Hello all! I have been collecting since the age of 12, helped by many good folks in the Ohio area, to whom I owe so much. I was lucky to benefit from great mentors in Columbus and central Ohio (in particular the now-retired dealers Neal and Chris Pfaff, dealers Sandy Ludlum and Gloria Olson, and collectors Carlton Davis and John Medici among others. They provided me with a kick-start that hooked me for life on both the specimens and the mineral community. I have now collected “rocks” for 24 years but “specimens” for a bit less, a distinction learned after reading Bancroft’s invaluable book, Gem & Crystal Treasures. Early on, I discovered a love of self-collecting in the Ohio and Indiana limestone quarries and trading what I found, eventually leading to a side business which helped finance my growing calcite collection.

Although I completed a doctorate in molecular genetics, this side business had meanwhile grown into my fulltime mineral business, The Arkenstone (named after a Lord of the Rings gem). My personal mineral collection is composed of suites that I find self-reinforcing to focus on: calcites (continuing my childhood collection); Sweet Home rhodochrosites; cabinet-sized China specimens; and a few special gem crystals specimens that I just find mesmerizing. The Chinese specimens I pursue are those which I believe will become the “China classics” of the future.

I enjoy extending the same kind of welcome to new collectors, through my internet site and at shows, as I myself received from the mineral community when I came into it. I am extremely proud to have been allowed to help add to and grow MINDAT from its earliest days, and to thus play a part in what i see as the growth of the mineral community from disconnected local clubs into this expanding worldwide community.

More about me can be found at the Mineralogical Record archives site: http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=668

In 2012 Lavinskyite, a new species from the Wessels Mine, was named for me. Information can be found at: http://www.mindat.org/min-42860.html