FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Bob Harman]

A large part of what defines the quality of my collection is being able to display it, wanting to share it, for others to enjoy.

Here are a few of my display cases over that past 15 years.

I think my effort and the examples in my cases have been positively received over these years. BOB

[Daniel Peters]

Some really good comments and thoughts about what makes a quality collection.

I might add, that for me, some pieces have a special story that accompany them. They were a gift, or purchased from a dealer that you have a friendship with, were once documented in a book or periodical, maybe they were part of a well known collectors former collection, maybe there was a unique story about a specimen and how it came to be in ones collection.

These stories and dialogues should all be documented along with the standard labeling. To me, how thorough a collection is catalogued and documented really adds to the quality of the collection, even more so, than the actual quality of the minerals themselves.

So to build even more upon this topic, might I ask, what makes a quality collector?
What makes a collector noteworthy, significant, worth documenting as an individual and not just their collection? Is it knowledge only about minerals and mineralogy? What other factors do the forum members use to calibrate the worth or quality of an individual collector?

[Dave Varabioff]

I am interested in this topic simply because I am also a miner. I have been around the world mining and now own and operate the Colorado Quartz Mine and have a "Stunning collection".......however I call it a revolving collection and really the Only piece of gold I have that I would never sell is a piece worth about $30 (yea, 30 bucks). I found it on a firebreak with a metal detector and it had fire retardant on it after the Detwiler fire 2 years ago in Mariposa County. Cool story, ugly piece and not worth much. Is the truest sense of a collection/collector someone who does not sell what they own? Someone who is incredibly passionate about their "rocks"? Someone who shares what they have with other like minded collectors? Its a great question and I just find I am not married to any of my pieces except the one, so could I and would I say I'm a collector or just someone who is a gold nut that has a great collection as it currently exists and it will change in 2 days :-)

Dave

[Sara678]

That is one amazing collection you displayed there.

[Olivier Vandebroucke]

I'll start off with the most generic phrase possible: the most interesting the collection is, the higher its quality.

And then, I'll explain the details. Obviously, if a collection contains extremely rare and/or valuable items, like a piece of amber with a prehistoric animal in it, or a part of a meteorite, then it will be fascinating because of the objective scientific and financial value of the collection.

But a collection with more "modest" items in it can be fascinating as well: for example, if you've climbed the highest mountain of every continent and brought back minerals from each of them, they may be relatively common specimens, but the history behind them will be great and will make it a quality collection.

Or you could do a collection based on every single type of different mineral you found in the village where your grandparents lived when you were a kid; you'll display, once again, relatively common materials, but the quality of the collection will be very high because it will be a near-complete catalog of the various minerals found in that region.

In other words, if you can tell the story of your collection and make it interesting to hear about for geologists and non-experts alike, then it'll be a quality collection, even if the materials you're exposing are relatively common.

[Bob Harman]

My latest display case at the recent 2019 Cincinnati show.

This year's theme was color so I displayed a potpourri of colorful examples from all over. Most of the examples were of common, but colorful minerals in nice cabinet size specimens.

There was a Brazilian amethyst, Moroccan example, and a Madagascar celestine. Also, two examples each from Argentina, and Mexico.
From the U.S. there were examples from Utah, Missouri, Idaho, and 4 from Indiana. The 4 Indiana examples were all self collected. BOB

[Tobi]

An incredible display, Bob, really beautiful!

[Bob Harman]

Tobi, Thank you for your kind comments.

You know that I have had display cases at shows for nearly 20 years now. In addition, some of my specimens have been displayed at shows I did not attend. Anyway, over the last 10 years or so my display cases have gotten some interesting comments and feed back from various groups of show attendees. Types of attendees at the various shows really does differ so the show goers have differing perspectives about the various displays. I have noted this and may start a new thread on types of displays meant for different types of shows.

Anyone else on this forum display regularly and get any feedback from show goers?? BOB

[Tobi]