FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Tobi]

Hi all,

This question may seem a bit too basic or even amateurish, but when browsing all the discussions and collection threads here on FMF, I always think about what the majority of us would consider their favourite minerals. Sure, there are some "usual suspects" like fluorite, which nearly every serious collector ranks among his preferred minerals. But there also exceptions. I myself do not collect pyromorphite, a mineral that usually ranks among the most wanted among collectors. So, I just wanted to make a small just-for-fun poll to know what the members of our community consider their favourite minerals. (Note: Mineral families like beryl or quartz count as one). For myself, a list of my ten favourite mineral groups/species would include:

Garnet group
Beryl group
Tourmaline group
Quartz group
Fluorite
Calcite
Apatite
Topaz
Wulfenite
Galena

Though very basic, this topic could be quite interesting. At first sight, my list looks like many collectors would agree with it. But there are also many who collect only rare species and who would get bored by that often beautiful but quite common minerals ...

Cheers!

[Montanpark]

Hi Tobias,
here my top ten:
1. Tourmaline group (Elbaites/coloured tourmalines preferred)
2. Fluorite
3. Wulfenite
4. Pyromorphite
5. Galena
6. Beryl
7. Garnet group
8. Rhodochrosite
9. Vanadinite
10. Azurite
11 ...
12 ...
etc etc

... and a whole bunch of others of course ;) . The order is very subjective and may change from mood to mood of course. This reflects my collecting focus which is aesthetics nowadays ... i quit systematic / regional collecting more than a decade ago. Also i used to collect sulfides/sulfosalts in the past (which are usually less attractive ;) ).

I remember the thread with the fluorite localities .. maybe we will end up with a nice top ten poll result also on this topic,

cheers
Roger

[Jim Prentiss]

Hello Everyone,

I missed this post first time through my emails. This is even harder than the countries. I tend toward native elements and type localities, thus I would have to put Iron from Disko Is., Greenland at the top of the list. The rest are purely aesthetic.

Iron
Orpiment
Beryl
Tourmalines
Benitoite
Fluorite
Boleite
Stibnite
Galena
Pyrite
Copper
Gold
Silver
Gypsum
Calcite

This should do for now. It certainly is easier to pick one than make a list, isn't it?

Jim Prentiss

[Les Presmyk]

With the exception of sphalerite, all of the below listed specimens are those that dominate the Arizona mineral scene.

Azurite
Malachite
Wulfenite
Quartz
Calcite
Vanadinite
Dioptase
Cerussite
Copper
Sphalerite

[GneissWare]

This is a tough question, and the answers reflect only this particular instance in time...five minutes from now it may be different.

1. Stibnite
2. Baryte
3. Garnet group
4. Rhodochrosite
5. Quartz
6. Copper
7. Wulfenite
8. Beryl
9. Tourmaline group
10. Fluorite

[mayer813]

My favorite mineral is " Leaverite" when I was a student at the School of Mines in Rapid City South Dakota., during the 1970's (a national science foundation grant summer institue.) Dr. Michaelson often discribed many of my treasures as leaverite. (as in leaverite there). It caused me to be more intense in my geological studies to avoid the ever dangerous LEAVERITE label.. There was never a thougt about shredding ultra sensitive ego. LOL I treasure my time there.

[Greg Toomey]

The first eight are easy - looking over my 2 cabinets helped me decide the remaining two.

1. Azurite
2. Beryl
3. Fluorite
4. Tourmaline group
5. Quartz
6. Calcite
7. Malachite
8. Stibnite
9. Vanadanite
10. Hematite

I would love to have more Rhodochrosite (budget limits me to two nice examples - so I didn't include in the top ten) and I do have some nice pyrites and minerals with pyrite associations, as well as three cool Gypsums from my earlier collecting days. A top Twenty list would be better. One mineral that many like, but I don't, is Amazonite - my wife always asks me why I don't have one and I tell her she can buy it (she is too frugal to pay the price!).

Greg

[Peter Megaw]

I would frame this more broadly..on a genetic/environmental basis, betraying my professional interest in ore deposits

Sulfides
Sulfosalts
Secondary Base Metal Oxides (sensu latu)
Silver Minerals
Skarn silicates
"Volcanogenic" species (topaz, cassiterite, bixbyite etc.)
Halides
Gangue minerals (carbonates, quartz, sulfates, etc)
Tellurates/ites/ides
Gold

[chris]

Quite difficult for me as I focus more on associations between sulfides/sulfosalts and other species than single minerals. However I would say :

Sulfides/sulfosalts :
1- Sphalerite
2- Galena
3- Chalcopyrite
4- Bournonite
5- Tetrahedrite / tennantite series
6- Arsenopyrite

Other minerals:
1- Rhodochrosite
2- Fluorite
3- Calcite
4- Quartz
...

Everything in my collection is a mix of these.

[Tobi]

Sure it is very hard to decide in this case and not easy to reduce the most liked minerals to only ten. But exactly this problem is one reason why I started this thread ;-) It wasn't easy for myself to name my "top ten", for there are others I also appreciate very much. For example, rhodochrosite, but there are maybe 3 or 4 localities worldwide that produce rhodos I really admire, so this mineral should not rank among my most liked. It's the same with sulphur or vanadinite and many other minerals. So I think every collector has to struggle with naming only ten minerals/mineral groups. Nevertheless, I'm curious if there are really some leading names at the end of this discussion. And it already seems (as I expected) that minerals like fluorite, beryl or tourmaline claim the leading roles ...

[Jesse Fisher]

Coming up with a response to this and the favorite locality threads are a little difficult because I generally collect by deposit type. For example, pegmatite minerals are one of my favorites, so I have many tourmalines, beryls, feldspars, columbite-tantalite group minerals, etc., and location suites from California, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. I do not have complete locality suites from these countries, however, as I do not collect California golds, or the Afghan minerals from the Koksha Valley marbles (sodalite, afghanite, etc.). I am also interested in MVT deposits, so I have suites from Southern Illinois and Northern England in which fluorite features prominently. I do not, however, collect minerals from other English localities such as Cornwall.

Looking at it from a mineral species standpoint, my favorite minerals to collect would be tourmaline group, beryl, topaz, feldspar group, columbite-tantalite group, and fluorite.

Cheers,
Jesse

[John Cesar]

Nice list, but where is fluorite?

[José Miguel]

In my experience, my favorite minerals are:
1-Quartz.
2-Any mineral. Condition: to be a beautiful mineral.

[Tracy]

I like quartz too, and any mineral that has arsenic in it. Re the latter, I haven't followed this "exploration path" long enough to identify favorites yet. I also like galenas but can't say why - they are outside the "focus" of my young collection, and yet they appeal to me.

Not yet ready to submit a list for your poll, Tobias...but it's fun reading all the posts.

- Tracy

[Tobi]

According to our discussion about how collecting focuses can change ( https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=5320&start=20 ) I remembered this thread and looked in my list of favourite minerals that was written more than 8 years ago:

[jimgrains51]

I have a lot on the list. But my top 3 are calcite, quartz, and copper. I love to look at them in my office.

[James Catmur]

Did a quick query on my database. My top 14 are (with number of specimens of each mineral)

Baryte 166
Calcite 136
Chalcopyrite 25
Dolomite 91
Fluorite 298
Galena 44
Gypsum 30
Hematite 28
Orthoclase 29
Pyrite 59
Pyromorphite 27
Quartz 173
Siderite 43
Sphalerite 37

So it looks like fluorite wins, then quartz, baryte, calcite, dolomite

[Tobi]

[Gerhard Brandstetter]

My main focus is on minerals from Austria and the classics finds from the old Austro-Hungarian monarchy: A, Cz, Sk, H, Ro,..... I also love nice and rare systematic minerals as well as any other aesthetic and interesting specimen. In any size - but usually not too big.
I am also interested in the geological and historic aspects and the chemistry. So I am fascinated in any species with Au, Ag, Te, Be and REE

Specially i love:

Halite
Calcite
Hematite
Sulfides
Phosphates
Gold

For me Quartz is normally a matrix only - so i do not know why i have so many…. Ok - mainly for regional reasons. …..

[Michael Shaw]

After reading James’ post I thought this would be an interesting exercise, so I ran a query of my collection to determine what species made the top 20 list. I probably could have predicted the top 5, but there were a few small surprises that turned up. Results are as follows:

1. Calcite 364
2. Quartz 272
3. Fluorite 195
4. Barite 140
5. Galena 101
6. Pyrite 86
7. Gypsum 76
8. Copper 61
9. Tourmaline group 56
10. Sphalerite 53
11. Wulfenite 54
12. Azurite 48
13. Vanadinite 43
14. Stibnite 32
15. Rhodochrosite 30
16. Cerussite 28
17. Pyromorphite 28
18. Mimetite 13
19. Bournonite 9
20. Descloizite 8

The fact that Calcite and Quartz rank #1 and #2 is no surprise, being the most common minerals. Like Jesse, I am interested in MVT deposits, and one of my largest sub-collections is from the southern Illinois Fluorite District. Fluorite happens to be my 2nd favorite mineral, so its #3 rank was expected. Barite at #4 was a bit of a surprise. Galena ranks 5th. It’s my favorite mineral, and with 101 pieces in the collection, I hope I never have to move. Ever since having collected at several localities in Michigan’s copper country in the early 1960s, I have always been fond of native Copper, but its #8 rank was unexpected. Tourmaline, Azurite, and Rhodochrosite ……. who doesn’t love these three.

I have always been attracted to lead minerals, so Wulfenite, Vanadinite, Cerussite, Pyromorphite, Mimetite, Bournonite, and Descloizite round out the top 20 and along with the galena make up 17% of the top 20. Further, the top 20 make up 62% of the collection. This was a fun exercise and somewhat revealing about my collecting tendencies.