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GeneralA fifty year history of the Tucson show.
3rd Apr 2008 20:02 UTCGail Spann Manager
Does anyone know if some of the names below are still active or around at shows anymore?
1980's list ( 1980-1989 ) .. It wasn't that long ago, but I don't recognize many of the names. Does anyone know if these folks are still active and what stories are there that earned them a spot in this special issue? I would love to know more about them. Let's keep the unkind comments off of here, just in case someone has a beef with anyone.
Ken and Betty Roberts
Julian Blakely
Paul and Hilda Seel
Charles and Marcelle Weber
Carolyn Wilson
Harvey Gordon
Tony Potucek
Bruce Runner
Mark Feinglos
Kery and Edy Siber
Kay Robertson
Hilde and Milt Sclar
Barbara and Forrest Cureton
Rosemary Saunders
Gus Meister
Bill Henderson
Stan Lesnick
Cyril Kovac
Bill Schneider
David New
Art Roe
John Parnau
William Metropolis
Benny and Elva Fenn
Michel Jouty
Adrianna and Renato Pagano
David Shannon
Alfredo Ferri
John Shannon
Alain Carion
Chuck Turley
Pete Olson
Tony Otero
Wendy Melanson
Chris Pfaff
Sandy Ludlum
Dwight Weber
Sharon Cisneros
Rustam Kothavala
Peter Keller
Paul Clifford
Alvao Lucio
3rd Apr 2008 20:48 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager
Sharon Cisneros - Mineralogical Research Co. - mindat advertiser
David Shannon - deceased, Arizona mineral dealer
Barbara and Forrest Cureton - rare mineral dealers - sold out to excalibur minerals
William Metropolis - recently left Harvard Museum as curator.
Alain Carion - French mineral dealer
Harvey Gordon - Nevada mineral dealer - Zapot pegmatite
Art Roe see: http://www.minsocam.org/msa/AmMin/toc/Articles_Free/1995/Kampf_p179-183_95.pdf
Frank & Wendy Melanson recently sold Hawthorneden.
Charles and Marcelle Weber - Mt Ste Hilaire micromounters are both deceased.
3rd Apr 2008 20:49 UTCJesse Fisher Expert
3rd Apr 2008 22:37 UTCGail Spann Manager
Just sentimental and curious.
3rd Apr 2008 23:33 UTCJustin Zzyzx Expert
Benny and Elva Fenn live in Los Crucas NM. They are the best, at just about every Marty show, major importers of Mexican minerals and Benny is the one who made the big score of mind blowing Mimetites from Mexico in the 60's. Benny now imports most all of the Rasberry Garnets, Smithsonite and gem grade yellow labradorite you see.
Sharon Cisneros and her husband Gene live in the San Francisco area and they are people after my own heart, selling radioactives and asbestos. =) They focus on a more scientific approch to mineral sales and I LOVE that. Plus, Sharon's mineral display cases are TOO GOOD. She has suites of minerals from all kinds of crazy regions of the world in her collection.
You didn't meet Harvey Gordon at the Westward Look show? He was one of the dealers. Him and Lithosphere teamed up and they were going to be at the Dallas show, but they dropped out.
Kay Robinson is awesome. She would always come to the Culver City show and browse around. I would end up talking to her for at least an hour, but that's pretty much how it goes with her. Don't get me wrong, I could chat with her for HOURS. She is a treasure chest of knowlege.
You might have meet Adrianna and Renato Pagano at the main show at least. They are the italian couple who helps at the ROCKS AND MINERALS! booth, and they are the Italian wing of the Mineralogical Record. Gems.
I never meet Tony Ortaro, but I always wanted to. He was the guy in charge of the Kelly mine. Smithsonite, woohoo. He passed away a short while ago.
Gus Meister was a major member of the M.S.S.C. and ran the Pasadena show for several years. I've talked to him several times, but he is old enough now to deserve not to hear from the likes of me. His daughter is/was? also very active in the M.S.S.C. I don't know now, cause I haven't seen a MSSC bulletin in over a year.
Go to the Mineralogical Record's website and they have the coolest biography section ever.
4th Apr 2008 00:17 UTCJoseph Freilich
Hilde and Milt Sclar : Firm of Oceanside Imports, active in the 60's
William Metropolis : Curator, American Museum Of nat History, NY.
Michel Jouty: French Mineral Dealer
Adrianna and Renato Pagano : The famous and immortal Italian dealer
David Shannon...R.I.P.... Dealer, died too young
Wendy Melanson: Frank Melanson, Hawthorneden Minerals, Wife
Rustam Kothavala : Most famous Indian Mineralogist, brought out the deep green apop's in the 80"s
Peter Keller: Director at G.I.A.
4th Apr 2008 00:19 UTCJoseph Freilich
sorry, an error....left Harvard, now at Stacks In New York City....Joe
4th Apr 2008 02:02 UTCMalcolm Southwood 🌟 Expert
Cyril Kovac is still an active mineral dealer based here in Melbourne, Australia. As a matter of fact I spent a very pleasant morning yesterday with Cyril going through some of his mineral stock. I think its a few years since he's been to Tucson, but he's a great bloke, an honest dealer, and a good friend.
4th Apr 2008 03:12 UTCGail Spann Manager
Malcolm, you will have to tell Cyril that you expect his ears were burning?
Glad to hear he is doing well and has friends like you to keep his good name going!
4th Apr 2008 08:21 UTCRay Hill Expert
4th Apr 2008 16:11 UTCGail Spann Manager
Looking through the many photos I have seen Evan Jones grow up ( If one ever considers Evan to BE a grownup! ha ha! )
I have seen the evolution of the shows, the growth as well as the end of the Desert Inn. ( I have heard amazing stories, both good and bad, about that hotel! )
I am so glad that the MinRec decided to compile all that info and offer it to us all. Many people paved the way for the great success we see at the shows now.
I know many of you have been around for a long time, I love to hear your stories of racous behavior, silly jokes and amusing tattle telling. This is a hobby/industry like no other!
4th Apr 2008 18:28 UTCDonald Peck
4th Apr 2008 19:47 UTCGail Spann Manager
Thanks for letting me know.
31st May 2008 20:36 UTCDona Leicht
I stumbled upon this thread today - I can tell you about everyone on the list since I keep in touch with most of them (except those deceased, but some would say I talk to the dead most of the time). When I see you I'll bring you up to date on all of them. Springfield perhaps?
31st May 2008 21:07 UTCEd Godsey
31st May 2008 23:17 UTCMichael D. Cline Expert
Alain Carion passed away recently? I had done much business with him during the Tucson show this year, and exchanged emails for several weeks afterwards. Do you have any more information? I searched the web and could find no information on his death. Thanks!
31st May 2008 23:23 UTCIan Merkel
Tony Otero was a super man. I only met him once, in 2001. I collected at the Nitt Mine dumps (I believe that was the name) that he was tending. I paid $5 and he guaranteed me minerals or I could select a $5 rock form his little shop. When I returned from the dumps (accessed with a 1984 Volvo wagon, which he laughed when he saw because of the bad ass road) with nice specimens of smithsonite, he still insisted I take a $5 specimen from him. We talked for an hour or so about the old days of collecting and he let me see some of his absolutely wonderful smithsonite cabinet specimens. I have thought about him many times since that day.
Cheers.
Ian
31st May 2008 23:54 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
Cheers,
Alfredo
1st Jun 2008 00:22 UTCMaurizio Dini Expert
in your VIP list, there is an american collector, which I know as a reliable email pal friend; as I know is an eminence in his medicine speciality; his name is Mark Feingloss, endocrinologist, and prominent collector.
Perhaps some of your contacts (I guess miss Dona Leicht) may give you his coordinates.
....And of course, (but it's not a matter of patriotism), I will sponsor Adriana & Renato Pagano; they are not just dealers....They are fantastic and lovely people to meet and speak; Renato has plenty stories to tell....by the way, if you meet tem, give my friendly and brotherhood greetings.
Maurizio Dini
an italian living in Chile
1st Jun 2008 07:08 UTCGail Spann Manager
Maurizio, nice to hear such lovely things about mineral people...how is it, by the way, being an Italian living in Chile????
1st Jun 2008 15:43 UTCMaurizio Dini Expert
thanks for your message and kind coments; I can read that you are an active mindat amateur and positive person! My compliments!
Going to your point, I am 100% italian (born in Rome); I have traveled a lot in my life, inspite my age (39)!
I have actually found my love here and my 5 old year son borned in Chile; he is is truly amazing and incredible. I am speaking him italian since he has 2 days..., maybe there will be a chance to go back to Italy in a few years.
However, I am greatfull to this country...I have learned a lot on chilean minerals, and I had the chance to meet virtually great friends in this comunity....
I will be eternally linked with this fascinating country (not only Chile, I rather say South America has something magic....it's like when you go to Africa, there is an African homesick....and of course, there is a Latinamerican homesick!!).
take care
Maurizio D.
1st Jun 2008 16:13 UTCGail Spann Manager
I am so happy you have a wonderful son and woman in your life. And it is nice to hear that you really enjoy living in Chile. Too many spend time talking about how great it is in the "old" country and never really respect the way of life, people and charm of the "adopted" country.
Good for you!
For me it is the Greek Islands, I spent time going from island to island and they each had their own charm. I feel the need to go and explore some more, with my husband alongside. He has never been as I went before meeting him.
I was born in England, London area...moved to Canada while young and settled in the States. I love living here and I can still love the other places I have lived as they all contributed to making my life adventurous. My parents have an adventurous spirit and they instilled that in me early on.
Combine that with a collector mentality and you will find Mindat full of the same type of people. Live life to the fullest!
Warm regards, Gail
1st Jun 2008 19:14 UTCJesse Fisher Expert
Someone recently told me that he had passed away rather suddenly. If I am mistakenly passing on false rumor and inuendo, my apologies.
Jesse
1st Jun 2008 22:15 UTCMaurizio Dini Expert
first of all apologize to other fellows if I am running a bit sentimental talking about autobiography issues; but it's so stimulating when someone such as Gail, hits the vibrations and emotions of our lives!
Gail, I have been twice in Greece, and as I could realize, mitology, simple way of living is garantee! I havent't get the chance to visit Santorini, the Thera underwater crater is one of the 7 wondereres of the world!
Back to the core of the thread, wouldn't it be great to edit a book based exclusively on some of the amazing personal stories related to minerals, mine adventure, that you may get from eache one of those who are still on spot??
Or maybe I am just late...., there are also books on this topic!
Gail (and fellows out there), feel free contact me on by email:
maurj68@hotmail.com
bye
Maurizio D.
9th Jun 2008 17:06 UTCBonni Thoresen
His son Tom is in business downtown in San Diego selling cut gems and gemmy rough. His website is www.tmsgems.com
9th Jun 2008 17:08 UTCGail Spann Manager
6th Mar 2010 17:14 UTCL Frazer
Mineralogical Record 18(6) : November-December 1987. $15
Cover: Cinnabar with dolomite and quartz
With STEREOPTICON 707 - a stereoscope.
Mineral curators: their appointment and duties P.G. Embrey 389
Pyrite crystals from the Duff quarry R.P. Richards and S.C. Chamberlain 391
Mineral stereophotography W.E. Wilson and S.C. Chamberlain 399
The Miller calcite collection C. Turley and M. Koval 405
Mineralogy of the Killie mine, Elko County, Nevada G.E. Dunning and J.F. Cooper, Jr. 413
Historical notes on mineralogy L.H. Conklin 423
Microminerals W.A. Henderson, Jr. 435
Index to volume 18 446
He was a close personal friend of mine, a knowledgeable geologist as well as a character, but I lost track of him and would love to hear from anyone who has any news about Chuck. You can email me at mtskookum@yahoo.com. Thanks!
6th Mar 2010 17:40 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
I was a little surprised reading the earlier posts on this thread, until I noticed the dates. Just before this recent (2010) Tucson show Harvey Gordon died. It happens to us all and when people hear of someone's demise they express sympathy. However, even though Harvey had been ill and somewhat recovered, everyone let out a gasp of real sadness when I told them of this kind man's death. Harvey was a wonderful person and all who knew him are sorry for his loss.
7th Mar 2010 05:23 UTCGail Spann Manager
L Frazer, I hope you find your friend!
7th Mar 2010 19:45 UTCWilliam W. Besse Expert
Neil and Chris Pfaff are still around but not active in the hobby that I know of.
Gus Meister passed away a couple of years ago. His daughter, Ann, is still active in the hobby. She still makes the Meister Trimmer and sells parts for same.
Tony Potucek was one of the judges at the TGMS show this year and worked on organizing the Azurite case. Also, Barbara and Forrest Cureton were the rarity judges as the have been for so many years.
Peter Keller left the GIA some time ago and is now President of the Bowers Museum http://www.bowers.org/.
Kirby (note spelling) and Eddy Siber have Siber+Siber http://www.siber-siber.ch/indexs.html in Aathal, Switzerland. I saw Kirby at the TGMS show.
Bill
PS> OOPs. I did not look at the original dating of this thread, so you probably have this info already. WWB
26th Feb 2011 12:08 UTCalfredo ferri
I'm writing now about my life as collector ...in Tuscon for the show since 1972 ...never lost one !!!
See you soon in S.Marie ...
Al.
26th Feb 2011 19:06 UTCGail Spann Manager
27th Feb 2011 00:08 UTCFred & Linda Elsnau
Gus Meister passed away a few years ago and Ann is the current president of MSSC. We would love to see you at a meeting once in a while!
Linda & Fred
28th Feb 2011 20:39 UTCLuiz Alberto Dias Menezes, Fo.
Luiz
30th Apr 2017 20:25 UTCJohn Attard Expert
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gail,
> Cyril Kovac is still an active mineral dealer
> based here in Melbourne, Australia. As a matter
> of fact I spent a very pleasant morning yesterday
> with Cyril going through some of his mineral
> stock. I think its a few years since he's been to
> Tucson, but he's a great bloke, an honest dealer,
> and a good friend.
Jesse you wrote in this thread in 2008 that Alain Carion passed away.
I think Alain Carion is still around! I saw him in Tucson only a few years ago and am writing in 2017. Am referring to the French mineral dealer. If I am seeing dead people walking around I need to have some explanation!!..
Maybe someone will enlighten me.
1st May 2017 00:43 UTCTony Albini
I knew a Bill Henderson when I was in CT. He is deceased. You can check with Wendell Wilson but I believe he wrote a micromounter's column in the early days of the Mineralogical Record. He was an avid micromounter.
Regards,
Tony Albini
1st May 2017 09:37 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager
I can confirm that Alain Carion is still around. Met him at the Liège show in november 2016.
Instead, French alps dealer and collector Michel Jouty passed away a few years back.
Davis New is deceased too, I read somewhere.
Back in 1988, I bought from him a nice radioactive specimen from Shinkolobwe.
I met Dwight Weber at the Tucson show in 1988 and he came to visit me in Belgium that same year.
For my hospitality, he gave me a superb ferberite from Zinnwald.
He specialised in Tsumeb and I bought a few specimens from him. Went to visit him at home near LA.
He wrote a few columns in the Tsumeb MR issue of 1976.
His company was Nature's Treasures based in Hawthorne, California.
Lost every contact with him. Does anyone knows more about him ?
Thanks.
1st May 2017 11:03 UTCMario Pauwels
Paul, I have met Michel Jouty last August at the 2016 Chamonix Show. But unfortunately Michel died on December 11th, 2016 at the age of 86.
Best regards,
Mario Pauwels
1st May 2017 12:21 UTCKeith Compton 🌟 Manager
Not sure why this topic is still active.
But I can advise that Cyril Kovac (Kovacic) passed in 2016.
Cheers
Keith
1st May 2017 12:39 UTCDon Swenson
1st May 2017 14:40 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
1st May 2017 14:44 UTCWilliam W. Besse Expert
Bill
1st May 2017 17:55 UTCSusan Robinson
Harvey Gordon was a mineral dealer from Reno, Nevada. His business name changed over the years and he had several claims in Nevada: Lola mine, Zapot mine, to name two of them.
Mark Feinglos is a physician who collects rare species.
Bill Henderson was a micromounter from Connecticut.
Bill Metropolis worked as a mineral collection manager under Carl Francis at Harvard U.
Chris Pfaff is the wife of Neil Pfaff (recently deceased). Neal was a superb field collector, and one of his "big digs" was at Spruce Peak in Washington for the quartz and pyrite crystals.
Paul Clifford is a retired curator (Cleveland Museum); Many of he and his wife's collection have been generously donated to the Seaman Mineral Museum, Houghton, MI.
1st May 2017 20:47 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager
23rd Jun 2023 15:55 UTCTroy Schmidt
I realize this is an old thread but I was researching Stan Lesnick today. He died in 2014 and here is his obituary:
"Stanley Lesnick was born in New York City on December 27, 1925 to David and Jenny (Klinger) Lesnick. When he was born the doctor asked Jenny what name she had chosen for her son. When she replied "Stanley", the doctor promptly told her that Stanley was not a good name and that she should name him Samuel. Jenny was a very strong-willed woman and not one that would be easily deterred; she insisted that he be named Stanley, but the doctor had the last laugh. He simply wrote "Male Lesnick" on the birth certificate. Stan's parents were young Russian immigrants, his mother from Odessa and his father from Bessarabia - what is now known as the Ukraine. Their families had helped them both to flee the turmoil prior to the Russian Revolution in 1917. Neither ever saw their parents again. Stan's parents had internal strength, pride and a determination to succeed in their new homeland, and it was those traits that shaped Stan and his older sister Sylvia's lives growing up in NYC during the Great Depression. Stan loved playing stickball on the streets of the Lower East side of Manhattan. He would later delight in telling his daughters of his exploits donning roller skates and hanging onto the bumpers of taxi-cabs for fun. His daughters were pretty sure that their grandmother did not know about any of this. Stan was a natural talent, both scholastically and physically; excelling came easily to him. He graduated from Bedford Stuyvesant High School at just sixteen years of age. Then he went to Brooklyn College where he proved to be a gifted athlete, playing football as a running track, and throwing the discus and javelin. After his freshman year Stan's studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the Army. Stan joined the Army Air Corps, but fortunately, World War II was drawing to a close as he was finishing flight training. After his honorable discharge, Stan returned to Brooklyn College where he completed his Bachelor's Degree, and later acquired a Master's Degree in Education from Columbia University, NYC. Stan felt that there would always be children to teach. Stan met his one, life-long, true love, Beth Powell, while they were both working for the summer in the Catskills in upstate NY. They married in April of 1952 and started their life together on the East Side of Manhattan. When their first daughter, Dana, was a toddler, Stan and Beth took the plunge and bought a house in a new development on Long Island. Three years later their second daughter, Carolyn, joined their lives and completed their family. Long Island at that time was still so rural that at the end of their street there was a local dairy barn that sold milk, eggs and bread. Families typically only had one car then, and service people - from knife sharpeners to dry cleaners - would drive through the neighborhoods delivering their services. Their home on Odell Street held many happy times for Stan and Beth, and all of their friends and children. Driving his family to Indiana in the summer to visit his in-laws was an annual rite for Stan. The trips became adventures for the family. They visited nearly every state in the nation, and camped at countless state and national parks throughout the western US. Life was full and very busy for this young suburban couple and their girls, and what fun they had! During the trips out west Stan and Beth discovered a new passion that would define their lives for the next fifty years - mineral collecting. It didn't take long before mineral specimens took over their house and a hobby business was born. They would go to gem and mineral shows up and down the East Coast selling their minerals to eager collectors. Their hobby facilitated another of their passions - traveling. They explored hamlets throughout Europe and later South Africa in search of unusual or rare mineral specimens that were unknown to but a few Americans at that time. Luckily for Stan, he had chosen a career that allowed him to travel for two or more months every summer. Stan and Beth traveled the world together and of all the places they had been, they wanted to live in Tucson. So, when Stan retired from the New York City school system in 1982, they quickly moved to Tucson for the beauty of the stark desert and yes, the constant blue skies, but also because Tucson hosts the largest mineral show in the world. Tucson indulged all their passions and although Stan remained a Mets fan to the end, his heart was in Tucson. Stan leaves behind a heartbroken family: his wife, Beth Lesnick and daughters, Dana and Carolyn. At six-foot-six, Stan could be an imposing presence for those that didn't know him and he did relish "the tough guy" image, but he also had an enormous heart, and he loved his family and all of his friends deeply and fiercely. Stan is survived by his wife, Beth; daughters, Dana and Carolyn and his grandchildren, Nickolas and Natalya. They and their families will miss him dearly. Arrangements by EAST LAWN PALMS MORTUARY."
[Arizona Daily Star, April 27, 2014]
[Arizona Daily Star, April 27, 2014]
23rd Jun 2023 17:58 UTCDonald C. Swenson
23rd Jun 2023 20:32 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
24th Jun 2023 03:33 UTCJohn M Stolz Expert
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Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: May 9, 2024 23:00:18