I have always been interested in minerals, but became really curious about them after buying my wife several pieces of jewelry. Specifically, I wondered about our local Maine tourmaline, exactly where it came from, and how it was mined.

Eventually I found a copy of “Maine’s Treasure Chest” by Jane Perham, and read it from cover to cover - twice. I was hooked.

I started out collecting tourmalines, both intact specimens and cut gems. My theory was that as long as I limited myself to tourmalines, my collection couldn’t get out of hand. That was some time ago …

I now collect Maine minerals, minerals from the rest of New England, worldwide tourmalines, and aesthetic worldwide minerals in general. So: although I consider myself primarily a New England mineral collector, anything that interests me, from anywhere, is really fair game.