The Manganese Adventure

What a find....
For my Christmas present, my oldest son Paul, "won" for me on an auction website (no, not Ebay !) a book I have been looking out for for many years:
"The Manganese Adventure" from Cairncross, B., Beukes, N.J. and Gutzmer,J. (1997)
It was sent from Johannesburg on Dec. 17, 2011 and arrived yesterday, 3 weeks later but not surprising with all the thousands of parcels in the air round that "festive" time of year.
A truly fantastic book but what another fantastic surprise when I opened it!
In the right-hand corner of page 1. this note from Desmond Sacco (see photo): "gift from D.Sacco, June 2000".
Desmond Sacco is the chairman from Assore and the main sponsor of the book, what's more, most of the mindblowingly beautiful minerals depicted in the book are from his collection.
Do I need to say more!
What a cherry on this already wonderful cake..................
A very happy Pierre