Mineral Collection Research Articles

What's New in Micromounts?

"What's New in Micromounts?." Rocks & Minerals, 53(6), pp. 271–272 Additional informationNotes on contributorsRichard D. GreenGuest columnist for this month is Richard D. Green. An avid mineral collector, he has written for ROCKS AND MINERALS in past years. His comments on particular dealers and specimens are meant as an introduction to the hobby and do not list all of the many fine micromount dealers selling today.

Macroscopic inclusions of fluid in British flourites from the mineral collection of the British Museum ( Natural History)

Macroscopic inclusions of fluid in British flourites from the mineral collection of the British Museum ( Natural History)

Heterosite- Purpurite Locality in Litchfield, Connecticut

"Heterosite- Purpurite Locality in Litchfield, Connecticut." Rocks & Minerals, 53(2), p. 63 Additional informationNotes on contributorsWilliam BrunetWilliam Brunet has been an active mineral collector for many year He is a graduate of Yak University with an A.B. in Geology and is currently employed as a securities analyst.Mr. Brunet is presently writing a book on the mines, minerals and industries of Litchfield County, Connecticut with emphasis on lost or forgotten mines and quarries.

Lost & Found: 12. James Eccles (?-1915)

Alan Howell of Bolton Museum kindly visited Blackburn Museum in search of the Eccles collection and reports as follows (23.11.1977). "There are certainly collections of minerals and rocks there made by James Eccles F.G.S. The rocks are housed loose with their labels in large wooden trays, however the specimens are unmarked and I didn't feel very confident about the label/specimen associations. The minerals have fared somewhat better, though again they are un-marked. They are mostly bagged with handwritten labels but rather crowded into small cardboard boxes. They have suffered from this, and probably from previous mishandling. This is a pity as the material appeared to be rather better than...

Ilmenite Occurrences in Litchfield, Connecticut

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsWilliam M. BrunetWilliam Brunet has been an active mineral collector for many years. He is a graduate of Yale University with an A B. in Geology and is currently employed as a securities analyst.Mr. Brunet is presently writing a book on the mines, minerals and industries of Litchfield County, Connecticut with emphasis on lost or forgotten mines and quarries.

World directory of mineral collections

World directory of mineral collections

Lost & Found: 25. Spencer George Perceval (1838-1922)

A.G. Pollard, 2 Chestnut Mews, Feniton, Honiton, Devon is working on the minerals of West Somerset. He wishes to locate the mineral collections made in this area during the years 1852-1863 by Spencer George PERCEVAL, who published a list of Somerset minerals in Geol. Mag. p. 166. Mr. Pollard reports that a considerable number of Perceval's minerals are deposited in the Somerset County Museum at Taunton, and belong to the Somerset Nat. Hist, and Arch. Soc. Many more are listed in Perceval 's own catalogue entitled "Collection of minerals in the Taunton Museum from the Brendon Hills and other localities in West Somerset". It is possible the missing...

Lost & Found: 24. Elias Hall (1764-1853) of Castleton

We are anxious to trace the whereabouts of any of the geological models, maps and pamphlets produced by Elias Hall. He was born at Castleton in 1764 and is mentioned by John Farey in his 'General View of the Agriculture of Derbyshire 1811 p xx as "Elias Hall, Fossilist of Castleton, near Tideswell. Mineral Collector and Models of Strata", and more specifically in the Introduction to Vol. 2, pp. x-xi with reference to the geological models of Derbyshire he was then constructing. Farey elsewhere speaks of him as a true pioneer in Derbyshire geology "a plain unlettered individual", and he received considerable encouragement from Farey, who was much...

Lost & Found: 25. S.G. Perceval

Spencer George PERCEVAL was a man deeply committed to the welfare of museums. He was born in 1838 and died in 1922 and an obituary notice can be found in Min.Mag. 20 267-268. He was an avid collector not only of minerals but also fossils, scientific manuscripts and books. He was extremely generous and, thankfully ,organised as to their dispersal. His final bequest of his manuscript collections went to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge where the final process of indexing is completed. This bequest contains two bound volumes listing all his donations (mainly geological) to various museums. These will surely contain full details of his Somerset mineral collections. His personal correspondence...

Mineral and Fossil Collecting Sites in Virginia

Mineral and Fossil Collecting Sites in Virginia

Lost & Found: 22. R.C. Walsh

The Earth Sciences Section of Leicestershire Museums holds a file containing substantial information relating to a collection of British and foreign minerals "...viz 76 specimens of Crystals and 99 specimens of minerals", made by R. C. Walsh who, in the 1940's lived in Blackpool before emigrating to South Africa. This collection was loaned to the East Midlands Federation of I4iseums and Art Galleries in 1946 for display purposes but at Walsh's request eventually passed into the personal possession of Hubert H. Gregory, Keeper of Geology at the Leicester Museum. Gregory died in 1950 and the subsequent fate of the Walsh collection remains unknown. Should anyone possess a part...

Mineral Collecting - - The Oldest Hobby Known

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsPeter ZodacPeter Zodac founded the magazine ROCKS AND MINERALS in part to help in the advertising for sale of many of his mineral specimens. This list which appeared on the back cover of the September, 1937 issue gives an indication of the prices for specimens over 40 years ago.

Mineral Collecting in Magnet Cove, Arkansas

(1976). Mineral Collecting in Magnet Cove, Arkansas. Rocks & Minerals: Vol. 51, A Fifty Year Retrospective, pp. 495-507.

Report of meeting on mineral collections in small museums, York - September 1976

Report of meeting on mineral collections in small museums, York - September 1976

Storing Mineral and Gem Collections

Storing Mineral and Gem Collections

Lost & Found: 18. William Henry Paull (1843-1936)

His granddaughter Mrs. S. J. R. Bridges of 106 Carsington Crescent, Allestree, Derby DE3 2QX, is very anxious to trace his mineral collection. He was born in Goginan, near Aberystwyth, son of a local mining captain there, who is presumed to have trained him as a mining engineer in the North Cardiganshire Field. After this he worked in Ireland, the Isle of Man and in Columbia (8. America). In the 1890s he became manager of the Leadhills mines in Scotland, moving in the next decade to Wanlockhead. His mineral collection is known to have been of modest size but carefully labelled and of good quality. It passed first to...

James Parkinson'sOrganic remains of a former world(1804-1811)

James Parkinson was born in Hoxton, East London, in 1755, and lived there all his life.1 He followed his father as a surgeon and apothecary, practising from the family home in Hoxton Square. He wrote a number of elementary medical books and pamphlets as well as the more serious Observations on the nature and cure of gout (1805) and the immortal Essay on the shaking palsy (1817). During the 1790s he was involved in the movement for political reform, being a member of the London Corresponding Society and the author of a number of anonymous and pseudonymous pamphlets. He was interested in chemistry and published a very popular pocketbook on the subject in 1799. He was a keen collector of fossils and minerals and wrote papers and books on geology and the study of fossils. This paper examines the biographical background to Parkinson's geology, the evolution of his ideas through the years in which he was writing, and the different editions of his most famous book, Organic remains of a former world.

Ewald Gerstmann andGerstmannite

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsErvan F. KushnerColonel Kushner is the author of two books, A Guide to Mineral Collecting at Franklin and Sterling Hill, N.J. and A Guide to Mineral Collecting at Ouray, Colorado. He is a graduate of Fordham College, Fordham Law School and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Catalog of the Type Specimens in the Mineral Collection, National Museum of Natural History

Catalog of the Type Specimens in the Mineral Collection, National Museum of Natural History

A Weekend Mineral Collecting Trip to Ontario

A Weekend Mineral Collecting Trip to Ontario