Calcite.  A Calcite Scepter from Russia and a Calcite included with Boulangerite from Romania

So how do you decide what to include in your collection.  I am a collector who enjoys the pursuit, the treasure hunt.    I attend so many shows as a dealer and as a wholesale buyer I needed to develop a strategy to develop my own collection.  I decided on thumbnails and even though there are fewer and fewer good thumbnail dealers out there my collection still was overflowing with minerals I had only purchased because they were available.  Now I focus.  I will consider all thumbnail minerals but I pursue an agenda until I have filled that space.  Currently I am collecting quartz from US locations.  I have been pursuing that goal for about 2 years.  Another strategy is to only purchase interesting examples of common minerals. So here we have two calcites - my scepter and my space ship.

Apatite is one of my favorite minerals.  It occurs in a wide range of colors, blues, greens,pinks, yellows and some not so lovely shades of brown and red.  Because of its lovely colors and clarity it is commonly faceted for jewelry.  It is not particularly hard (5 on Mohs scale) so if you are going to use it in jewelry use it for earrings or pendants (above the waist jewelry).

We have field collected apatite in Ontario and Quebec.  If you are nearby an apatite fee collecting area give it a try as it is an easy mineral to collect and generally pretty, even in the less spectacular colors.  In the right mine or pit you could easily come away with a nice 3 or 4 inch crystal, the trick is taking it out in the matrix.

Here is an apatite from Cerro De Mercado Iron Mine, Durango, Mexico, a famous and productive location for yellow to yellowish green gemmy apatites. Tomorrow I will show you a very similar apatite from Utah.

Hello.  I am Maryanne Fender.  I married into a family of long time mineral collectors.  In 1996 John and I started selling minerals at shows as Fender Natural Resources.  We still sell at shows in Tucson, Denver and in Texas.  Recently I branched out selling cabochons, jewelry stones, crystals and miniature minerals on Etsy.

We are always asked "What do you collect?"  So I am starting this blog to answer that question.  John pursues collecting macro (can be seen without aid of magnification) very rare minerals ranging in size from 2 inches up to about 8 inches.  I collect just about anything as long as it is a thumbnail mineral - that is a macro mineral that can fit into a 1 inch cube.  Thumbnail mineral collectors store their prizes in small clear acrylic boxes called "perkies" which are a 1.25 inch cube.

  Thumbnail collectors traditionally have arranged their collection alphabetically so today I start with Adamite. So here is one of my many adamites.

 Adamites is a  fairly rare arsenate mineral and some of the best come from Mina Ojuela, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico - as does this specimen.  The yellow adamites fluoresce a lovely kelly green when lit with a short wave ultraviolet light. The yellow adamites range in color to a yellowish green. Adamite also comes in a violet variety called Mangan Adamite and a blue green variety called Cuprian Adamite.  You can learn more about adamite at webmineral: Adamite Mineral Data.