Friends of Mineralogy
International Society of Explosives Engineers

I’ve been interested in minerals since I did a project for a Cub Scout geology badge ... scouting did not stick, but minerals did. Growing up in NJ in the 60’s, there was plenty of collecting available in the Watchung Ridge quarries, at Franklin, and numerous old copper & iron prospects in the Red Beds of the state. My collecting skills improved greatly after meeting and collecting with Dick Hauck, Art Schuck, & Neal Yedlin.

Went to college to major in journalism, that got interrupted by Vietnam (and my lousy grade point average). After 4 years in the Navy, I saw the light and returned to college as a geology major. The rest of my life has been spent chasing minerals, cleaning minerals, selling minerals, and writing about minerals. Along the way, I picked up a couple famous localities: Spruce Ridge, WA (quartz & pyrite) and Rock Candy Mine, BC Canada (fluorite & barite). These common minerals have fueled my uncommon lifestyle as an itinerant mineral dealer.