation with a relatively new collector/dealer and she stated that at first she just tossed out the old labels and now has come to value those labels and history. It can certainly liven-up an otherwise dull specimen and add character to a great specimen.
Steve.

Steve,
When I was going to the University of Utah many years ago, the department curator had sitting on his desk a blue tourmaline with a pink bottom. Sort of like a blue cap but the cap was 6inches of the tourmaline and the bottom inch was pink. It had a Foote label with it and had it said from California. I asked what they were going to do with the specimen. It had seen better days as it was really beat up. Probably from letting students use it as a test rock. The curator (name withheld) said it was garbage and threw it in a box of misc. rocks.

A week later he quit his job and many of the specimens he had in his office were also gone. I helped look for the tourm. but we never found it.

Rick
I know I am in my own little world, but everyone knows me here.

Mark,
The Mineralogical Record has an extensive archive of dealer labels and biographies to go with them. If you are not familiar with it, you are in for a treat.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Hi Mark and all,

Here's the link where Rock refers to. Underhill is present. [www.minrec.org]
I have a lot of ordinairy and even worthless minerals with old labels and the MR database is a very good help.
I keep them for the history and all that can be saved, must be.

I hope this helps.

Take care and best regards.

Paul.

Just a thought - - shouldn't we keep a file of any labels that come with a specimen? Today's labels are tomorrow''s history.

I agree with all of the comments in this posting. The labels and the history are the two main reasons I really like older specimens, even if they are not fantastic to look at. Two of my most interesting specimens in that regard are a quartz that was an ex-Philadelphia Academy specimen by way of Russia and an Alpine quartz with chlorite that came with 5 labels that I am still trying to figure out, and looks to go back at least 100 years.

The history also explains why some of my most coveted pieces are those I collected from old mining sites myself.

I agree....thats the reason I bought Glassine envelopes from iHobb.com.....I put all lables, including the dealers, into an envelope with number of the specimen on it..........which get put into index card box for safe keeping....some lables like the Philadelphia Academy donot fit my envelopes but upto this point there is room in that box for them...Mike