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GeneralSorage and Display Of Mineral Labels
28th Aug 2008 18:44 UTCJoseph Freilich
Can anyone suggest an effective way to store/display mineral labels? Would welcome any suggestions...Joe
28th Aug 2008 19:12 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager
Also can use some baseball card storage that is archival:
http://www.bcwsupplies.com/prod-PRO9T-.htm
Also stamp mounts:
http://www.mysticstampcatalog.com/2008/lg_display.cfm?page_number=131&catalog=080109
I keep my old labels along with a copy of my new label in a 3 ring binder.
28th Aug 2008 20:11 UTCBrooks Britt
28th Aug 2008 20:24 UTCJoe Freilich
I wish to thank everyone for the excellent suggestions. I remember when i collected stamps, they made stock books with rows of celluloid.( what an old term!)...may do the trick as well, but the business card pages sound best for the job...Best, Joe
28th Aug 2008 22:11 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert
I collect A. E. Foote specimens, so in some cases the labels are of equal or greater value than the specimens. Each specimen has a catalog number, which is written on the back of the label that **I** make for each specimen. The corresponding Foote label is not altered in any way, and is stored in the same box as the specimen it belongs to.
Steve
28th Aug 2008 22:13 UTCLinda Smith
Thank you,
Linda
28th Aug 2008 22:39 UTCJoseph Freilich
thank you both for your responses. Steve, your idea is quite logical..certainly the best approach. Linda, I have tried everything in my 40 years of collecting, and in the end, i have no marking on the mineral itself....i guess i am too lazy for that! although, i would urge anyone who is not that far down the line to do so ( an not lazy like me)...white enamel with india ink seems to be the " standard"
cheers, Joe
28th Aug 2008 23:22 UTCDenise Bicknell
28th Aug 2008 23:45 UTCAlysson Rowan Expert
The specimen number is duplicated on everything to do with that specimen - old labels, reciepts, photos and reports. It means, apart from anything else, that I don't have to have display labels for anything that isn't ever going to be on display - reference specimens particularly. The thing that ties all the threads together is the collection index - a big database that replaces the old card index.
As to the archived stuff - clear photo-corners hold the label in place on a sheet of card, and suppotrted inside one of those document pouches that then goes in a ring binder. The whole history is there in one go.
29th Aug 2008 00:09 UTCLinda Smith
Also I believe I may have asked this question, if not, is there an accepted manner of grouping mineral information other than alphabetically? I have created an excell spreadsheet by name alphabetically with each specimens name, locality, size, description, history and cost. I am in the process of numbering them and I noticed that some people use letters with numbers. Is there a protocol for identifying numbers on specimens?
I know, sounds like 60 questions, but I am only going to do this once and figure it is better to get all of my ducks in a row before I start shooting!
Again thanks,
29th Aug 2008 00:29 UTCAlysson Rowan Expert
The best tool to use is a database - that will allow you to "group" your sspecimens how you want at any time. While excel is a static table, a database is dynamic - the display is sorted and grouped on demand.
My indices are sorted by specimen number, but I can search by location, species present, date acquired, whether I need to print a label or whatever.
Hope this helps.
29th Aug 2008 00:33 UTCNeal Luppescu
I like Brooks' system of organizing the labels, though. It must be much easier to find that one calcite label out of 20 when you need it.
29th Aug 2008 00:38 UTCJenna Mast
One collector who showed me his collection just kept the labels under the specimen, though these were newer labels I think. If I came across a specimen with an older label that wasn't essentially gone, I may slip it into a protective cover and keep it next to the specimen or attached to the newer label.
29th Aug 2008 00:39 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert
Steve
29th Aug 2008 01:13 UTCLinda Smith
Again thank you all and Alysson, I envy your knowledge and comfort with Access.
29th Aug 2008 01:16 UTCDenise Bicknell
29th Aug 2008 02:15 UTCBrooks Britt
My own labels are catalog numbered and correspond to a small label kept with the stored specimen so I can look in my label book and pull all labels associated with any particular specimen. Yes it requires record keeping but that allows me to be around the minerals more, which is a good thing.
29th Aug 2008 02:21 UTCDenise Bicknell
29th Aug 2008 04:40 UTCJenna Mast
I had thought about devising an alphanumeric code for the specimens, similar to a VIN, but they get rather long so how I designate them isn't particularly systematic. Pyrite1, Pyrite2, Pyrite3 usually.
29th Aug 2008 10:06 UTCBrooks Britt
That is exactly what I do. I have an excel spreadsheet where I keep my master list and number them by mineral and sequential number, Quartz1, Quartz2, Quartz3, etc. This also helps for insurance purposes as you have a written record of your collection which can also be kept electronically. One concern we all should have is to document our collection along with the value for this purpose as well as helping our family in the event they are left with a collection one day and have no idea what it is worth. I hate to see unknowing families be taken for a ride when liquidating their loved ones collection and have no idea of the value of fine minerals.
29th Aug 2008 15:38 UTCDonald Peck
Like Denise, I have switched from using paint and India ink on my specimens to gluing paper labels on them. The paper is neater and the computer prints smaller and better than I can. One caveat about the method. The glue is water soluble. One has to be careful about washing the specimens; and accidental flooding can be a disaster.
My catalog is also in Excel. Regularly, BACK IT UP! Hard disks fail. Mine did! And Linda, keep your numbering system simple. Mine is not, and it is a chore (I assign Dana Numbers followed by a hyphen and an aquisition number for the species). I would recommend either a straight aquisition number (00001, 00002, etc.) or one that includes the year the piece was aquired (like 08-001, 08-002, etc.) The reason the 00 are in there is that you can sort your data on any column, including catalog number and the zeros keep things in sequential order. I periodically print two hard copies of my catalog - one is in numerical order, the other alphabetical.
29th Aug 2008 16:34 UTCDenise Bicknell
For my catalog I use Excel with fields for species, composition, mine, mining district, geographical region, town, county, state, country, classification, size, catalog number, photo, obtained from, date obtained, price paid, and storage locality. I can sort by any field I want so if I want to see all my pyrite specimens all I have to do is sort by alphabetical order. The photos are shrunk to fit into the field. I can just click on the corner and drag to expand the photo to any size I wish. I could even add several fields for photos if I wished. Each specimen gets the paper number glued on. Each specimen has a label printed on cardstock stored with it and the catalog number is on the back of the label as well. I also keep a 3 X 5 card file catalog and old labels are kept with the corresponding 3 x 5 card. Since I have the 3 X 5 cards I don't have to print out the electronic version. Some may view it as overkill but it works for me.
29th Aug 2008 19:23 UTCAlysson Rowan Expert
29th Aug 2008 19:48 UTCLinda Smith
I would love to have it and explore. My e-amil is vanegas3@comcast.net
thanks,
Linda
30th Aug 2008 02:01 UTCMalcolm Southwood 🌟 Expert
On your original question, I use standard loose-leaf stamp collecting pages. They are a bit pricey, but they look good. Every specimen in my collection has its own line of labels, culminating with a duplicate of my own label. And of course the labels are arranged in accession order.
This means that the label albums are actually a sort of hard-copy catalogue as well, but with the emphasis on provenance. I am hugely interested in the history of my specimens. The page in the photo shows what I'm doing here - these are for specimens from Palabora in South Africa, with the original hand-written labels from Jon Gliddon, the open pit superintendent in the early 1980s who collected the specimens.
Alysson,
I'd love to see your Access database. I also use Access, but am aware that I'm only tapping about 5% of its potential. Getting someone who understands the software to look at this for me have been in the back of my mind for some time, but I suppose an alternative would be shipping my data ("shipping" is a technical term that we techno-luddites use occasionally) to a set-up fromsomeone who knows what they're doing might be another option? Email for me is malcolm.southwood@bigpond.com, and many thanks for the offer.
Cheers
mal
30th Aug 2008 02:49 UTCJoseph Freilich
Thanks for your response and suggestions....I believe I will go with your suggestion....Many thanks and enjoy yourself!! Joe
30th Aug 2008 08:41 UTCRock Currier Expert
Most all of us collect minerals as though we were always going to be around to care for them and as though our mind and memory will remain sharp and we will always be able to remember the details about our specimens. We will spend thousands of dollars on or collections, but are reluctant to take a little time to try and protect them from the vicissitudes of life. If you use a computer, put the data about your collection in a database and then print out that data on a small label that you can glue on to your specimen. If you want, you can also generate a normal label to put in the box with it or keep wherever you keep your labels. Also with a database you can sort it in many different ways should you want to. Finding out how many calcite specimens are in your collection should not be the chore of hours, but rather seconds.
In writing these kinds of things and pointing out the obvious I often feel I am shouting at the wind. Hopefully some people will think about how they are treating their specimens and make some changes.
30th Aug 2008 16:56 UTCDana Morong
Recently looking through some stuff from a college give-away, I found that the real old labels handwritten in old ink, glued to the specimen, are most readable still (don't know what was used for ink and glue). However, many of the labels are loose, either scrawled or typed, and may or may not be matched to the specimen. I got a whole load of fluorescent minerals this way, with labels floating around in the drawers, managed to match up only a few, then gave the collection to a friend who is better with fluorescents than I. Whoever assembled the collection apparently assumed that he would live forever, and have lots of time to sort, and that the cabinet would be moved in vertical position (not likely over the years!). A bit of descriptive information (about the individual specimens) on the labels would have helped match more of them.
Sometimes the label is incorrect, even from a college give-away. An example was one with red lumps in it, the label (this one not old) said it was Pyrargyrite (a silver ore). I thought Aha! I thought that I would take a bit off the end for a lab sample, but something about the red lumps made me look again. Finally I looked up in the book, noted that pyrargyrite is soft, and garnet hard, and when I found that the red lumps easily scratched a mineral just between the two, I knew it was Not pyrargyrite, but rather garnet. Somebody goofed!
31st Aug 2008 16:45 UTCGail Spann Manager
Now? I take bulk photos, photo minerals on our shelves, photo Jim holding the minerals, photo our minerals in exhibits, etc. but not any organized system anymore.
We just numbered 3,010 on a specimen this morning as a matter of fact.
We do, however, number each and every piece in our collection with our signature label...a lone star and our number. ( We live in Texas where the lone star is pretty much a strong symbol. We thought that, as Yankees, this was our way of saying we are here to stay? ha! ha! )
On perky box minerals we number the box the specimen is in, and I do photo them, usually in small batches of four or five so I have a record of them visually.
Important pieces we have photographed by professional photographers.
Our labels are in order, alphabetically, by mineral name and we have them stored in a safe, dry and dark place with many in archival sleeves. They are also under lock and key. Some of the labels are very important and signed or hand written by folks who have long since departed.
I am always a little bit bothered by dealers who offer minerals with no labels and we always ask if there are any and if so, we want them. The odd thing is that they are quite surprised by our request, but they end up being able to give us some..... strange indeed!
31st Aug 2008 16:49 UTCGail Spann Manager
I guess I am anal about spelling, although I goof up a lot like everyone else!
ha ha!
31st Aug 2008 17:35 UTCJoseph Freilich
Thanks for your constructive insights...There is an unfortunate habit among minerals dealers, especially the old timers ( of which i hope I do not qualify to be considered as such yet! ) to keep the labels for their own label collections, and send off the specimen with only the new label, I believe this is absolutely horrible! The entire chain of provenance is lost forever!. If the need to own the label is so overwhelming, at least supply a photocopy! ...Once again, thanks to everyone for an impressive and informative response. joe
1st Sep 2008 21:17 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
1st Sep 2008 22:57 UTCJoseph Freilich
I am the dealer that Rob is referring to, and other than the fact that it did take a few e mails to respond....( have had some medical problems of late), I am certainly happy that the issue was resolved to Robs satisfaction. Many is the time that, in the course of purchasing specimens, the chain of provenance is lost and the specimen has no label. Dan Weinrich had told me that the label was lost when he sold the specimen for the first time, and was never recovered....Many dealers are also prone to " creative" problem solving, by making up so called original labels...To me, this is worse than not suppling a label!...Many times i will go to considerable expense and time to research a specimen's original ownors...I know how much this means to collectors now a days, and to me as well....
Rob is a very fine individual, and is likewise very patient and understanding....a delight for any mineral dealer to work with...And thanks Rob for sharing this story with the group.....Joe Freilich
2nd Sep 2008 10:46 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager
I have the same problem with a Cornwall suite that I bought from Gilbert Gauthier in 1983.
The specimens bears Gilberts and the Sorbonne label and thats it. ( see the attached files )
Most labels are only stating " Cornwall ". But all the pieces have numbers glued on it and the same references are put on the labels.
So I was able to retrace a specimen from that parcell to be one of the School of Mines in Paris where the Sorbonne get it from. But the original label from the School of mines is missing and I am sure, that there is are labels before that. The whole pedigree and history are lost.
BTW does anybody knows somebody at the Sorbonne who could help me. Like I said, I have all the catalogue numbers of the specimens.
Perhaps it would be possible to pick up the line.
Thanks to all.
Best regards from Belgium.
2nd Sep 2008 17:53 UTCAlysson Rowan Expert
Many specimens I obtained at knock-down prices from that same collection were without labels of any sort - and whilst they are excellent study pieces, and even attractive display pieces, they do lack the important historical detail.
Sad, to be sure, but what is done is done. :(
All I can do is to try to prevent the same mistake being made.
2nd Sep 2008 18:01 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager
Paul, You have given me a sliver of hope. I keep forgetting the power of Mindat and hope you get some help on your specimens. Back in the '60's I was trading with the BRGM and got some fine specimens. These were old European classics with no provenance. On enquiry, I seem to remember Dr. Sanfeld replying that somehow the labels had been lost. One of them was a silver in several mm cubes in an orange Barite with traces of acid eaten green calcite and, if I remember correctly, the locality on the label was Freiberg. The specimen is now in the Royal Ontario Museum (RWC 80). In '87 I had the good fortune to spend a day at the Natural History Museum in Vienna. There I learned the meaning of "Dienstag Geschlosen" (sp?). So I stayed an extra day and missed my Hydrofoil on the Danube to Budapest. It was well worth it. To my joy and surprise, I found an identical specimen labeled from the Daniel Mine, Wittichen on display. I guess it is always Caveat Emptor, but more so when there is no provernance.
The hope that Paul has given me is that perhaps some one might recognize my Mimetite or similar material and might help with its history. It appears at:
http://www.mindat.org/photo-109670.html
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
3rd Sep 2008 11:17 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager
Rob, that is a fantastic mimetite.
I had my specimens, showed in my homepage, from Lindsay Greenbank. In the 80's and 90's I met him a few times and he told me that he loved Caldbeck Fells mimetite.
Looking at his display I noticed that. He is maybe the one from who Joe had the specimen. I remember him as a kind fellow with an tremendous memory. If it is from him, he will certainly remember. Unfortunately, I did'nt saw him back since and it looks like he is retired from the bussiness.
I also have a few BRGM specimens that I obtained in the 80's and 90's thru Gilbert Gauthier and all the labels are quite complete with localities.
But only the BRGM labels and no labels from whom the BRGM had them. The pedigree chain is here also broken. But some of them are bearing a catalogue number. I will contact the BRGM to see if it is possible to have more information on the specimens.
Some of the old Sorbonne specimens have older labels and I made a very important discovery yesterday.
I was browsing on the Mineralogical Record site in the label archieve. To my astonnishement, I found a label from the Vésignié collection that is identical to a label I have. We're getting close because the Vésignié catalogue is still in the Natural History Museum in Paris. Vésignié bequeathed his collection to the NH and the Sorbonne. The specimen, the Liroconite in my Mindat gallery, bears a number, 135.226. That mean that the specimen was bought from Vésignié because the first number, 135 means that the specimen was catalogued in 1935. As Vésignié died in 1954, August 25, it is obvious that he sold it or traded it with the NH museum. How it got in the Sorbonne collection is another question. So I will try get get in contact with the museum and ask them for the pédigré of the specimen and maybe they can explain how it got in the Sorbonne also.
Well Rob, I hope you will have the same luck as I do.
If you get in contact with Lindsay, pass him my best regards.
Greetings from Belgium.
Paul.
5th Sep 2008 00:39 UTCEric D. Fritzsch 🌟
As for labeling specimens you can create very small labels on a laser printer these days with locality information, catalog number, and my name. (size 4 font isn't as easy to read as it use to be but I can always look at it under a microscope and read it). I spray them with a Krylon Preserve It (digital photo & paper protectant) twice on each side. I then apply the label to the specimen with nail polish (two coats are best). Of course this doesn't always work for all specimens (such as micros or specimens you don't want to deface).
5th Sep 2008 04:30 UTCGail Spann Manager
I find this trend to be annoying. I am verbally told who the piece belonged to, but those collectors don't give labels with their pieces, at least that is what I am told.
So it isn't only the dealers, it is often the collectors too.
If all these people read Mindat, how come they ( those that sell or collect minerals ) aren't "getting it"? I am pretty sure most on here agree that labels are very important. Not just the provenance of the original owner and location, but all others who had it as well.
I really do want to see all the previous owners labels and keep them safe till we add our own to the pile, but that is becoming increasingly harder all the time. In just the few years we have collected we have found the trend to be growing, no labels other than that of the dealer.
What to do....?
5th Sep 2008 13:46 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager
27th Oct 2008 22:43 UTCJoe Mork
27th Oct 2008 23:25 UTCAlysson Rowan Expert
Enjoy!
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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: April 23, 2024 15:15:52