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Field Collectinggood quality minerals- Germany and USA

16th May 2014 20:54 UTCGeorge deWit Chaney

quite alot of my collection, which is mainly thumbnail and micromount, comes from Germany or the USA out of pure seller and buyer coincedence. i was not thinking about localities at the time but i found out that alot of my minerals either came from areas in or near the Clara mine in Germany or Arizona and Utah in the USA (mainly my radioactives).

as I will continue to buy from these sellers i regularly buy from is there any specific mineral from either of the worldwide areas i should look out for good quality minerals, type locales and classic locales.

if you could reply to this queury, i would be quite happy to hear your personal veiws on what minerals are pariclarly cool, well formed or aesthetically pleasing. i have heard clara mine does not produce museum quality specimens from someone else.

many thanks!

George deWit Chaney :-)

17th May 2014 07:28 UTCGerhard Brandstetter Expert

Hello George!

Clara mine has phantastic museum minerals! But we do not find them on the collector dump..... In the small town of Wolfach close to Clara is a very nice museum with top quality minerals of this mine and other Black Forest localities. Beautyful big crystals of Baryte and Fluorite, even museum sized samples of rare species too.... Top by any standards! Had a lot of Photos from it, but my old harddisc crashed ......

http://www.mima.museum

What makes a mineral cool? Good question..... For me the coolest samples are self collected - there is a story behind it! All other things are your personal taste. Every collector has his own priority .... Some only collect aesthetics, others ugly but rare systematic. Some collect micros or thumbnaily only, others prefer huge plates with big crystals.I have seen phantastic collections of Austrian alpine minerals only. Others have Tsumeb minerals only.... There also exist collections of Agate only, or Quartz only or i don't know.......

All the minerals in this very different collections are cool and nice. To buy some of them is ok - but to find them yourself is the biggest fun! As a longtime collector i visited many localities in different countries. Even found nice and surprising minerals in my hometown. For me i found out that travelling for minerals is the coolest thing with the coolest minerals. Adventures and good photos included..... :-)

Nice greetings, Gerhard

17th May 2014 09:18 UTCGeorge deWit Chaney

I really shouldnt have emphasised the cool haha! but I do agree with you completely! My favourite mineral from clara mine I have is either my red botryodial goethite or my type locale agardite-(Ce). Thanks for the link as well, much appreciated! I would love to go collecting one day but my current age states different priorities. It is 100 percent to do on my bucket list, multiple times! Thanks for your ongoing replies and multiple links you have sent me! Nice Greetings to you as well!

George :)

17th May 2014 12:43 UTCTimothy Greenland

George,

For me, a 'cool' mineral (apart from ice!) is one that appeals to me personally; if it was found by me, especially in the company of nice people, it's even cooler! As to what appeals to me - well, it might be the chemical composition, an interesting locality, an unusual crystal form - or just that I find it beautiful. Perhaps it's better not to analyze it to death; just enjoy...

Gerhard, I take this oportunity to ask if you did not receive the PMs I sent you. I should really like to hear from you - memories of 'the best bus in Morocco!

Cheers

Tim

17th May 2014 20:38 UTCRock Currier Expert

What you collect and how you do it depend, I find, more on the personality and circumstances of the collector, and how desirable they think the specimens are. If money is not of particular concern, then buy what you like and don't worry about it. If you purchases are made with a delicate regard for your pocket book then you must choose carefully. Or of course, you can learn to do what specimen dealers do to get their specimens. If you are fortunate and have access to a mine or quarry that produces good specimens that others can not access, then you can collect the specimens directly and sell or trade them for the specimens you want. Or you can travel to the places that are producing good specimens and buy directly from as close to the source as possible and then keep what you want and or trade or sell them for the specimens you want. Or you can learn to buy specimens from existing collections or better yet, save your money and buy existing collections from museums or old collectors who need to sell them. Those are your choices. I have found traveling to producing localities to be particularly productive and interesting. I have also purchased a number of old collections, and when you can manage this, it is particularly satisfying and productive of supplying specimens for my collection. But minerals are I think a bit like narcotics. Most collectors need a regular "fix" and do not have the fortitude to save their money and time to concentrate it for best effect.

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