FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Tracy]

Hi Jordi - I was wondering whether you could offer some advice to beginner- and intermediate-level collectors on how to evaluate the quality of a specimen. Some tips on what aspects to look at (or to look for) and which ones you consider to be the most significant indicators as a dealer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

[Jordi Fabre]

Well, just some advice (my sincere opinion is that each one should decide what he / she want):

I suggest to tend to prefer perfect minerals (no significative damage on it)
decide limits on the specimen's size (minimal size-maximal size) and always buy between that limits
focus the collection to some particular item like a country, several countries, a mineral species, a group of mineral species, etcetera...,
good balance between specimen's size and crystal size
good crystal's shape
not too flat on the matrix
some luster
and to finish, two very, very personal opinions:

- between two similar specimens select always the more expensive one (usually the dealer know his specimen's quality and usually he price higher the best one)

- tend to choice unusual specimens, as the word say, them are unusual. It means that it could be hard to find any other similar on the future. A more common specimen could be find on the future easily, and even with better price.

Hopefully it helps.

Jordi

TAK from NJ wrote:
______________________________________________________________________

> Hi Jordi - I was wondering whether you could offer some advice to beginner-
> and intermediate-level collectors on how to evaluate the quality of a
> specimen. Some tips on what aspects to look at (or to look for) and which
> ones you consider to be the most significant indicators as a dealer would
> be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.
______________________________________________________________________

[Tracy]

Thanks Jordi for your input on this topic. Can you please clarify or elaborate further on a couple of points you made:

First, what is your definition of "significant damage?" Does it include things like internal fracture lines, self-healed fractures, or broken patches around the edges of the piece, or are you just speaking about obviously damaged crystals? Seems to me that this could depend a lot on the mineral species and locality from which a specimen is collected and the methods used to collect at that site.

Second, why is it your recommendation to buy pieces only within specific size limits?

Thanks.

Jordi Fabre wrote:
______________________________________________________________________

> Well, just some advice (my sincere opinion is that each one should decide
> what he / she want):
>
> I suggest to tend to prefer perfect minerals (no significative damage on
> it)
> decide limits on the specimen's size (minimal size-maximal size) and
> always buy between that limits
> focus the collection to some particular item like a country, several
> countries, a mineral species, a group of mineral species, etcetera...,
> good balance between specimen's size and crystal size
> good crystal's shape
> not too flat on the matrix
> some luster
> and to finish, two very, very personal opinions:
>
> - between two similar specimens select always the more expensive one
> (usually the dealer know his specimen's quality and usually he price
> higher the best one)
>
> - tend to choice unusual specimens, as the word say, them are unusual. It
> means that it could be hard to find any other similar on the future. A
> more common specimen could be find on the future easily, and even with
> better price.
>
> Hopefully it helps.
>
> Jordi
>
> TAK from NJ wrote:
> ______________________________________________________________________
>
> > Hi Jordi - I was wondering whether you could offer some advice to
> beginner-
> > and intermediate-level collectors on how to evaluate the quality of
> a
> > specimen. Some tips on what aspects to look at (or to look for) and
> which
> > ones you consider to be the most significant indicators as a dealer
> would
> > be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.
> ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

[Jordi Fabre]

Significant damage for me it means broken parts. Internal fracture lines or minor broken patches around the edges could be forgiven. It is very important, in my opinion, the whole specimen. I mean, if its general quality is very high a minor damage could be acceptable but if the whole specimen is just OK, then still minor damages could be a trouble.
Self-healed fractures are, for me, acceptable as them are natural, no consequence of the human intervention.

Sizes between 3 and 15 cm. are fine to me. Anyway, I'm European and in Europe we tend to collect bigger specimens than in US. Again, my opinion is that each one should decide what he / she want, and it include the specimen's size.

Jordi