The Eclectic Lapidary is currently undergoing renovation.
We'll have new issues soon!
INDEX
|
|
How To Explain -- Why Collect Minerals?
|
A question was posed to The Rockhounds Mailing List at the beginning of November. The Eclectic Lapidary is reprinting the original question and a few responses by permission of the authors. Further comments are invited via email to Editor@bovagems.com and the most interesting or unique will be printed in a future issue.
A Mineral Collector's Dilemma
Our Saskatoon Lapidary & Mineral Club tends to be biased towards lapidary. As a result, a few of us mineral collectors have a difficult time trying to explain to the other members why we collect minerals.
Some of our members believe "every" mineral must be cut, hammered, chiselled, split, trimmed, slabbed, tumbled, shaken (but not stirred), faceted, polished, shined, and then made into simply glorious jewelry. It
would be sacrilege to display a mineral specimen in its "natural" state!
One member asked why I collect minerals in the first place. What for? The member simply could not understand why anyone would want to take a beautiful mineral specimen (e.g. $2,000,000 tourmaline) and display it. It was beyond this person's
comprehension.
Would you cut, trim and facet and excellent, rare, pristine, $2,000,000 tourmaline? The above member would think yes, why not!
Does anyone on this mailing list have any suggestions on how to respond when someone asks "why do you collect mineral specimens?"
A frustrated mineral collector,
Dirk
_______________________
Dirk Schmid
dfs846@mail.usask.ca
Geological Sciences
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Canada
Visit the Canadian Rockhound:
http://pangea.usask.ca/~dfs846/rockhound/home.html
Copyright 1997, Dirk Schmid
Reprinted by Permission
Dirk Schmid has stated that the question may be reprinted in club newsletters, provided credit is given
to him.
Selected Responses to
How To Explain -- Why Collect Minerals?
In a world where people play golf, why should anyone need to explain their tastes?
But for those who are sincerely curious, I find it easiest to let the minerals explain for me. I am seldom more than a few steps from one of my more eloquent ones. Perhaps it will be a piece of iridescent hematite from Georgia, shimmering with impossible
purples and greens because of water trapped in its crystal structure. Or the tiny stilbite crystals and sprays of water-clear mesolite I discovered last month by cracking open a
vein of prehnite at Manassas. Or a breathtaking mass of golden celestite crystals from the nearby Blue Ridge mountains.
I have no quarrel with those who love to facet clear gemstones; I hope to learn their art and employ it to offer new treasures to adorn my lady love. Or those who shape the massive minerals into cabachons or
sculptures or beads, or match and fit pieces into elaborate intarsia. I will easily grant that these skills may sometimes bring out the beauty in what might otherwise seem little more than one more dusty bit of stone.
Just so long as they understand that there is a time to leave well enough alone, when nature's hand is beyond improving.
As a psychologist, I have seen how vital it is to have something that demands one's best, that brings out those qualities which lead to the true richness of life: curiosity, enthusiasm, courage, determination. I
have no faith in the stern virtues of will-power and self-sacrifice; they have their place, but they are so hard to sustain for the long haul. And their results are never as wonderful as what you achieve by pursuing that
which you truly love.
Some might see determination or sacrifice in the way I have applied myself to collecting minerals, or to the other loves of my life. But I have never experienced my marriage and family, my career, my spiritual
life, or my avocations as a mineralist, musician, and writer as anything requiring such sternness of character. Each of these demands everything I am capable of giving. I cannot imagine wanting to give any less.
Why collect minerals? You may as well ask, why live?
Ed DeWindt-Robson
dewindt-robson@juno.com
`
****************************
Dirk:
The pure beauty of a mineral specimen is beyond anything I can do to it to "improve" its beauty. I cut and polish but I cannot duplicate the magnificence of some golden yellow mimetite on velvet siderite on
limonite from Chihuahua, or the absolute beauty of a natural topaz or danburite from San Luis Potosi.
There is nothing that can rival a beautiful natural mineral. That is not to put down those who cut, polish
and mount. It is an art and it beautiful.. Just that some things are "beautifuller."
Just my two cents,
Walt
Walter Bowser
Geological Artifacts & Mineral Search Tours
geologo@earthlink.net
=====================================
Why collect minerals? To me, that's like asking "Why listen to music?" or "Why watch the rainbow?" or "Why watch the sunset?" One collects minerals for their beauty. I am a chemical engineer. When I admire a specimen, I have some idea of the many forces
and laws of physics and chemistry and nature that have interacted to produce that one sample. But, I am awed by the fact that they combined to produce beauty. Further, such beauty of structure and color and combination is far superior to anything I could
invent. I don't feel I possess such beauty – I am merely the current caretaker. It should continue through the generations so that they too may be awed.
So, one collects minerals as a way to bring beauty and awe into everyday life, as a way to bring light whenever the world looks dark, as a reminder that this old earth is an awesome place, and as a way to share a small piece of joy with our family and
friends.
Mel Albright
mel@galstar.com
==================
I read this thread with great interest. I suppose I fall squarely on the side of the lapidarists in this discussion, since I do not consciously collect minerals for their own sake. However, I had to giggle when I read that another lapidarist was willing
to cut a perfect $2 million dollar tourmaline crystal specimen. That individual must have a much more lavish budget for rough than I do!
Seriously, of course I would not cut a pristine and perfect mineral specimen. Most of the rough that I purchase for cutting (or deal in as a rough dealer, for that matter) is far from perfect as a specimen. Often I
obtain water-tumbled pebbles of rough, or at most partial crystal sections. None of these pieces have much intrinsic value to the mineral collector. In fact, my humble lapidary efforts to bring something of beauty out of them are, I believe, a definite
improvement of the material. I am engaged in finding the beauty within a piece of rough, and rendering it readily visible to anyone.
One thing that pleases me a great deal when I am cutting is the permanence of the objects I am creating. If I were to bury my entire stock of rough in a field, it would be an interesting archeological find in the future.
The future archeologist would know that some creature had assembled this collection of stones from many locations, because of their durability and beauty. But if I were to bury my humble collection of cut stones, the cache would become a treasure trove.
Even a very different future culture would (1) appreciate our technology, necessary to cut the stones, (2) appreciate our aesthetic sense in desiring to transform the materials in this way, and (3) value the hoard of gems for their beauty and value, in
the same way that I value them today, and the same way that archeologists of today value the art objects of the past. Because of the durability of many of the stones that I cut, I am creating a permanent work of art. I am not the greatest lapidary
artist, by a long shot; but the permanence and value of my material constantly pushes me to improve, so as to become worthy of my material.
The primary reason that I cut gems instead of collecting mineral specimens has to do with my own interests and drives. Another reason is the cost of fine mineral specimens. I can afford to buy fine cutting rough, even very fine cutting rough on
occasion. However, the cost of many very fine mineral specimens (for example $2 million tourmaline crystal specimens) is entirely out of my league. There are other costs associated with mineral collecting, it seems, such as storage and display
cabinetry, which can become quite involved. I very much appreciate a fine mineral collection when I have a chance to see one in a museum or a show, but am not driven to create my own.
That may change one day. My lapidary career has evolved a great deal over the years, from making jewelry out of gemstone beads, to tumbling, to cabbing, and now to faceting. Perhaps when my husband and I have more money and more space, our home will be
lined with well-lighted specimen cabinets and I'll be writing on the other side of a question like this one.
The mining of most gem rough is geared toward the economics of cut gemstones, and many fine mineral specimens are destroyed or damaged during mining. Sometimes the damage is deliberate, because protecting, porting out and selling individual mineral
specimens is more trouble than the mass handling that cutting rough receives. Even if all the hobby cutters in the world stopped buying rough, the same pressures would exist, driven by the huge commercial cutting industry and the demands of the public
worldwide
for cut gems.
Bickering between lapidary hobbyists and mineral collectors isn't the answer. If it weren't for the demand for commercial cutting rough, neither hobby cutters nor mineral collectors would have access to many of the world's gem and mineral deposits, which
are discovered and opened up at great expense by people who hope to make money from them. Working together, hobby cutters and mineral collectors can expand the numbers of people involved in each activity by forming and supporting clubs. Increased demand
for mineral specimens and increased information about the needs of mineral collectors may provide more financial incentive for miners to preserve unique and valuable mineral specimens.
Just my $0.02 :-)
Cate Harrison, Aragon Gems
cate@aragon.interspeed.net
************************************
Aragon Gems Fine Gem Cutting Rough.
http://aragon.interspeed.net JPEGs of our entire stock!
***********************************************
To pose your own question or send a comment, write to
editor@bovagems.com
Mail to Mark
by Mark Liccini
Mark Liccini starts a new question and answer feature. This month he talks about polishing quartz in Brazil.
Dear Mark,
If my assumptions are correct, I gather you are in the gem business in Brazil. I am a small special order/designer of jewelry & have cut gems since the late '40s.
I have a question I thought you might be able to answer for me. I've always been curious what type of polishing lap for quartz is most often used by the Brazilian cutters. I know they have to polish very fast in order to be successful on a commercial
basis. I also have observed that the facets of many stones I see are slightly curved convex. I wondered if this was caused by a soft lap or some other factor.
Hi,thanks for your E-mail. I am based now in New Jersey, next to Manhattan, New York. But I have lived on and off in Brazil for 17 years. I have had offices in several towns,cities and one factory. Now I just have site buyers working for me and I fly in
for only one or two weeks at a time.
To try to answer your question, in Brazil you might find a few people working with faceting machines like in the U.S., but very few. They don't have them there for sale and even laps and sawblades, etc. must be imported. That does not mean they are using
inferior tools. In the case of laps, wheels and sawblades, they are using better than most American cutters. The laps/saw blades are imported from Idar-Oberstein, Germany and Diamond powder they make themselves (there are huge Diamond deposits in Brazil).
Other than that, they use normal polishing compounds like Cerium oxide. They use a lot of Aluminum Oxide. As
for polishing laps for Quartz, I am not sure. I have only seen them using metal laps. I have never had a cutting factory there. My factory was cobbing, and we did a lot of mass heat treating.
I will tell you something interesting about the lapidaries there. As I said, some do have American or Korean made machines.(look like Graves). But almost all facet jamb peg. Just a stick and a board with holes in it. And if they want to, and some do only
this, they can cut meet point facets. But they are all commercial cutters. So the rounded facets you talk about are because of cheating, twisting the stone in the polishing to just smear over a spot you missed.
This gets the job done faster, and the buyers on the street don't want to pay for first quality work. There is no such thing as someone cutting for the love of it there. The Lapidaries are poor. They are doing it to eat, or get beer that night.
I hope that answers your question.
If you would like to be on my emailing list, send me an email. I don't blast people with advertising. Only
infrequent E-mails, brief with links to the lists up at my web site.
Mark Liccini
|
|
Copyright, 1997
|
Mark Liccini has been in many aspects of the gem business for many years. Visit his site to learn all about him and the Brazilian material he brings to us.
Liccini
107C.Columbus Dr.#1A
Jersey City,N.J.07302
Phone/Fax:201-333-6332
|
|
