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Robert Seitz
Joined: 29 Dec 2015
Posts: 261
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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 Posted: Sep 24, 2018 14:31 Post subject: Re: Royal Cornwall Museum mineral gallery - your support is needed |
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| I see this commonly in the older museums in Europe. It's particularly interesting for historical reasons to see the shift in mineral name & even the country borders and perhaps existence after 100+ years. |
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Peter Lemkin
Joined: 18 Nov 2016
Posts: 403
Location: Prague
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| Posted: Sep 25, 2018 02:57 Post subject: Re: Royal Cornwall Museum mineral gallery - your support is needed |
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| Robert Seitz wrote: | | I see this commonly in the older museums in Europe. It's particularly interesting for historical reasons to see the shift in mineral name & even the country borders and perhaps existence after 100+ years. |
I agree it is interesting to know the old mineral [miner's] names such as 'mispickel' et al.....BUT to OMIT the modern and approved names, chemical formula, I think is unforgivable. I save most old labels I get with specimens, but they are behind the new labels or stored elsewhere. What is someone not familiar with minerals to make of a specimen with no name for the mineral at all...or one that says 'mispickel'?! It is fine and even good IMHO to put on a label titled Arsenopyrite [formerly called mispickel by the miners]...or some such...but to not have Arsenopyrite on the label is very bad museum practice! As bad is a label with no name at all of any kind - old or new. I think the curators of such collections are NOT people familiar with minerals, only with museum displays. |
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Robert Seitz
Joined: 29 Dec 2015
Posts: 261
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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| Posted: Sep 25, 2018 03:04 Post subject: Re: Royal Cornwall Museum mineral gallery - your support is needed |
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I've tried to discuss at a few museums. In general, the change is often not a priority.
However, we should keep asking! |
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Peter Lemkin
Joined: 18 Nov 2016
Posts: 403
Location: Prague
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| Posted: Sep 25, 2018 05:04 Post subject: Re: Royal Cornwall Museum mineral gallery - your support is needed |
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| Robert Seitz wrote: | I've tried to discuss at a few museums. In general, the change is often not a priority.
However, we should keep asking! |
If they are not labeled properly, then it is like a museum collection of old items - in this case 'mining' items - and NOT minerals specimens. I'm surprised in such a large museum, with such great and historic mineral specimens, from such a famous, iconic, and historic mining district seems not to 'get it'. I can only think that whoever keeps up the display is not really informed about the state of modern mineralogical display and labeling. Here in Prague, a large part of the Natural History Museum had and has a fantastic collection. It has been closed for renovation for several years and just re-opened days ago. The collection was really great, but the stands were ancient, the lighting was horrible and I used to go and bring my own light - which would cause me to be followed by one or two guards sure I was about to break into the cases. However, the labels were properly done if old-fashioned in style. I'm eager to see how it is now. Send the curator a modern mineralogical magazine issue on some museum's collection. |
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