Coming Your Way: The Mineral Bliss Podcast

Within a week, we're anticipating that an icon in the top right hand corner of each blog post at Mineral Bliss will invite you to click and subscribe to the new Mineral Bliss podcast.

Also, you should be able to access our new podcast directly from iTunes . If you have iTunes, click "iTunes Store" at the left of the iTunes main screen. When the iTunes Store screen comes up, click "podcast" at the left of that screen. When the podcast screen is up, click "browse" or "power search" at the right of the podcast screen. In the next screen to come up, type in"Mineral Bliss" for title or Jake Slagle as author, and hopefully you'll be there.

Sometimes we'll name the topics in the current issue of Rocks and Minerals or Mineralogical Record. Other podcasts will herald events of mineralogical interest within a 100 mile radius of Baltimore Maryland. Very likely, we'll also be doing podcasts that feature pronunciation and vocabulary pertinent to mineralogy and related earth sciences.

This past week, after preparing for the launch of our new podcast, I split for Asheville, North Carolina to catch the earth sciences exhibit at Colburn Museum before it closes for
Bele Chere. Soon thereafter, we'll be visiting the three extravaganzas associated with the annual Franklin, NC, Gemboree. Next week's post will share the highlights of that trip.

Fred Parker: A Maryland Mineral Perspective

Fred J. Parker grew up in New Jersey, where he became renowned as a second generation collector, dealer and expert specializing in Franklin/Sterling Hill material. His focus expanded to Maryland mineralogy after he moved here in 1983. With an eye to history as well as to the present and the future, Fred shared his Maryland perspective with the Baltimore Mineral Society at its July 15, 2009 meeting.

Upon arriving in Maryland, he was told that our state had little to offer in the way of minerals and that that all the action happened in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Within weeks, he joined several mineral societies and met a few key "local characters" with different ideas and more extensive knowledge. He soon accompanied some of them on a visit to the LeFarge (Redland-Genstar) Quarry in Medford. Access was wide open at the time, and great calcite crystals were everywhere.

Even so, Fred Parker didn't become completely "hooked" on Maryland minerals until 1987. That happened when he and Maryland's "Mr. Garnet," John Ertman, uncovered a major pocket of gem quality grossular at Hunting Hill in Montgomery County. Twenty two years later, Fred still likes to refer to this locality as "my baby." In 2005, when The Mineralogical Record published the definitive Fred J. Parker piece, "The Minerals of Hunting Hill Quarry, Rockville, Maryland," the mineralogy of the Free State received a level of recognition not seen in decades

This article, of course, figured prominently into an arena long a Parker passion, namely the history of mineralogy in Maryland. In his personal collection, historical Maryland mineral specimens are understandably ubiquitous. They include pieces that once belonged to such noted collectors as Don Fish, Mike Elwood, and Dick Grier. His biggest recent score was the Maryland suite from the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences Collection after its sale in 2006 for millions of dollars to two mega-mineral dealers. Thereafter, following lengthy but quiet negotiations with Collectors Edge, the suite became part of the Parker collection.

When addressing the Baltimore Mineral Society, Fred described history as where "the real adventures begin." He mentioned two long out of print books as especially relevant: They were Minerals of Maryland, by Ostrander and Price, published in 1940 by The Natural History Society of Maryland and Minerals of the Washington, DC Area by Lawrence R. Bernstein, published in 1980 by the Maryland Geological Survey.

Numerous sites mentioned in these books now lie beneath shopping centers or apartment complexes, but a few remain accessible. More important: Who's to say what's under the ground where "progress" has yet to claim accessibility? To find out, knowledge of Maryland geology could obviously be helpful, but isn't entirely necessary. Another approach that Fred has also embraced is visiting and questioning the locals in areas near where great specimens were collected in the past. Most important, he says: "Check every road cut, excavation, and blast along the way!"

To share the anecdotes that made his point would extend beyond the allocated space for this post. Just about every story deserves its own post. For example:

• The road cut near Columbia where autunite and torbernite ! covered the pegmatite.


• Rediscovering a long forgotten smoky quartz occurrence (check out our title picture) near Clarksville in excavations making way for future McMansions.
  
• The amazing amethysts near Laurel that the workmen threw into the pit to permanent burial.


• The man who took home a quartz boulder laden with gold from the Cabin John Bridge excavation and used it as a door stop.


• Buck Keller's major gypsum find in 2007 amidst excavations for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.


• The presence of quartz crystals in soil beginning just south of Thurmont and extending almost to Harpers Ferry.
  

These stories are history now. But others are in the works. And there should be plenty more before too long.

Metaphysical at the Beach

Somewhat oddly and with good humour, while on vacation last week at the beach, I found myself with The Book of Stones: Who They are and What They Teach by Robert Simmons and Naisha Ahsian. Its thesis is that quite a variety of different rocks, minerals, crystals, and gems, are "a catalyst for inner healing, self-discovery, and/or a deeper connection with Spirit."

In the introduction, co-author Robert Simmons explains the rationale as follows:

When we bring a crystal or stone into our electromagnetic field, two things occur. First the electromagnetic frequencies carried by that stone will vibrate with related frequencies in our own energy field through the physical law of resonance, creating a third, larger field of vibration. Your nervous system is attuned to these shifts in energy and will transmit this information to your brain, where the frequencies stimulate biochemical shifts that affect the phusical body, trigger emotional experiences, and shift brain function to open you to spiritual experience.

The main body of the book relates to approximately 200 different stones arranged and discussed in alphabetical order. The first is adamite, described as a source of energy, sexuality, joy, child-like wisdom, and several other major virtues. The final stone in this alphabetical arrangement is zoisite , which is said to relieve not only a wide range of unpleasant mental and emotional states but to be "one of the foremost stones for healing in the experience of terminal disease and death." Photographic images by John Goodman, Jeff Scovil, or Rob Lavinsky accompany every stone mentioned in the book.

While extra-terrestial moldavite is the only species to be named the "Holy Grail," an even more glowing description is reserved for a stone known as Azeztulite. Through "manipulation and alteration," the authors claim that this particular brand of quartz is imbued to carry the energy of "The Nameless Light," which Simmons equates with "Divine Love."

At one point in the introduction, the authors raise the question: "What do I Do with My Stones?" Among the possibilities mentioned are holding and carrying; wearing stones in pouches and jewelry; meditation with stones; dreamwork; body layouts; grids; stone oracles; energy tools; even oils and essences. Conspicuously absent were buying, selling, trading, or pursuits related to any of the earth sciences.

Interestingly, with his wife Kathy, Simmons owns the mail order business Heaven and Earth. With a strong presence on the Internet as well as each February at Tucson, the enterprise offers to both individuals and other businesses a wide variety of stones ranging from rough material to rings, pendants, beads, sacred symbols, and polished shapes. In one form or another, Heaven and earth carries most of the stones covered in the Book of Stones, Azeztulite included.

On The Price of Micromounts and Extremely Rare Minerals

The above pictured haynesite micromount measures but .8 millimeters across. Just last week, I paid $51 for it from one of my favorite dealers on eBay. Haynesite is a rare uranyl selenite, one of a very few minerals bearing the uncommon element selenium. As a selenite it's in no way to be confused with the ubiquitous crystallized gypsum variety also known as "selenite," which has nothing to do with selenium. Haynesite was discovered in 1991, by the eminent geologist and field collector Patrick Haynes at the Repete Mine in San Juan County, Utah. Now closed and sealed, the Repete Mine is both the type locality for haynesite and the only locality from which haynesite has ever been reported. A logical enough assumption would be that availability will dwindle and the price to acquire a specimen of haynesite will rise in the future. Interestingly, last night while while researching haynesite on the web, I found an excellent and much larger thumbnail sized piece being offered at another site for $10 and purchased it in a wink.

This all relates to the issue of how much any given mineral is worth. Though rarity, and especially beauty are usually big factors, major exceptions exist. Micromounts displaying magnificent views of an enormous variety of minerals, both rare and common, can often be had for just a few dollars because they're tiny and a microscope is necessary to appreciate them. Many other extremely rare minerals, regardless of size, occasionally go for less money if they are ugly or if the market for them is limited enough. In the March-April, 2009 edition of Mineralogical Record, Rock Currier described it this way:

If the mineral is so rare that only two or three specimens were ever produced, most collectors may never be aware of them, and thus a market value for them cannot establish itself. Rather than pay a high price, the average collector will be merely puzzled by the specimen and view it as a curiosity rather than a valuable rarity. After all, if this is a highly desirable specimen, why don't their friends or local museums have one and why haven't they seen one in pictures? An absence of knowledge discourages purchasing. They have no yardstick by which to measure the desirability of the specimen.

As one who loves, collects, and acquires both rare minerals and micromounts, I'm often elated with this state of affairs. When selling them, however, the going sometimes gets tough. On both ends, the bottom line is the price for which one is willing to part with a mineral and what an able, willing, and available buyer who wants it will pay. The number of both sellers and buyers for extremely rare minerals is relatively limited. Knowledge and experience in this niche are key.

Regional Minerals at the Smithsonian

Early this past week while in Washington , DC, I learned that my key interviewee for this week's scheduled post would not be available. With the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History and its mineral collection close at hand, I knew where to look for something else to cover.

With a time frame restricted because of other business to but an hour, I would seek out minerals on display from localities within a couple hundred miles radius of the DC area. The Montgomery County gold in quartz pictured above has long been one of my Smithsonian favorites. I've also similarly admired the Lynch Station Virginia turquoise crystals on quartz pictured at left as well as the pyromorphite shown below at right from the Wheatley Mine near Phoenixville, PA. All three are classics and the best specimens of their kind that I've seen or known about.

From the Hope Diamond right on down, classics are ubiquitous in the Museum of Natural History's gem and mineral rooms. Other specimens, if not classics, were presumably curated by virtue of how appropriately they serve to educate or otherwise capture the interest of viewers.

Very much on my mind was a specimen of apophyllite on prehnite that one of my older mineral friends and two buddies had collected at the Centreville Quarry in Virginia during the early 1950's. For one "study piece" each from the "Roebling collection," they had traded it to the Smithsonian, where it soon became prominently displayed near the entrance of what was at the time its mineral room. In more recent years, my friend learned from a credible source with close ties to the Smithsonian that in today's market this apophyllite on prehnite specimen could be priced as high as $250,000.00.

Any possible chance it could still be on display after all those years? Except for the possibility of oversight, my assumption is that it's packed away with the more than 350,000 mineral specimens comprising the Museum of Natural History's collection. Just about all have been catalogued and can be referenced by name, catalog number, country of origin and mine or quarry (if there was one) at the Museum's web site. Listed there are 1,063 specimens bearing apophyllite and 1,911 minerals with prehnite. Images of many of them, unfortunately, were absent.

The biggest nod I observed to regional bounty was a model re-creating a section of the Morefield Mine in Amelia County, Virginia. It featured a tunnel with pegmatite walls featuring enormous cleavages of turquoise hued amazonite microcline. Interestingly, the real Morefield Mine is accessible at specified times for a reasonable fee to collectors and by prescheduled appointment to clubs and school groups.

Otherwise, I managed to locate and photograph three additional specimens other than the three pictured above. Two were from Virginia. They were the columbite from Powhattan and the tantalite from Amelia, both pictured at left. The other was the brucite from Cedar Hill Quarry in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania near the Maryland State Line. It is pictured below at right. No doubt, there could have been other pieces from the general area that I missed.

Visiting the Maryland Geological Survey

Having been doing this blog for five months and the Maryland Minerals web site for over a year, a visit to the headquarters of the Maryland Geological Survey (MGS) seemed long overdue. As a scientific investigative organization, its role is to study Maryland’s earth resources and geological phenomena through various disciplines within the earth sciences field. In existence since 1896, MGS became part of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources when the DNR was established in 1969.

Before visiting, I spent some time perusing the MGS web site. Though informative and well organized, it offered little in the way of information related to mineralogy. For this, a visit to its Baltimore headquarters at St. Paul and 23rd Streets is more in order. The MGS is housed in a huge stone structure that's appropriately constructed of Port Deposit Gneiss and Ellicott City Granite.

What visitors will most likely notice first upon entering the building's lobby area are the minerals encased in display cabinets against the far wall. Most but not all of these minerals were collected in Maryland. They include several specimens donated by Bob Eberle as well as a few pieces salvaged from the former Maryland Acadamey of Science collection. More exhibits are on the second floor in the MGS Library, some in cabinets similar to those downstairs. One is completely filled with fossils. Another holds additional minerals and also samples of Setters Quartzite, Baltimore Gneiss, Cockeysville Marble and other kinds of rocks whose formation and differential erosion define Maryland's topography as well as its mineralogy.

The MGS Library’s main purpose is to house an extensive collection of geologic journals and periodical publications produced over the past one hundred years by the MGS, the geological surveys of other states, and U.S. Geological Survey. Regrettably, most publications of mineralogical interest are now out of print and absent from the shelves. Reference copies, however, have been retained and are available for in-house use.

The library extends into an adjoining room of metal drawers filled with maps. Time restraints unfortunately precluded me from requesting permission to look through them to search for the locations of whatever forgotten pits, adits, openings, and mining claims I imagined could be revealed therein.

The Maryland Geological Survey is both a State agency and a public facility. Visitors are welcome to view its exhibits, conduct geologic research in the Library, and purchase various publications that are for sale. Due to budgetary cutbacks and staff shortages, it is best to contact the Survey prior to visiting to ensure that MGS personnel will be available to assist you.. Hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To arrange a visit, please call or e-mail Dale W. Shelton at 410-554-5505 or dshelton@dnr.state.md.us.

Uncovering Ruizite at Cornwall

Of all the reported finds in the Eastern United States during recent years, the occurrence in Cornwall, PA, of ruizite inside a boulder weighing approximately a half ton is surely among the most intriguing. Mineral News, in its Jan. 2008 edition, announced the discovery in a front page article about two months after it happened. The story behind that discovery was recently shared with me first hand by James "Skip" Colflesh, a prominent Hershey, PA jeweler and avid weekend field collector.

It all began at 9 a.m. on a late October morning in 2007, when Skip (right) received a phone call from his friend Bob Buckmoyer(left). At the time Bob was the foreman for Haines and Kibblehouse at Cornwall Materials in Cornwall, PA, where dumps from the earlier mining operation were being worked for crushed stone. He had become interested in minerals after observing that the rocks at Cornwall were quite different from those at the limestone quarries where he'd previously worked. One day Skip had showed up at Cornwall and approached Bob for permission to collect. The two men struck an arrangement where Bob would allow Skip to have special access if Skip would teach Bob about minerals and how to collect them. They became close friends.

Bob called because he had observed "something unusual" inside an 800 pound zoned boulder that his equipment had recently broken. He noticed a presence of apophyllite in the center of the boulder that appeared to be quite different from what Skip had taught him to recognize. Skip headed right over and determined that regardless of anything else, the apophyllite was worth chiseling out and that some of the other material associated with it looked interesting. He figured that a lot of tiny red crystals encrusting etched quartz amidst the apophyllite were probably hematite, and he was curious about an ubiquitously associated white fibrous mineral that resembled pectolite.

The plot thickened when Skip arrived home and had a look under his scope. No way those red crystals could possibly be hematite or any other mineral he could identify. He sent a couple samples to Lance and Cynthia Kearns at the Department of Geology and Environmental Science at James Madison University. Within weeks, their analyses determined the red crystals to be the second known occurrence of ruizite in North America, the first having been at the Christmas Mine in Gila County, Arizona. Otherwise, the only other known finds of this rare sorosilicate in the world were at two mines near Cape Province, South Africa.

Although most of the ruizite bearing material had been extracted on the day of that initial phone call, enough material remained in the boulder for the two collectors to invite a group of regional members from Friends of Mineralogy to visit Cornwall and chisel away. Among them was New Jersey collector and International Micromount Hall of Famer John Ebner, who sent another sample to a lab in Canada where he had connections. The Canadian lab reached the same conclusion as the Kearns.

More work is still required to identify the white fibrous material, a clinopyroxene that could prove to be a new mineral. Meanwhile, enough ruizite from this same boulder is in private hands that some has hit the market. A piece with a display face of approximately 4 cm. x 3.5 cm. was recently sold at auction on eBay by "MINERALMAN999" for $75.25.

My advice to collectors would be to try to get some of this Cornwall ruizite while it's still around. Haines and Kibblehouse is no longer working the dumps. They have removed the equipment necessary to break boulders of which the exterior surfaces bear no hints of what could be inside, and the dumps are now "off limits."

Delaware Mineralogical Museum Reopens

Thanks to the Gem, Lapidary, and Mineral Society of Montgomery County, Maryland for having their great monthly newsletter, The Rockhounder on the Internet for all to see. It was the recent May edition from which I learned that the Delaware Mineralogical Museum had reopened. Pictured above are two examples of specimens with aesthetics that blew me away.

Even now, a month after the re-opening, when searching the web with Google, my top two results after typing in "Delaware Mineralogical Museum" and "University of Delaware Mineralogical Museum" indicated that this reopening had yet to occur. A bit of persistence, however, directed me to a site that not only announced the reopening, but offered pertinent information.

There's much to like. First is the way the minerals assert their presence in the front room to all who enter Penny Hall. The fiber optic lighting is effective enough that every specimen can be fully appreciated. As museums go, the room itself is small, its walls surrounded by fewer than a dozen cases that are separated and uncluttered. This allows the visitor to take everything in, while larger museums can sometimes overwhelm with overload.

It was a true pleasure for me to unhurriedly zero in on the the likes of native lead from Sweden and what I suspect could be the largest Namibian descloizite crystals ever uncovered. Other highlights were a couple of aethetically amazing Tsumeb azurite crystals in matrix and a cabinet bearing an assortment of California spodumene (kunzite) that all but defied belief. I was also impressed to see an entire cabinet that used both drawings and minerals as props to explain the six crystal systems.

Blame it if you will on Delaware’s geology, but nothing collected in Delaware was present. A logical enough alternative proved to be a greater number of minerals from neighboring Pennsylvania than from any other state or foreign country. Among them were killer specimens of chalcopyrite from French Creek, pyromorphite from the Wheatley Mine, brucite from the Woods Chrome Mine, diaspore from Corundum Hill near Unionville, PA, andradite garnet from Cornwall, and a stunning malachite spray from Uniontown.

Just a few minutes from I-95, near the Maryland State Line, the Delaware Mineralogical Museum is a must see for rockhounds within a reasonable driving distance, or for that matter, just passing through.

A Public Exhibit of Maryland Minerals

The likes of this Maryland mineral display at Howard County Community College was a long time coming. To thank for it, we have Ed Goldberg, an avid field collector from Reisterstown, who during the day works as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.

For nearly two decades, ever since becoming frustrated over not having a place to show his young daughter the kinds of minerals they could collect in Maryland, Ed has doggedly pursued one avenue after another regarding the need for a display of Maryland minerals. Among entities he has approached have been the Maryland Geological Survey, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, The Maryland Academy of Sciences, the State House, The Tawes Building, and the Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. For various reasons, ranging from budgetary concerns to indifference, they all turned him down.

Here's Goldberg's contention: "For a state that prides itself on its geographical and geological diversity, to not display what it's made of is a travesty." He also feels strongly about the need for more young people to be aware of the subject. "What we have here in Maryland are legislators and policy makers who say we've lagged in the sciences and that to get more people---kids in particular---involved is critical. Well here you go. Just about all kids like rocks."

Turning him on to the possibilities at Howard County Community College was an old college buddy, its Board of Trustees' Past President Roger Caplan. Mr. Caplan suggested that Ed contact an administrator at HCCC, who suggested he speak with two physical sciences instructors, Jennifer Stott and Sharon Lyon. Both instructors proved to be extremely enthusiastic, and it just so happened that there was a display case at the Science and Technology Building that was built into the wall and empty.

Now filled with minerals that Ed donated from his personal collection, it's the first thing to meet one's eye upon entering the Science and Technology Building on Howard County Community College's main Little Patuxent Parkway Campus. The minerals therein, all collected by Ed himself, are a diverse sampling of Maryland's mineral wealth. Among the highlights are a killer actinolite specimen from Soldiers Delight; barite and siderite from Frostburg; chalcopyrite and bornite from Mineral Hill; galena from the Mountain View Lead Mine; Goethite from Oregon Ridge, Vesuvianite from the Fannie Frost Quarry; and calcite (including a purple niobium stained rhomb) from the Medford Redland Genstar Quarry.

In association with the Baltimore Mineral Society (for which he is director of field trips), Ed donated the display to posthumously honor two close mineral friends: Herb Corbett and Jack Nelson. Both made significant contributions toward raising the awareness among young people regarding the earth sciences and mineralogy in particular. Herb , a past president of the Baltimore Mineral Society was a friend and mentor to Ed as a child. Jack Nelson was a close friend from the Gem, Lapidary, and Mineral Society of Montgomery County with whom Ed frequently collected.

Sitting in with the Master

The above image relates to what proved to be the highlight of my month-long excursion to Tucson last February where among other things, Mineral Bliss was launched. I took the picture during the hour I spent hanging out one-on-one with Jeff Scovil in his temporary studio at Inn Suites Hotel. While the idea of starting up Mineral Bliss had been on my mind, it was here that I made the decision to actually move forward. An experience like this was too great to pass by.

Though not one to pass judgment, I doubt that many in mineralogical circles would dispute the contention that Jeff Scovil is the world's premier photographer of minerals. He is certainly the best known and most acclaimed. A recipient of the 2007 Carnegie Mineralogical Award, his work is everywhere in just about every issue of Rocks and Minerals, Mineralogical Record, and the mineral and lapidary magazines of France, Germany, Spain, Poland, and Russia, as well as in numerous books about minerals. The posters for most of the larger shows around the world(including eleven for the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show) bear his work, and he's photographed the collections of scores of museums in the US and around the world. He also authored the book Photographing Minerals, Fossils, and Lapidary Materials. You can purchase it at his web site .

I got into his studio shortly after wandering into a room adjoining it where a sign read "Scovil Photography: Come in,." After expressing my interest in mineral photography to one of Jeff's associates, he escorted me into the studio to watch the master at work and fire away with as many questions as my heart desired. Not only did Jeff happily respond to all of them, he enthusiastically elaborated on his answers in a manner that encouraged further discourse of a no holds barred nature.

Not that he should have reason to be concerned about competition from an amateur whose parameters were still pretty much limited to the confines of a "Studio in a Box" kit purchased on eBay. While eager to learn as much as possible, my immediate goal was to be able write this feature with a degree of literacy regarding his equipment and the myriad ways that he manipulates light to balance reflection with detail. At this point, it became clear to me that such descriptions are better left to photographers and those who write regularly on the subject.

Simply put, he worked with strobe lighting and used reflectors and props of endless sizes shapes and materials. Having made the transition from film to digital only a couple of years ago, he relied on a large computer monitor to check his work. His credo is "get it right in the camera." When the tiniest speck of dust appeared in an image on that computer screen, he returned to the work table, manually removed the dust, and shot again.

While photography combines art, science, and skill, becoming a great photographer of minerals must surely require an additional ingredient, namely a sensibility relating to their uniqueness and detail. By the time I left, it seemed clear to me that Jeff Scovil's mind-boggling level of experience with photographing minerals has served to elevate that sensibility to the point that it could be the essence of his prowess.

Of all that we discussed, what most surprised me were the fees that Jeff charges, be it for producing images of one or more minerals on CD at a show for a collector, or for a day's work. A Scovil Photography image is almost certain to elevate the cache and potential price of just about any specimen, all the more should the picture end up being published somewhere. Compared to other kinds of photographic services for which I'm familiar with the fees, Scovil Photography's prices were a true bargain.

Franklin, North Carolina

In the environs of Franklin, North Carolina, numerous spots exist where the soil abundantly yields crystals of ruby, sapphire, garnet and beryl. Consequently, gem mining opportunities for tourists are everywhere. Mostly they play the game lined up beside flumes of running water in which they sieve gem-bearing reddish dirt that's purchased by the bucketful. At a few of the spots, customers are given the opportunity to pan in creek beds or dig at the actual mines. Though the mines themselves have long ceased commercial production, plenty of rubies, sapphires, beryl crystals and garnets are present. That's because usually the dirt in the buckets, in some cases the dirt in the actual stream beds, and sometimes even the mine dumps themselves has been "enriched" or "salted" with crude gems imported from the other side of the world. Personally, I confess to having "mined" at a couple of these places in years gone by. The thrill was akin to playing the slots.

At a few spots, customers can sluice and sometimes dig with assurance from management that the dirt in question has not been salted. While the gem "pickin's" are likely leaner, it makes the mining experience itself a bit more realistic, even if a backhoe has scattered naturally occurring gem material from its original resting place in the interest of rendering the soil more accessible and easier to dig. During the drive home from my recent New Orleans trip, I checked out three such operations, namely Mason's Ruby and Sapphire Mine, the Cherokee Ruby & Sapphire Mine, and the Sheffield Mine.

Mason's Ruby and Sapphire mine is open from 8 a.m. to 5 pm and charges $30 for as much digging as a customer wishes to undertake in the course of a day. At a pavilion adjacent to the flume, customers are given shovels with empty buckets they can carry to the mine and fill with dirt to bring back to the flume and sluice as often as time permits. An associate at Mason's named Judy told me that she'd never observed a hard-working customer who in the course of a day failed to uncover at least one legitimate gem to bring home. She boasted that the biggest find so far in 2009 had been a 73 carat sapphire.

From Mason's, I drove eight more miles through the Smoky's to another allegedly unsalted operation, the Cherokee Ruby and Sapphire Mine. Unfortunately it was closed, perhaps because severe weather was predicted. Just a couple miles from the Cherokee Mine, I detoured up a steep and windy road leading to a parking lot. Below was the Sheffield Mine, which is pictured at left. In addition to offering salted buckets, customers here can dig at the actual mine, which like at Mason's and Cherokee, is touted to be unsalted.

Were it not that flooding torrential rains were expected to begin any minute, my personal choice for prospecting would have been a non-commercial locality, namely a stream where alluvial corundum washes down from the closed and inaccessible Corundum Hill Mine. The 47 pound ruby pictured at the beginning of this feature is from this mine. The site is highly recommended in Richard James Jacquot, Jr.'s Rock, Gem, and Mineral Collecting Sites in Western North Carolina. Parking is available near a bridge over the Cullasaja River. About 300 yards east from here, a feeder stream empties into the river from the mountain above after flowing through the inaccessible site of the long closed Corundum Hill Mine. It's supposed to be a good spot for panning.

However, I believe that the bad weather served me even better by encouraging a visit to "downtown" Franklin as opposed to trying to collect at any of these sites. In Franklin I first checked out the Ruby City Gem Store and its museum. Ruby City claims to be the largest mineral and gem store in North Carolina. It also houses a museum of gems and minerals, from both nearby and various worldwide localities.

Just around the corner from Ruby City is the Franklin Gem and Mineral Museum, to which an all too short visit highlighted my day. Occupying the the building that formerly housed the Macon County Jail, the museum is operated as a public service by volunteers from the Gem and Mineral Society of Franklin, North Carolina. I refer to my time there as "all too short" after making it to only two of eight exhibit-filled rooms prior to the 4 p.m. closing hour. The first housed among other local gems and minerals the 47 pound ruby from Corundum Hill, which I spent most of my time there photographing. The next room I visited displayed several minerals from each of the 50 states. Being from Maryland and responsible for the Maryland Minerals website, it interested me that our state was represented by specimens of coalingite, prehnite, and picrolite, all from Hunting Hill. With 15 minutes remaining, rather than try to dart through additional rooms, including an international gem and mineral room, fossil room, fluorescent room, Indian artifacts room, and glass room, I opted instead to chat with the two Franklin Gem & Mineral Society volunteers who were working that day, John and Mary. This proved to be time well spent.

They shared with me a perspective about the Franklin area gem scene that far surpassed what I'd been able to infer from Jacquot's Rock, Gem, and Mineral Collecting Sites in Western North Carolina or rushing by a few of the spots mentioned therein. From John and Mary I heard the stories behind some of these places and how the local landscape has changed over the years. More important, John was kind enough to provide me with information that could ultimately lead to the opportunity to dig in least one unspoiled site far removed from the tourist circuit. It's been tested just enough to demonstrate that rubies and sapphires are present and very likely plentiful.

Already, I'm booked in the area the last weekend of July for the Bele Chere Festival in Asheville and the 43rd Annual Macon County Gemboree in Franklin, sponsored by the Franklin Gem & Mineral Society and the Franklin Chamber of Commerce. Now it appears as if this weekend could also include a guided excursion to that site. I look most forward to the prospect that this could happen.

Allah Cooper, Ray, and Redmond

All too short on knowledge about any of the above named collecting meccas and with minimal available time, I simply located and quickly crawled over the dumps of all three during a motor trip to New Orleans the last week of April. The pleasure of being there meant as much as the few minerals that made it home.

The Allah Cooper (Valzinco) Mine dumps came first, about five miles northeast of the town of Mineral in Louisa County, Virginia. Awareness of this locality in mineralogical circles has increased recently after significant pyromorphite finds and the more recent identifcation of five species never before reported thereabouts as covered by Lance E. Kearns and Michael D. Dunn in the August, 2008 Mineral News. These minerals include hemimorphite, wavellite, vanadinite, vauquelinite, and mottramite, the latter three being microscopically present along with pyromorphite in the specimen pictured at left. Considerable mining went on in this part of Virginia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. First gold and silver were mined, later lead and zinc, thereafter copper and iron. For sure, numerous spots in the general area could entice collectors. To locate and access more than one was well beyond the scope of my time frame.

After asking around, it didn't take me long to learn of a rockpile---very likely the biggest and easiest to access--- along Contrary Creek a hundred yards or so west of the bridge where Route 522 crosses it about five miles north of Mineral, Virgina. Just south of the bridge is a spur that's convenient for pulling off and parking. Less than an hour of crawling about, rock hammer in hand, proved sufficient for uncovering plenty of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and malachite. I departed with a couple small rocks and limited confidence that additional time would have enabled me to find any of the secondary lead minerals that have received so much attention. Even so, I'll be eager to return in the future with whose knowledge of the area is more substantial.

En route the following day to Asheville, North Carolina, with Richard James Jacquot's Rock, Gem, and Mineral Collecting Sites in Western North Carolina, I detoured to the dumps of Ray Mica Mine in Yancey County near Burnsville. The Ray Mine has a well-earned reputation for yielding green beryl crystals that occur in an ubiquitous white feldspar dominated pegmatite matrix. I found no beryl, but after busting up a number of rocks, managed to bag a slightly interesting cluster of small curving schorl crystals. When returning to my car, I encountered a collector who said he'd been here for three days and found "a little." He noted that some parts of these dumps yielded more beryl than others and very kindly offered to show me where they were. If not for a temporarily unstable right hip, I'd have taken him up on the offer and once again trudged a quarter mile uphill through the woods. This collector also boasted of some nocturnal success shining an LED flashlight over gravel beneath the tiny stream running through the dumps. According to the Jacquot book, had he also shined a short wave ultra-violet light over the dumps, an additional reward could have been plentiful massive white apatite flourescing a bright orange plus with luck a bit of pink zoisite (thulite), which is also fluorescent. Jacquot noted that aquamarine occurred at the Ray Mine, but implied that it was far less common than other types of beryl. A week later, while driving home from New Orleans, I couldn't resist buying a rock bearing aquamarine from the Ray Mine for $7.50 at the gem shop of the Switzerland Inn in Little Switzerland, along the Blue Ridge Parkway between Asheville and Blowing Rock. The specimen is pictured at right.

By evening, I'd made it to the Days Inn in the heart of downtown Asheville. Of all the happening towns in the eastern United States, Asheville has long been my favorite for a night out enjoying food and music. As for dinner in downtown Asheville, my top pick is the cutting edge fusion of Californian and Mexican cuisine---along with killer margaritas---at Limones, 13 Eagle Street. For listening to and sometimes dancing to hot jazz or blues in the midst of a diverse crowd, I've long considered Tressa's, just a few blocks north from Limone's at 28 Broadway Street, to be as good as such a scene gets anywhere.

Were it not for a late evening at Tressa's, I'd have made it to the Redmond Mine in Haywood County a little earlier the next day. No problem, since the dumps here are tiny, and no way I'd venture underground into the shaft across the dirt road and with my bad hip and no flashlight after a month of heavy rainfall into water said to have been two feet deep during the past years' drought. According to Jacquot, the walls inside this shaft bear "dark blue azurite, malachite, and white cerussite crystals up to 1/2 inch long." I was perfectly happy keeping to the dumps and had the good fortune of collecting the piece pictured at right of azurite with chrysocolla and cerussite on quartz and limonite. Particularly intriguing was how similar it appeared to a specimen of "chrysocolla and cerussite on limonite and quartz" that's pictured in the book A Rockhounding Guide to North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, by Michael Streeter, which I discovered and purchased near the end of my trip. Both books note that micro crystals of pyromorphite occur in some of the quartz boulders located about a hundred yards up a steep trail from the left of the mine shaft. With my walking stick as a crutch I hoisted myself up there with the little rock hammer in my other hand. Sure enough the quartz boulders awaited, but would require a sledge hammer to attack, which my hip condition under no circumstances would allow.

Same time next year, I'll be heading south to New Orleans for Jazzfest for the 22nd time. Unless other mineralogical diversions along the way prove more promising, I'll return to all three of these localities with a bit more knowledge and hopefully a new right hip.

Some Fred Parker Collection Highlights

As I was photographing his collection last week, Fred Parker asked me: "What Maryland locality would you most like to visit?" Overwhelmed at first, I pulled a blank. With time since to reflect, however, and after photographing the above pictured calcite along with the wulfenite at left and the malachite at right, I'd probably name the Portland Cement Quarry in Carroll County. Fred shared with me that collector/dealer Andy Dietz of Ashland, Virginia collected the calcite beneath our title in a large pocket he and Andy worked there in 100 degree heat during July, 1997. The wulfenite is part of a one time find in the mid-1970's when the late George Brewer uncovered a rock bearing the only wulfenite ever reported from Maryland. And while quite a few specimens with acicular sprays of malachite have been collected at the Portland Quarry over the years, the piece pictured at right with chalcopyrite stands out.

Mineral specimens of historical significance especially appeal to Fred. The malachite at left from the long defunct Liberty Copper Mine in Frederick County, once graced the 19th century T-Bouve collection and later the late John Marshall's collection, from which Fred acquired it. With help from Photoshop, the label painted and scripted on the reverse side of this piece appears at the bottom right in the photograph. Ostrander and Price's 1940 Minerals of Maryland refers to the "haydenite"at right from Jones Falls in Baltimore City as "a variety of chabazite." It's eponymous with the early 19th Century mineralogist Horace Hayden, while Mindat lists "haydenite" as "a synonym of chabazite. If the specimen at right could be one of the earliest significant chabazite specimens in existence, Fred Parker's recent chabazite find at Hunting Hill Quarry in Montgomery County should rank among the latest. That occurrence lifts the number of different minerals its serpentinite-rodingite has yielded to 69. It and numerous other Hunting Hill specimens will be covered in a later Mineral Bliss post.

In Carroll County, not far from the Portland Cement Quarry in Union Bridge, the LaFarge (Redland Genstar) Quarry in Medford is another modern day classic Maryland locality. The turquoise colored aurichalcite pictured at left is one of the only specimens of aurichalcite collected in Maryland I've ever seen. Even more uncommon are the pink micro-crystals of lanthanite pictured at right. Mindat has yet to note an occurrence of this extremely rare neodymium mineral in the United States, even though the United States National Museum analyzed it approximately 25 years ago and confirmed the lanthanite identification. Collected at Medford in 1970 in a single rock, the 10x photograph at right shows micro-crystals from one of the seven pieces---all that exist--- into which the rock was broken. More plentiful at Medford are lavender calcite crystals such as pictured beneath the aurcichalcite. I also found a crystal like this a couple years ago, though it was nowhere near as appealing.

Fred Parker's Maryland collection also includes gold from Carroll County. Numerous papers have been written about the gold mined during past centuries in Montgomery County. Occurrences in Carroll County, however, are practically unknown. The gold pictured at left was collected at the Maryland Gold Mine in Montgomery County. The specimen at right, from near Sykesville in Carroll County, was self-collected by Fred Parker.

And finally, anyone who knows Fred Parker's mineralogical background could likely have a querie at this point: "Why not more about Hunting Hill?" Not only did Fred author what is probably the most comprehensive and up to date article about the minerals of this quarry (Mineralogical Record, September, 2005), his collection includes many of the most diverse, and "best of species ever found there" assortment of Hunting Hill material in existence. Mineral Bliss looks forward to "scratching the surface" on some of the most intriguing of these pieces in a later post.

Photographing Fred Parker's Maryland Collection

Fred Parker was mentioned in last week's post as the "eminent Maryland field collector" and "valuable collaborator," who frequently accompanied Jeff Nagy to regional collecting sites. Within my personal mineralogical sphere, Fred is the final word on the subject of Maryland minerals. A mineralogist and second generation collector, he has authored numerous articles and papers including "The Minerals of the Hunting Hill Quarry, Rockville, Maryland," for Mineralogical Record, whose biographical archives feature him as well as his father prominently. Fred's collection of Maryland minerals is amazing. This week, he was kind enough to turn me loose with my camera and bare bones portable studio to photograph the most significant pieces in his Maryland suite for the Maryland Minerals website.

The barite crystal in calcite with dolomite from the Pinesburg Quarry near Williamsport, Maryland, is but one example. It was all but inconceivable to me that a such a specimen could ever have been collected anywhere in Maryland. My impression was similar regarding nearly every piece that I photographed from Fred's collection.

It's appropriate here to recall that in last week's post about Jeff Nagy's quest to revise and republish The Minerals of the Washington, D.C. Area, I promised word regarding a recently discovered galena deposit in Baltimore County. Along with some minor anglesite and cerussite, the find yielded the first pyromorphite ever to be reported in Maryland. This was an excursion that Jeff and Fred were in on together. At left is a photograph taken on the trunk of my car of a piece Jeff pulled from the back his truck last weekend during a Baltimore Mineral Society field trip to the Marriottsville Quarry. At right is the specimen that Fred held onto. The location of the deposit remains secret until it has been explored further.

At this moment, Fred is attending the Rochester Mineralogical Symposium, and I'm en route to New Orleans for its Jazz and Heritage Festival to indulge in another of my hobbies, namely wild music. Since collaboration on specifics could be difficult during the coming week and my Internet access could be limited, I've drafted a feature for Mineral Bliss about some of the particularly remarkable pieces from Fred's Maryland collection. By the time it's scheduled to post on May 2, Fred and I should have had an opportunity to catch up so that he can check the facts.

For my trip to New Orleans, a recently ordered book, Rock, Gem, and Mineral Collecting Sites in Western North Carolina by Richard James Jacquot, Jr., has just arrived in the mail. Hopefully, it will lead me to an interesting locality or two on the drive down or more likely as I'm returning during the first week of May. Word about anything this leads should be posted here on Sunday May 10.

Classic D.C. Collecting Guide Awaits Update

For several years, Jeff Nagy’s preferred mineralogical activity has been to visit as many mineral collecting sites as possible that are a reasonably short drive from his home in Damascus, Maryland, or his office, which is in Washington, DC. For such pursuits, his Bible has been the book Minerals of the Washington, D.C. Area, authored in 1980 by Lawrence Bernstein and published by the Maryland Geological Survey.

The book is a great source of information, covering the area's pertinent geology and in particular just about every mineral occurrence ever reported therein. The localities range from well known to quite vague (ie "Cubic pseudomorphs of limonite after pyrite are abundant in the soil around Glenelg.")

Over the last two years, it’s fair to say that Nagy has lived and breathed The Minerals of the Washington, D.C. Area. Guided by the book’s content as well as additional information from sources listed in its bibliography, he's visited over 100 pertinent localities. His experiences have led him to the following three conclusions: Many localities mentioned in the book have completely disappeared; new ones have been discovered; construction renders many localities to be transitory; and recent thinking has changed regarding some of the geology related to different rock deposits.

In short, Nagy has determined that The Minerals of the Washington, D.C. Area is due for an updated revision, and he is on a mission to make that happen. Thus far, he’s rewritten more than 70 pages, begun work on the photography (which will be in color this time), and enlisted the cooperation of the book’s original author, Lawrence Bernstein, to edit his work. Nagy hopes that the State of Maryland will provide funding to publish their final version. If not, he’s got alternative sources in mind and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of self-publishing. Interestingly, the original work bears no copyright.

The quest has led Nagy not only to collecting sites that haven’t been visited in years, but to new ones he's discovered. Eminent Maryland field collector Fred Parker has often accompanied him in many instances and has proven to be a valuable collaborator. Some of the most intriguing spots have been in or near Patapsco State Park in the vicinity of Ellicott City. Of particular interest is a galena deposit that Nagy and Parker "stumbled upon" by accident. In addition to galena they also encountered micro crystals of cerussite and anglesite as well as the first pyromorphite ever to be reported in Maryland. Stay tuned to Mineral Bliss for an upcoming post featuring photographs and more information about this find.

Nagy’s research has also led to a credible report that many years ago, a quartz crystal twenty inches long, seven inches across, and weighing forty pounds, was collected not far from Ellicott City. No quartz crystal anywhere near this size had otherwise ever been known to occur in Maryland. Thus far, Nagy has tracked down the descendants of the person who collected it and has been in touch with the museum in Minnesota to which his collection was willed. Convinced this crystal is in existence and probably in someone’s possession, his efforts to track it down continue.

Of tremendous significance to Nagy’s work is the logic that similar geological relationships and deposits are likely to produce similar minerals. Quite often, sought after conditions become accessible in the course of construction work where new collecting sites are uncovered. When it's houses or other buildings going up, the opportunities to collect are temporary. Spoils from other construction related localities, roadcuts for instance, occasionally remain accessible.

Of all the territory included in The Minerals of the Washington, D.C. Area, Northern Virginia was once the most prolific. For Nagy, it’s proven to be the most disappointing area "Everything’s been built over," he laments.

There’s plenty more to cover. The most recent dig was in the vicinity the old Patapsco Copper Mine in Carroll County, Maryland. Shortly before that, after obtaining special permission, he was able to access and explore the Liberty Copper mine dumps in Frederick County, Maryland. Only a few days ago, he got hold of some old maps that he believes will lead him to a long forgotten lead prospect in Frederick County. He figures "another year or two " before his new The Minerals of the Washington, D.C. Area is ready for publication, and the serious quest for a publisher has yet to commence.

Stalking Those Pennsylvania Minerals

The six inch long Pennsylvania opal that's pictured above is from the Dyer Quarry in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It was one of my purchases this past Saturday, April 4, at the Franklin County Rock and Mineral Club's annual show at the Shalom Christian Academy in Chambersburg, PA. From the same show, I also picked up the piece in the photograph at left (field of view 7 mm.) of cerussite needles in front of galena appearing to be altering to anglesite. That specimen is from the New Southwest Chester Mine dumps in Phoenixville. These beauties were but a couple of the several dozen minerals I purchased at this show. All were collected in Pennsylvania, and all were fairly priced.

The Franklin County Rock and Mineral Club's show was a true pleasure to attend. It happened as the Philadelphia Mineralogical Society's annual extravaganza was taking place just two hours away. Somehow, word only reached me a week before when mentioned by a collector at the Atlantic Micromount Conference in Elkdridge, MD. Word that Joe and Jeanne Dague would be selling was all I needed to hear.

To me, their presence means a diverse selection of Pennsylvania minerals and the opportunity to peruse, learn about, and purchase them at prices I'm happy to pay. Among the new species that transferred from the Dague's to my Pennsylvania suite last Saturday were lazulite from Peach Bottom in Lancaster County, tennantite from the Billmeyer Quarry also in Lancaster County, variscite from Flint Valley in Snyder County, anatase with brookite in Hopkins phyllite from Kline's Quarry in Hellam, York County; uranophane from the C.K Williams Quarry in Northampton County; and the most exquisite miniature cabinet cluster of hydromagnesite crystals I've ever seen. They are from the Cedar Hill Quarry in Lancaster County and pictured at right.

As the Dagues carefully wrapped all of them and more, I wondered across the aisle to Kerry Matt's table, only to be overwhelmed by even more fantastic Pennsylvania minerals. The opal pictured atop this feature and the cerussite needles below it were two of my purchases from Kerry, along with at least a dozen other specimens. One of those was a second Dyer Quarry Opal that ranked a glossy half page in Pennsylvania's Rainbow Underground, of which he is author, photographer, and publisher. About half of its 442 pages are on heavy glossy paper, the other half on an accompanying compact disk. All told, I would estimate the number of vivid and colorful images of minerals (and microcrystals) collected in Pennsylvania to be well over 2,000. I purchased my copy of Pennsylvania's Rainbow Underground from Kerry shortly after he published it in 2007 and continue to be dazzled and amazed every time I pick it up. You can purchase one as well by contacting him via Email (stoneman07@netzero.com). At $75, this book is not just a serious bargain, but an obvious and absolute must have for anyone with interest in Pennsylvania's remarkable wealth of collectable minerals.

After filling a flat with Kerry's minerals until the last dollar in my wallet had disappeared, it was back to the Dague's table to write a check. While settling up with Jeanne, I observed a gentleman at the other end of the table showing an album of mineral photographs to Joe. Within moments, the Dagues had introduced me to collector and serious mineral photographer John Passaneau. His remarkable work speaks for itself.

Two hours at this show provided me with nearly as many minerals as purchased over the course of two weeks in Tucson. It also awakened me to possibilities for additional Mineral Bliss features for down the road. Hopefully the Dagues, Kerry Matt, and John Passaneau will help me put some of them together.

Dennis Coskren and the Rarest of the Rare Earths

The 2 millimeter field of view microphotograph at left is of coskrenite. It was discovered by and is named after the mineralogist pictured above it, Dennis Coskren. At the Baltimore Mineral Society's 2006 Desautels Micromount Symposium, I obtained the piece in a trade with Dr. Coskren in exchange for a bjarebyite micromount that I'd just purchased from a dealer there.

This was my introduction to micromounting. I didn't even own a microscope yet and had shown up at the conference to observe what was going on and make a determination as to whether micromounting was a hobby that would be to my liking. An explanation of how a greener than bjarebyite novice got so quickly into wheeling and dealing with minerals of such complexity will be saved for a later post.

Coskrenite is a rare earth sulfate containing cerium, neodymium, and lanthanum. It is one of the first three naturally occurring rare-earth sulfates or oxalates known to sicence, a distinction it shares with levinsonite and zugshunstite. The type locality for all three of these minerals happens to be one of the best known and most popular hiking destinations in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountain National Park, namely Alum Cave Bluff. It hardly matters that collecting here---or for that matter anywhere in the park---is forbidden. For one thing, crystals of the pertinent rare earth minerals are much too miniscule to observe with the naked eye, or even through a loupe. Probably less than a cumulative gram's worth of all three species is known to have been collected at Alum Cave Bluff or anywhere else. Even so, the three minerals are products of a geochemical process that actively occurs at a number of other spots in addition to Alum Cave Bluff. This suggests not only a reasonable possibility that they exist elsewhere, but also that they could renew themselves within a relatively short time frame.

Dr. Coskren has spent more than a dozen years studying every aspect of the mineralogy of Alum Cave Bluff. The fruits of his labors are encapsulated in the article "The Minerals of Alum Cave Bluff," which appeared in The Mineralogical Record, Volumne 31, March-April, 2000. This precisely documented treatise makes for a most interesting read about a fascinating mineralogical realm.

Aside from being rare and and interesting, many of the rare earth minerals occuring at Alum Cave Bluff make beautiful micromounts. To say they're difficult to come by is understatement. I'm aware of only two such pieces that have ever sold, both of them on eBay. The first was a micro-speck of levinsonite for which someone in Russia paid more than $500 at auction . The other was a coskrenite micromount that was purchased from an an eBay store by scientist on behalf of a university in Australia.

This all goes to say that however dear that bjarebyite mount, I couldn't be happier about this trade that turned me into a micromount enthusiast three years ago. The bounty it reaped bore in addition to coskrenite the levinsonite crystal pictured at right---all in the same piece. I keep looking and looking and looking through my scope. Then I refer to Mindat and can't keep myself from wondering whether one of those little pink crystals near the coskrenite couldn't possibly be zugshunstite.