My last lecturing activity was with Bluecap Productions as cohost at the annual shows in Tucson and Munich, Germany. While doing all this I've come across all sorts of funny, scary and strange events which I'd like to share which you.
COLLECTING STIBNITE IN MEXICO
Bill Panczner and I used to spend days and weeks in Mexico collecting. On one monthlong trip accompanied by Bill's son Chris and my son Evan, we went to the silver mine at Fresnillo where we knew stibnite had been found. We hoped to collect specimens of it for the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
The mine superintendent guided us underground to the working face. As we walked along a tunnel with walls of solid sulfide minerals, we saw some small scraps of stibnite crystals on the floor. They had come from an open pocket about 20 feet up the wall. Without a ladder, we were out of luck until the superintendent left us and brought back a front-loader bulldozer. The driver dropped the bucket and Chris and Evan climbed in and were lifted to the crystal pocket so they could collect specimens. After a bit, I insisted they come down so Bill and I could have a turn at the stibnite.
We collected a modest number of specimens for the museum. But we had a problem. We had not planned on collecting on the initial walk. Luckily, there were some empty explosives cartons and sheets of packing paper left from earlier mining activities.
This story is from the December 2022 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
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This story is from the December 2022 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORGAN HILL POPPY JASPER
In California, there are very few places to collect semi-precious stones. Many locations from the past have been either exhausted of the material or the land has been developed.
THE ACORN
The briolette gemstone has the same design attributes of a regular gemstone, however, the pavilion is elongated and the crown is usually domed. This is perfect for an elegant pendant, earrings or a pendulum.
HOW TO PUT A PROTECTIVE CAP ON A CAB
To protect a specimen cab, often a cap is needed. In my case, I had a slab with the because of the color of the background and the pattern. This background had a more silicified consistency than most sandstones. It had no graininess like most sandstone, so I'm inclined to compare it to a jasper. The pattern was typical of a dendrite.
The Resilient Revival of Anne Brontë & Her Stones
For the first time, the Anne Brontë rock collection underwent complete description and identification, and along with Professor Hazel Hutchison of Leeds University and Dr. Enrique Lozano Diz at ELODIZ (a company specializing in spectroscopy analysis), an analysis of that collaboration, Anne Brontë and Geology: A Study of her Collection of Stones, was published in April 2022 in Volume 47, Issue 2 of the peer-reviewed journal, Brontë Studies & Gazette.\"
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