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Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today
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Farlang




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PostPosted: Jul 03, 2007 14:35    Post subject: brainstorm  

By the way if anyone would ever love to brainstorm about ways to help sell .. or present.. etc.. I am not in the mineral business (other than collecting) I'd be more than happy to share my thoughts..
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PostPosted: Jul 03, 2007 14:42    Post subject: dvd II  

Ok I am replying to myself here.. but just found a few minutes. John.. I am not sure if you meant this but...

typically the top pieces are few and far between, in high demand and gone before you can put your hands on them...

OK I know that for the really high end pieces, dealers have their favorite clients.. so.. there;s nothing to gain there.. but.. self found specimens.. usually it's a bit different.

What if you created some kind of interactivity (and again no not a quiz).. with the video.. or webcam etc.. and then for the most active participants (not the best, it's not about scoring but about participation) ones offer them the best specimens for sale first.. or a lottery among that group who can buy...

Disadvantage is that you sort of create a closed off group.. then again.. the group would consist of ppl with most time on their hands which are... the kids..

well you can always do something of a scaled system.. anyway just a rough thought.. then again.. you can probabkly come up with a million of such ideas on one evening.. I wonder why.. nothing of the kind actually happens ?

Jordi ? Is it too much work.. and good stuff sells anyway ?

Then again.. good stuff + branding = 10-20 % higher price.. + reputation.. so.. and it's not the top stuff one is worried about but the mediocre stuff that comes in quantities..

I am just always so surprised why so little is being done with this medium.. still 10 years later.

OK back to work
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Jordi Fabre
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PostPosted: Jul 04, 2007 03:14    Post subject: Re: Mineral sales over the Web: advantages / disadvantages  

Well, is my opinion that the work is the real trouble. People who know my life they can testify how hard I work, and just to do the things that I already do, so consider new features it exceeds me. An other trouble is that every minor thing ordered to an external informatics company becomes really expensive. We recently tried to order a very small banner (25 Kb) to a informatics' design company supplying to they everything: photos, text and the concept, and unfortunately the price was really high so we preferred to prepare it ourselves = more work.

Anyway, we are working to prepare in this Forum one area where the people can propose for a while his specimens to be traded with other people without any cost for nobody. It will be just a free tool for all visitors of this Forum.
It is not so easy to prepare, it means that it could take time to offer it. Hopefully we arrive to fix it and publish it soon.

Jordi
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MARION Claude




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PostPosted: Jul 12, 2007 03:22    Post subject: LES INQUIETUDES D'UN MINERALOGISTE-WORRIES OF A MINERALOGIST  

LES INQUIETUDES D’UN MINERALOGISTE

Mes inquiétudes de minéralogiste concernent l'évolution du marché des minéraux.

Certains ne présentent plus un échantillon en mettant en valeur son gisement, ses caractères et en insistant sur ceux qui lui sont particuliers mais insistent uniquement sur le premier acquéreur et tous ceux qui ont suivi. De la même façon que l’on parle en musique du « Ring-CHEREAU/BOULEZ » en oubliant que le compositeur a été WAGNER, on finit par désigner un échantillon comme le « minéral X de la collection Y » en oubliant de mentionner son gisement et ses particularités.

Les minéraux de couleur vive et encore plus les échantillons gemme sont privilégiés. Ce choix semble exclure des collections les minéraux de couleur sombre, surtout les minéraux noirs, soit la plupart des sulfures, des oxydes et des silicates

Les "rock-doctors" ne se contentent plus de recoller les divers morceaux d'un cristal cassé par la nature mais collent ce cristal recomposé sur un morceau de gangue de manière à créer un échantillon esthétique.

Les faux se multiplient au point d'avoir des sites sur Internet qui leur sont consacrés.

Les publications consacrées aux « collections de classe mondiale » imposent les critères de sélection d’un petit nombre de collectionneurs ou de collectionneurs-échangeurs et/ou de collectionneurs-marchands. Le critère premier est l’esthétisme. Au nom de cet esthétisme , les défauts d’un échantillon sont masqués ; les rock-doctors restaurent ou reconstituent les échantillons. Il s’ensuit une espèce de classification des échantillons, qui tend vers une nomenclature de records type Guinness Book. Cette classification sert surtout à établir une cote marchande, qui culmine pour les ikons (ikon=échantillon-record auquel on doit comparer tous les autres échantillons qui lui sont évidemment inférieurs). Comme on compare les échantillons minéralogiques aux œuvres d’art, notamment à la peinture, les zélateurs de ce dogme devraient se souvenir de la vogue et des cotes de la « peinture académique » à la fin du XIXème siècle alors que les impressionnistes étaient méprisés ; au XXème siècle les cotes de ces deux styles se sont inversées, les goûts ayant changés.
Cette classification artificielle néglige les échantillons qui sont décrits et photographiés dans les livres consacrés aux gisements. Certains de ces échantillons sont équivalents ou supérieurs aux ikons.

Finalement je pense que l’esprit de recherche scientifique qui anciennement animait les collectionneurs a tendance à se perdre. Les minéraux deviennent comme toute chose l’objet d’une brocante.

Alors il devient rafraîchissant de fréquenter un site Internet comme celui de Jordi FABRE. Les échantillons ont un gisement, leur caractères particuliers sont décrits, les photos représentent bien l’échantillon. A une époque où le marché s’emballe, le site de Jordi présente des spécimens de toute taille, des espèces courantes, des espèces rares, et notamment pour mon plaisir de « beaux » petits échantillons en cristaux caractéristiques..

Claude MARION
Maître-Assistant honoraire de l'E. N. S. des Mines de Paris
PS. Ce texte a été écrit avant que je ne lise le thème « Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today » dans le forum. J’approuve fortement cette phrase de John S. WHITE.

=======================================================================

Translated from French (without to many mistakes I hope) by a sulfide collector:

WORRIES OF A MINERALOGIST

My worries as a mineralogist regard the evolution of the mineral market. Some no longer display a sample in showing the location to advantage, its specificities and insisting on its particularities but only highlight who owned it first and whose who followed. In the same way, when we talk about « Ring-CHEREAU/BOULEZ » in music we tend to forget that the original composer was WAGNER, we end up designating a sample as "the mineral X from collection Y" in forgetting to mention its location and its particularities.

Strong colored minerals and even more, gem samples, are the references. This choice excludes from the collections dark minerals especially black minerals such as most of the sulfides, oxides and silicates.

"Rock-doctors" no longer only glue back pieces of crystal broken by nature but glue this reconstructed crystal on a matrix to create an aesthetic sample.

Forged increase so much that websites are specialized in that matter.

Publications specialized in "world class collections" enforce criterions of selection of only a small number of collectors or of collector-traders and/or collector-dealers. The first criterion is aesthetic. In its name, defects are masked/hidden ; rock-doctors reheal or reconstruct samples. As a result a samples' classification tending toward a Guinness Book records' nomenclature. This classification is mainly used to establish a market value culminating for the ikons (ikon = reference-sample to which all other samples have to be compared and which are of course lower in quality). As we compare mineralogical samples to art, especially paintings, the dogmatic zealous should remember the rise of the "academic panting" value at the end of 19th century while impressionists were despised; in the 20th century, quotation of those styles just reversed, tastes had changed.
This artificial classification neglects samples described and photographed in the books devoted to locations. Some of these samples are equivalent or better than the ikons.

To finish I think that the scientifics' state of mind which prevailed among collectors tends to fade away. Minerals are becoming "brocante" objects.

So it is becoming refreshing to visit a web site such as Jordi FABRE's. Samples have a location, specificities are described, photographs fit with the sample. At a time where the market speeds up, Jordi's website displays specimens of all sizes, from usual to rarer species, and for my pleasure "beautiful" little samples with characteristic crystals...

Claude MARION
Maître-Assistant honoraire de l'E. N. S. des Mines de Paris
Professor-assistant National School of Mine, Paris

PS. This text was written before reading the theme « Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today » in the forum. I strongly agree with this sentence of John S. WHITE.
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chris
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PostPosted: Jul 12, 2007 11:39    Post subject: LES INQUIETUDES D'UN MINERALOGISTE-WORRIES OF A MINERALOGIST  

Entièrement d'accord.

Jordi est une personne courtoise, sympathique & très professionelle. Heureusement qu'il existe des vendeurs comme lui proposant des minéraux originaux et qui ne sont pas vendus à des prix exhorbitants sous prétexte qu'ils proviennent de la collection de telle personne.

Un autre point est la difficulté de plus en plus grande pour les collectionneurs débutants pour trouver de petites pièces sympas et pas trop cher. Lorsque je compare le prix moyen d'une pièce aujourd'hui à celui d'il y a 15 ans, cela me fais parfois peur...

Certains commerçants vendent à prix d'or mais se pleignent aussi qu'ils n'arrivent pas à vendre. En poursuivant ainsi, il ne restera bientôt plus que de très riches collectionneurs dans le milieu de la minéralogie, les débutants s'enfuyant en lisant l'étiquette de prix.

C'est bien dommage.

In English :

I agree with Claude

Jordi is a kind, sympathetic and very professional person. We (as mineral collectors) are lucky to still find people like him offering original minerals which are not sold at skyrocketing prices just because they were previously owned by a great collector.

Another point is the difficulty for rockies to find nice little specimens at reasonable prices. When I compare the price of a specimen today with the price it was sold 15 years ago, I'm just baffled...

Some dealers (in France) sell gold priced specimens but complain at the same time that they don't sell enough to make a living. If they keep going this way, only very rich collectors will remain, rockies fleeing away at first sight of the price label.

This is sad
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MARION Claude




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PostPosted: Jul 12, 2007 15:56    Post subject: LES INQUIETUDES D'UN MINERALOGISTE  

Mille mercis à Chris d'avoir traduit . je suis fainéant et préfère les subtilités des mots français.
Vous avez parfaitement complété une de mes inquiétudes : le prix atteint par les minéraux et le pouvoir d'achat d'un jeune. Il suffit d'avoir fréquenté les bourses de minéraux ces 20 dernières années pour s'apercevoir que la population des visiteurs vieillit. Je proclamais jusqu'au début des années 2000 qu'avec moins de 100 franc français on pouvait acheter de bons échantillons; depuis 2002 le même type d'échantillon est à moins de 100 euros, soit en 2ans une augmentation de près de 70% !
Claude MARION
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Carles Curto




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PostPosted: Jul 13, 2007 02:43    Post subject: Les inquietudes d'un mineralogiste  

I believe Marion (and John) have partially reason. Most of the mineralogical forums never distinguish between two theoretic extremes (usually too much distant): collecting and science. But about this, I would denote a boundary mark I look as important: the market is the market, with its own laws, habitually far of all that mineralogy represents as a theme of study. In any case the market is only the market, not mineralogy.
In any case is true that the expansion of “high class” collecting originated, from value judgements often very subjective, a ranking of “top pieces”, but the question is not exactly this. It is obvious that mineralogy as science seems in process of extinction (too much frequently this extinction even seems supported for institutions and governments themselves) and from most of the ambits it is perceived more as an “utility” than as a real science. Plus, too much often, the spreading and the level of very much of published academic works is very poor and, in this sense, popular magazines that apart the impressing photography often have a higher level and quality on mineralogical texts and contents.
In any case and personally I have the impression that the supposed predomination of “fashion” aspects on mineralogy is specially noted by the special “visibility” and tangibility of this sector of collecting that mask the existence and the activity of a lot (a lot, I repeat) of collectors that, with patience and dedication, consolidated or are consolidating collections that are fantastic treasures of mineralogical information.
Perceptibly, lacks a point of encounter between the two extreme, that it could perfectly be in museums because as institutions they conserve and curate mineralogical heritage but, at the same time, they try to explain to the people the different aspects lied to mineralogy. In this sense, museum collections don’t precise essentially top pieces (although some institutions seem construct acquisition policies only or essentially from this point of view) but simply (and cheaper!) and good specimen usually are enough to explain notable aspects on minerals and mineralogy (crystallography, geography, history...) and attract all kind of public to mineralogy.
Will continue...
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Farlang




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PostPosted: Jul 15, 2007 18:23    Post subject: Bulgarian minerals  

How about black, grey and silver colored Bulgarian minerals :-) I have a Galena that is deformed due to layers moving (I forgot the right term for it right now..) so it looks like silver almost. I have hoppered (open) galena crystals etc .. pretty cool collection.. but noone cares about these ok.. but I know one day.. it'll be one of the better collections of Bulgaria. Amethyst twins on calcite and water/inclusions as well as .. I actually forgot.. it;s all crated and still in storage (after my move to europe).. still I had a great friend who was dealing in the best from there.. now.. I am not buying anything (the website and all) but he;s still a great friend. And.. it's just fun to have an interesting collection even if a crystal here and there is damaged.. ohh pyrite cubes in chalcopyrite nodule.. funny.. strange things but nothing trophy.. Oh and finally Veracruz lookalike Amethyst.. really many mistake it for Veracruz.. and that from Bulgaria.
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chris
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PostPosted: Jul 29, 2007 14:05    Post subject: Bulgarian minerals  

Hello,

How about black, grey and silver colored Bulgarian minerals
=> I do agree with you. My own sulfide collection contains several Bulgarian minerals. At your description you can add Elmwood like sphalerite "flower" standing on almost "La Gardette" lustrous quartz. And I'm sure other collectors have even funnier combinations.

Just one little story about these minerals and the new mineral collector's generation. I recently showed the collection to a 14 years old little cousin of mine beginning his own collection. On one shelve, a light green quartz & galena sample from Madan stands beside the famous Sweet Home Rhodo & tetra. When asked which one he liked the must, he didn't choose Sweet Home but the Madan's specimen instead...
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Farlang




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PostPosted: Aug 07, 2007 16:31    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

Algthough still packed in boxes and stored... I actually did have some Madan material next to a great great rhodo :-) funny..
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PostPosted: Aug 08, 2007 09:38    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

Small world Farlang, very small world :-)
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Ray McDougall




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PostPosted: Aug 14, 2007 16:06    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

I’m a new reader of Jordi’s excellent forum discussions and a dedicated mineral collector. This discussion thread has touched upon what strike me as fundamental issues of what it means for each of us personally to study and collect minerals today, and about the direction of a collective modern culture in “Mineral World” (I realize how many different types of dedicated mineralogists, collectors, dealers, and disparate subsets of people this term could include, but perhaps I can call it this to encompass what we all have in common).

For what little it may be worth, although it’s hard to disagree with the observations about the trends within Mineral World of commercialism, escalating prices, emphasis on materiality, thoughts of status, conspicuous collectors and dealers, and given specimens being “better” than others, I also strongly share the optimism expressed by contributors to the discussion in this forum. (There is also clearly an additional positive angle with the commercialism: the significant money being invested in Mineral World results in more specimens becoming available - much greater level of field development, such as financially risky commercial collecting ventures by dealers and preservation of specimens in other mining contexts as in China – the whole Mineral World universe certainly benefits from this.)

However, beyond the commercial façade, intellectual curiosity is at the heart of Mineral World and inspires most people who, at whatever age and to whatever degree, become any more than superficially intrigued with minerals. “That’s so cool!” is so often immediately followed by “How can that possibly be natural?” and “So why is that specimen like that – how did that happen?”

We each love, study and collect minerals for our own individual reasons and we are all fascinated by different things, finding the study and collecting of minerals personally fulfilling and rewarding in different ways. I would have thought that it’s our responsibility to ourselves, each other, and the many more who will follow us in Mineral World to determine for ourselves what it is that we love about minerals, why it is that we study/collect, and then to confidently pursue those things for ourselves and share them with others.

No question some commercial trends are prominent and hard to avoid, but we can each choose to work around any commercial developments we personally find troubling (or when our pocketbooks tell us that we won’t be buying any five-figure specimens today (!)). It is obviously possible to assemble excellent and fulfilling mineral collections with confidence and enthusiasm within a budget – certainly challenging these days (and we have likely all had discouraging moments on this front), but then there’s nothing wrong with a challenge.

Despite the prominent/conspicuous dealers and collectors within the commercial trend whose views might be presented as having more legitimacy, authority or “official word” than any others, it’s up to each of us to inform ourselves and form our own opinions – sometimes such views are excellent observations and we may agree, and sometimes we will most certainly not. Fortunately we are not actually required to subscribe to anyone else’s view, be it in a publication or the view of a dealer or another collector (or for that matter, albeit less likely, a curator or academic), that, for example, something is “best”. I personally find it extremely valuable to see and read about specimens considered by others with experience to be important – I agree with some and are grateful for their views, and often, respectfully, I do not agree. Mineral World is a subjective place where intellectual curiosity, fascination and beauty are all personal and in the eyes of the beholder.

I’m with Jordi in that at the heart of it all, and after all the reading and my continuing quest to learn more, what really inspires me to begin with is the beauty of specimens and of course I love the almost incomprehensible natural perfection of a beautiful crystal. Which I admit may make me partly a mineralogical flake, but then it is also exactly what drives me to learn more and read extensively - "how did this unique deposit form?" “why do crystals of this mineral twin at this locality and why this particular morphology?” “did similar events to those that led to the formation of this deposit not occur at other world localities or have they just not yet been discovered?” To me, that is really the next and larger-scale beauty of Mineral World – one can never learn it all, the questions can continue, the curiosity always has another avenue – there is always another challenge and another horizon.

R.
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PostPosted: Aug 14, 2007 17:44    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

Ray,

Is late now in Spain, close midnight. Today was a long day with a lot of troubles and just opening my computer I read your message. It was a gift for my mind, thanks Ray.

Your text remembered me the roots of our common passion. We can discuss about many things and many of them will be really interesting, but on the bottom, on the real bottom, we always have they: the minerals, with its silent perfection.

Jordi
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PostPosted: Aug 14, 2007 18:58    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

I enjoy minerals; they have fascinated me since infancy. I get as thrilled about a 50 cent somethingite, especialy in the field, as I do about some of the "best".
However, when thinking about all the collectors, especially wealthy collectors who are not also dealers, that collect minerals as objects of art without much further regard to the nature of minerals, I feel that there is a place for everyone. "Art objects" is an appropriate analogy in many ways... I wonder how many of the "great" art collectors can actually paint? How many even know enough about painting to remark on technique in a meaningful way?
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PostPosted: Aug 30, 2007 14:12    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

I agree Mark, but the point could be not if some people know so much about mineralogy but if they really want to know...

Jordi


mmauthner wrote:
______________________________________________________________________

> I enjoy minerals; they have fascinated me since infancy. I get as thrilled
> about a 50 cent somethingite, especialy in the field, as I do about some of
> the "best".
> However, when thinking about all the collectors, especially wealthy
> collectors who are not also dealers, that collect minerals as objects of
> art without much further regard to the nature of minerals, I feel that
> there is a place for everyone. "Art objects" is an appropriate
> analogy in many ways... I wonder how many of the "great" art
> collectors can actually paint? How many even know enough about painting to
> remark on technique in a meaningful way?
______________________________________________________________________
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PostPosted: Aug 31, 2007 04:55    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

I think that Mark may be very surprised at how much great art collectors know about art, even if they can't paint their fingernails. In my limited experience in that field, those that I know of are very serious about the skills that make one painting more valuable than another and have steeped themselves in everything they can learn about the artists whose works they admire or collect.

One cannot fault mineral collectors who collect trophy specimens without feeling the need to know more about the minerals themselves, but one wishes that something would spark a more intense interest in the intellectual aspects of the objects they collect. Instead of putting irrelevant information like the ownership history of the specimens on their labels, they could put something about the specimens that has some educational content. How nice that would be, but the trend appears to be going in the other direction.

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PostPosted: Feb 10, 2008 01:43    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

I am quite a bit more optimistic than John and Patrick about the current degree of interest in real mineralogy among mineral collectors. The population of mineral collectors can be represented by a pyramid: at the top, a tiny population of wealthy collectors who buy "trophy" specimens for several thousands of dollars each, and a somewhat larger population of mineral dealers who specialize in singing and dancing for such buyers. Some of those buyers are keenly interested in minerals, others are content to remain ignorant. Has this changed since the 18th century, when it was mainly the nobility who collected minerals? I doubt it.

At the bottom of the pyramid are the vast masses in the general public who spend a few dollars or a few tens of dollars on a pretty stone for decoration of the windowsill or desk, or perhaps they hope their crystal will cure some disease.

Our personal impressions of the state of mineral collecting, or the public's thirst for mineralogical knowledge, will inevitably be coloured by whatever slice of the collector pyramid we tend to interact with. My own social interactions are mainly with collectors in the middle of the pyramid, those who like to go field collecting, and also buy minerals, perhaps spending several tens of dollars or a few hundred dollars on a specimen. Such collectors are frequently excellent amateur mineralogists, or at least desire to learn, and their collections tend to specialize in minerals of a limited type, chemistry or locality. They commonly spend money on instruments that help the learning process, like a binocular microscope and ultraviolet lights. I don't observe any decline in mineralogical learning among this group.

Perhaps the pessimists among us are spending too much of their time socializing with the tiny minority of economically elite collectors at the top of the pyramid, and not enough with the larger population in the middle classes. (I agree that the masses at the bottom are mineralogically a hopeless cause, but their presence does at least enable large mineral shows like Tucson and Munich to exist - an economic impossibility without them!)

Alfredo
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PostPosted: Feb 18, 2008 17:28    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

Thanks to Alfredo for revitalizing this interesting thread. Having recently returned from Tucson I do also share Alfredo`s optimism. Even if it is the exceptional new finds and expensive showpieces that catch the headlines, it is still amazing how many people who are truely enjoying minerals and mineralogy and not just trophy specimens with multi-digit price tags. Jordi and Alfredo are surely among these enthusiasts who keep the hobby going.
Having visited all Munich shows for 40 years and the Tucson shows since 1991 I feel that there has actually been an increased interest in the diversity of the mineral world. The number of trophy-hunters and high-end specimens has increased, but so has the number of really knowledgable collectors and the availability and quality also of rare and unique specimens judged from other critera than pure aesthetics. I remember during my first years in Tucson in the early 90`ies finding many treasures, overlooked by the ordinary collectors beacuse of their lack of mineralogical knowledge. I remember finding many exceptional specimens of rare beryllium-phosphates from the Tip Top pegmatite in South Dakota and specimens of unusual secondary minerals from the Mammoth mine, Tiger, Arizona. They were not plentiful at that time either, but collectors did not have the knowledge to appreciate their rariry and quality. This has changed dramatically during the last decade especially due to the internet and internet dealers who have broadened the range of "collectible" minerals. Today there is a fierce competition when really unique specimens also of rare species are being offered. This cannot be interpreted as anything else than increased knowledgebased awareness in the collector community and seems to contradict the notion that there is "less" mineralogy in collecting today.
What may be in a decline is the simple fossicking and rock-hunting as a past-time. There are many other temptations and less productive localities open to collecting combined with the general exposure to the very showy specimens may work as a dis-incentive in recruiting new collectors who do not have a basic knowledge and interest in natural science or a very thick wallet. But also in the past only rarely did these hobbyists advance to really knowledgeable and dedicated collectors.
I believe there will always be a strong part of the mineral collector community who really seek broader knowledge through their collecting efforts. What separates a hobby from a profession is what separates a vacation from a business trip. On vacation the core value is the quality of the experience during the travel- not getting there in the most efficient way or maximizing profit from the venture. Thus I believe many of the trophy-hunters with little knowledge of mineralogy will experience far less pleasure from their acquisition of world-class aesthetic specimens than many dedicated and knowledgable collectors with ordinary budgets who are enjoying a wider variety of mineral specimens, the science of mineralogy and the friendly interaction with like-minded people from all over the world in the middle of Alfredos pyramide.

Knut
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PostPosted: Feb 19, 2008 05:26    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

How can I disagree with my good friend Alfredo? He does indeed make some very good points and I hope that his optimism is not misplaced. But then, he deals more with serious collectors than just about any other dealer I know so he probably has a much better picture of that portion of the pyramid than I do. I guess I spend too much time hobnobbing with trophy specimen collectors to get a real sense of activity at the other end. However, as far as my personal taste in minerals is concerned I am among those who look for minerals that have something to say; that is, they challenge one's curiosity and/or intellect.

I really think that Alfredo entered the Forum more as an excuse to let us all see the photo of him with the hawk on his head, a story related to me by Rock Currier at Tucson and one which I feel Alfredo now has to share with this Forum.

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PostPosted: Mar 02, 2008 10:31    Post subject: Re: Very little mineralogy in mineral collecting today  

when I began(for the second time)I was 18.
My mother baugh in auctions at Nimes some mineral specimens,but we didn't know what kind of minerals it was,and where it came from.
Some ones were very nice,however I knew nothing about!
A few years after,in fact there was a really good specimen of calcedony and lussatite from mine des rois,a good acicular malachite on dolomite from tsumeb,and a lot of specimens from saint laurent le minier.
What I want to tell,is that beauty is not the only thing about minerals or cristals.
I have baugh a rhodochrosite cristal,from an old collection,I don't know where it comes from,but I will find it!
When I read your answers,I don't really understand what you are talking about.
In France we find lots of "not really good"specimens,these ones are not really beautifull,but really broken,and not really interesting,from mineralogical point of wiew.
Lots of guys are selling ugly pieces,telling that these pieces come from ussel,or chessy or chatel guyon.
It doesn't seeem to be like in USA!
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