Dear Friends of Mineralogy,

As the summer winds down I find myself reflecting on the reasons people collect minerals (or anything for that matter). This was brought on by a series of events that happened over the summer that rekindled my own collecting urge; something that I thought had vanquished the last time I moved to a new house. If this reads a bit like "what I did on my summer vacation" I apologize up front. I think it is important to occasionally reflect on what and why in order to best keep everything in proper perspective.

I was contacted by the family of a New Mexico Tech alumnus (he was actually a New Mexico School of Mines alum) about his mineral collection coming to our mineral museum. Pictures of the collection were provided and eventually the material arrived. Much of it consisted of carvings and gem materials obtained during the alum's travels. The wide variety of materials and types of carvings filled a niche in our collections that I had always hoped to improve. Although I am a bit of a mineral "purist" myself, the selection of various materials and obvious care put into the collection made me pause to appreciate the fact that what I might consider worthy of collecting is not universal.

The American Federation of Mineral Societies held a convention this summer in Roswell. I try to attend all local shows in the state so I helped conduct a mini-symposium and held a post convention field trip. We visited the famous New Mexico localities of Hansonburg (Blanchard) and Magdalena (Kelly). In addition to a few lesser-known places. The mine owner of the Blanchard kindly opened some of the tunnels for collecting. I stayed outside and collected with others who chose not to go inside. We exposed some very fine cerussite psuedomorphs of galena in fluorite and some linarite after galena. Pieces good enough that I would have considered adding them to my collection (if I had one). The collecting bug had me in full fever and I relished the experience, rediscovering why it was I loved field collection. Was it the exertion of banging on the rock, the finding of something hidden, the touching of a truly beautiful object, or the money/prestige of selling/owning the piece?

Later in the summer we received a collection from an old friend of the museum who spent his collecting life pursuing mineral species, both with hammer and "silver pick". Many of the specimens are merely "smears on a rock" or metallic grey sulfosalts and other rare element combinations. The scientist in me loves such things, especially sulfosalts (a topic of my dissertation). I would have a hard time convincing anyone the pieces are aesthetic. Regardless of their humble appearances, the owner would become animated discussing the acquisition and the nature of the mineral and you could sense how the inner beauty was apparent to him. I get a thrill out of seeing a rare mineral and the prospect of preserving them, so we are obviously kindred spirits in that regard.

So what is the purpose of relating these stories to you? Mainly to remind everyone that there are many motivations for collecting. I don't believe that any particular one is better than another. We often get fixated on "the best" or "the one and only" (probably because we derive from mineral collecting that it is important. As the Friends of Mineralogy we have a responsibility to encourage all aspects of mineral collecting hobby, be they aesthetic, scientific, field collected, or purchased. Part of our mission is to be an inclusive group that accommodates the wide diversity of collecting philosophies. By attempting to perceive the beauty others see, we develop a wider appreciation of mineralogy and other people. Happy collecting, for whatever reasons you find enjoyable.

Virgil W. Leuth, President
505-835-5140 (work)
505-835-4889 (home)
email:vwlueth@nmt.edu

Previous Leters from the President

• May 2008
• January 2008
• August 2007
• May 2007
• December 2006
• May 2006
• December 2005