FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Vitaliy]

I see quite an emphasis on Calcite. Are you prioritizing or specializing in Calcite for your species ?. Are they also self-collected or simply acquired?

Thanks for posting pictures.

[Turbo]

I specialize in USA calcite. These are all acquired through various dealers or collectors. None of these are self collected.

Ed

[Pierre Joubert]

Well done Ed! Our collection is wrapped and in boxes:-( Perhaps it is time to follow suit. Regards.

[Turbo]

Labels are in!

[Turbo]

More pictures.

[Turbo]

Three at a time. It doesn't seem to like me posting too many at once.

[Turbo]

The Homestake mine piece seemed unusual. I haven't seen any other calcites from Homestake so far. The Annabel Lee specimen is a "bottle cap" variety.

[Turbo]

I love large Linwood pieces. I could fill a whole cabinet with them if I could find enough haha. The Large Sweetwater in this set of photos is one of my favorites.

[Turbo]

There's the Shullsburg calcite again. The York specimens are from the 1993 find by Eric Meier, Bill Longacre, and Joe Hoffman.

[Turbo]

The Berry calcite twin in the middle is the one Reo Pickens regarded as the best one he collected at the quarry.

[Turbo]

The SW missouri piece is one I tried to gather more information on. Efforts to contact Marvin Ellis who traded for the piece in Tucson (sometime in the early 90s) were unsuccessful. It's supposedly one of 10-12 in existence. It's the most gemmy calcite I've ever seen. The Gallatin piece is pretty big (6 inches). The rough and cut Benchmark Quarry pair are original Bill Hladysz material (about 25 years old).

[Vitaliy]

That's a nice assemblage of Calcite from various states. I personally like the pieces from Elmwood Mine and Sweetwater Mine especially when they have an association. However personally I would choose a Dalnegorsk Calcite or a Canadian Calcite such as those from Inverhuron or from Southern Ontario Quarries.

What is the sizes of the specimens displayed?

Also for the labels did you fold half of it to create a support or rest for them? It is hard to tell from the photographs.

[Turbo]

This Sweetwater piece is 1973 Gary Hansen. The Picher piece is a bit of a joke since the top crystal is just glued on there from somewhere else. At least it was cheap.

[Turbo]

All the specimens are cabinet to large cabinet sized. The width of the case is 46 inches for reference. The labels are just folded paper. They aren't supporting anything. I put either felt feet or custom plaster bases under a lot of the specimens. I painted the plaster the at least match the matrix color for some of them.

[Turbo]

A few full case pictures to top it off.

[Vitaliy]

Ed you can post up to 10 images per post rather than three per post. I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of camera and perhaps lighting you use to take photographs of your specimens?

[Tobi]

This display looks simply great, a wonderful presentation of your calcite collection!!!

Tobi

[Turbo]

[Turbo]

[rfarrar]

Nice looking cabinet and display. You have some great calcites. I would be concerned that the Homestake Mine calcite might be mis-labelled. I know of no calcites of this habit from the Homestake Mine, Lawrence Co., SD in the SDSM&T collection or the Black Hills Institute collection. What is the matrix? Most of those from the Homestake have a little phyllite or cummingtonite- gruenerite schist on the back. Homestake Mining Corporation has (had) mines in many states, most referred to locally as the Homestake Mine. Perhaps this one got attributed to the wrong state somewhere along the line.

Bob