2013 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium Recap

A Supplement to the Mineralogical Record

Kunzite, Afghanistan Photo by Joe Budd

AUGUST 23-25, 2013

Visit our website for updates regarding next year’s 2014 Dallas Symposium, including speakers, events, and more!

August 22-24, 2014 2014 Symposium Speakers Dr. Robert Hazen The Great Oxidation Event - Diversity of Colorful Mineral Species Dr. Peter Megaw Adventures in Mexico’s Great Mineral Mines Evan Jones Milpillas, Mexico - A Modern Bonanza Dr. James Houran Thumbnail Specimens: Little Treasures - Collecting and Competing Les Presmyk Red Cloud - The World’s Greatest Wulfenite Locality Dr. David Mustart Origin of Precious Metal Deposits - Mines That Produce World-Class Collectible Specimens Dr. Robert Cook Gold Rush - California’s Crystallized Gold Specimens Tony Frazier Gold Fever - Australia’s Goldfields, Nuggets, and Specimens

www.DallasSymposium.org

The 2013 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium was the most successful and well-attended Dallas Symposium yet!

We proudly presented another world-class line-up of top speakers in the field for this Third Annual Dallas Symposium, covering everything from dangerous mining adventures to out-of-this-world mineral analysis.

For those of you who were unable to join us, we hope you enjoy these photos of the event, lecture summaries, and speaker biographies.

We hope to see you next year for the 2014 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium!

Friday, August 23, 2013 Evening cocktail party in the Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science The Mamones Photography

Saturday, August 24 Symposium Lectures at Southern Methodist University covered a wide range of exciting mineral talks. The speakers biographies and topics are detailed on the following pages. The full day of lectures included a lunch as well as mineral exhibits, and was followed by a gallery party and open house at The Arkenstone.

You have done a wonderful thing by bringing to life a wonderful mix of mineralogy, mineral collecting, mining history, and mineral beauty, that was breathtaking and most enjoyable to all who attended. Bravo!

- Joan MassaguĂŠ

The Third Annual Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium was well-planned, organized, and executed. My wife and I enjoyed the friendly ambiance of the evening event at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and I was extremely impressed with the speakers and their excellent presentation.

- Don Lum

The speakers you arranged for were all informative AND entertaining. With the other receptions and soirees, the weekend was a most enjoyable one, and we are truly looking forward to repeating next year.

- Herb Obodda

Our Generous Sponsors

Mineralogical Association of Dallas

Daniel Trinchillo Daniel’s interest in minerals began at eight years of age and has developed into his lifelong passion. He has been immersed in the world of mineral connoisseurship since the first show he attended in New Jersey in 1987, where he began honing his eye for quality and beauty. Daniel began to establish himself in the mineral industry at the age of 19 by traveling the world, particularly to Russia and China, and familiarizing himself with foreign mineral markets. He has operated several mines across the globe and currently is a part owner and operator of the Pederneira Mine in Brazil, renowned for incredible tourmaline specimens. His willingness to travel the world at a moment’s notice, and to go where others would not, served him well in establishing sources for minerals that were hard to find on the market previously. With an eye for aesthetics, crystal perfection and an unerring commitment to quality, Trinchillo has become an internationally recognized purveyor of fine minerals to museums and private collectors around the world. For the past 4 years, he has also been the acting curator of the Lyda Hill Gem and Mineral Hall at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX).

Pederneir a – A R ainbow of Colors Daniel Trinchillo, one of the owners of the Pederneira Mine located in Minas Gerais, Brazil, will share various aspects of his experiences in mining there over the past 14 years.

He will briefly discuss the discovery of the mine and some history surrounding prior exploitations of the pegmatite. Trinchillo will take you through a tour of several of the finest pockets the mine has produced in the past decade.

Pederneira is internationally recognized for producing some of the worlds’ finest tourmalines and is one of the most successful mining ventures operated for specimens to date.

Brice Gobin Brice Gobin comes from a family that has been in the gem and minerals business for over four decades. Brice’s passion for gems, minerals, and natural sciences began in the mid-1970s at an early age when his late father, a renowned mineral dealer and collector, took Brice to visit the National History Museum in Paris when he was 5 years old. Working with his brother, Christophe, he built a large business specializing in African mineral exports (both wholesale and fine specimens), which served as a platform to conduct mining ventures and investments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, and elsewhere. Since splitting off on his own as a fine mineral dealer, Brice has grown to specialize in only exceptional and rare gemstones and minerals specimens from around the world, with emphasis on Africa. He currently lives in and works from Dubai.

“Into the Wild” - Mining Adventures in Congo Some of Brice Gobin’s more exceptional adventures have taken him deep into the Democratic Republic of Congo to the home of some of the world’s richest deposits of copper, cobalt, diamonds, and the infamous natural resource, coltan. DRC is a wild place with militaries everywhere, civil wars, and constant rebellions. Despite the country’s political strife, Gobin set up a headquarters in Lumbumbashi for the wholesale malachite trade and uses it as a base to pursue world-class specimens from DRC. This will be a talk about triumphs and troubles in Congo, and the difficulty of getting mineral specimens collected and exported from such a place. He will share his stories of some of the classic Congo minerals: Malachites; Cobaltoan calcites; and Carrollites (the discovery of the century for the species) in the DRC.

Bill Larson Bill Larson, President of Pala International Inc., was interested in gems and minerals from a very early age when he combed San Diego County with his father and collectors Josephine Scripps and John Sinkankas in search of mineral and gem crystals. In 1968, Larson and partner Ed Swoboda formed Pala Properties International and worked three gem mines in San Diego County, CA: Tourmaline Queen, Stewart Lithia, and Pala Chief, whose histories all go back to the 1800s. In 1972, an extraordinary strike of the now iconic bluecap tourmalines at the Queen made their name synonymous with the world’s finest tourmalines. After 1980, Larson continued alone with his own company, Pala Intl., mining the Himalaya Mine for both specimens and gemstones. Larson is a respected veteran of the gem and mineral world and travels extensively, including more than 30 trips into Myanmar (Burma). Pala International is a founding member of the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA), and Larson served on the Board of Directors for six years, as well as being chairman of the Ethics & Grievance Committee for several years.

The Most Productive Tourmaline Mine in North America: The Himalaya Mine

The most productive tourmaline mine in North America is the Himalaya Mine of San Diego County, which was producing carving-grade tourmaline for the Empress Dowager of China by 1900. In all, it is estimated to have produced 90 tons over 100 years. Its storied history includes being the source of many fine tourmaline gems used by Tiffany & Co. in that era. Bill Larson, current owner of the property, will trace its specimen-mining history to the present day. His company, beginning in a 1970s partnership with the great collector Ed Swoboda, dove 16000 feet of underground tunnel in 1977-1997. The Himalaya Mine, like the Pederneira Mine, is a case study of how the synergy between gems and specimens, which has reversed over time in terms of importance and value in the market, can lead to the profitable mining of both in the same mine.

Dr. Robert Downs Dr. Robert Downs began mineral collecting at 8 years old in Canada, and he followed his interests to a PhD in mineralogy from Virginia Tech, followed by a post-doc at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In 1996 he moved to Tucson to be the mineralogy professor at the University of Arizona. He is active in professional mineralogical societies, serving on the council of Mineralogical Society of America and acting as a member of the executive board of the International Mineralogical Association. Downs is the director of the RRUFF project and the University of Arizona Mineral Museum and a coinvestigator on the Mars Rover Curiosity mission. He has published 200+ professional papers.

Analytical Techniques on Earth and Mars

Think you’ve traveled far for minerals? Check again. Dr. Downs will be presenting a review of the mission of the Mars rover Curiosity with a special emphasis on a practical use of mineral identification techniques. Since minerals are defined by chemistry and crystal structure, Dr. Downs will explain how the methodologies of characterization and identification used by the Curiosity rover are the same as we use on Earth, and how his lab has contributed to an understanding of both new species and identification of samples on both worlds. Surprisingly, the results of the other-worldly experiments indicate that the mineralogy of Mars is similar to that of Hawaii!

Jolyon R alph Jolyon Ralph is the founder and webmaster of the respected website, Mindat.org, which has grown into the largest online resource for minerals and mineral locality information.

Jolyon started collecting minerals when he was five years old, and started computer programming when he was ten, so it was inevitable these two interests would eventually combine. Jolyon is married to Katya, and both of them enjoy travelling to promote and to support Mindat.org.

In 2011 Jolyon was awarded the Mineralogical Society of America’s Public Service Medal for his work.

Mindat and Its Uses

Mindat.org is a tremendous mature resource for all mineral collectors and enthusiasts. Built by a large community of volunteers over thirteen years (Mindat.org started the year before Wikipedia was launched), it has of course become an important reference tool. But there are many other ways Mindat.org can help collectors, from cataloging your collection to identifying help and valuations. Don’t forget the many valuable ways in which you can help Mindat.org, also! Mindat.org founder Jolyon Ralph will demonstrate some new features including the first public preview of our new galleries system.

Jolyon and Katya with the Weardale Giant Fluorite, Rogerley Mine in Weardale, County Durham, England

Dr. Peter Lyckberg Dr. Peter Lyckberg is a well-known Swedish field collector who has been collecting since the age of 4 and traveled the world to see, collect and discover many great pockets. At the age of 11 he began to participate in university field expeditions in geology, and has now been to over 2,500 mines and quarries. He has been visiting mineral shows since 1976, selling some of the minerals he found to finance his large collection, which is now one of the finest in Europe. He discovered the famous golden calcites at the Malmberget Mine in polar Sweden in 1988. In 1992, he was the first Westerner to visit the Ural Mountain gem mines in Russia since the Russian Revolution, and is probably now the most extensively traveled Westerner throughout the Russian mines and pegmatites. Peter serves on the editorial board of various mineralogical journals and has been teaching geology/mineralogy since 1985. He currently works as the international Nuclear Inspector for the European Commission in Belgium.

Russian Gem Mines

The gem mines of Russia are among the most classic gem pegmatites in the world and produced magnificent specimens and gemstones since the 1600s, including heliodor, aquamarine, emerald, alexandrite, a variety of blue, champagne, imperial, and pink topaz, and the famous red tourmaline known as “Siberite.” In 1986, Peter Lyckberg made his first trip to Russia and after years of hard work (calling, writing, making contacts), he visited the “dream pegmatites” in the Ural Mountains, the Alabashka and Mursinka mines, and the Tokovaja Emerald-Alexandrite mines in 1992. Later, he also traveled to the gem mines of Siberia and Volodarsk in Ukraine (in 1995). He worked with the chief geologists to predict and collect a number of pockets and to document their specimen finds. Lyckberg will share some of the stories of the extreme difficulties of traveling in Russia alone in those dangerous times, and share some unique photographs from in situ that give an idea of the conditions in which the specimens are found, as well as show off some beautiful specimen photos.

Dave Wilber David Wilber collected as a child, serious already by 1950. As the years passed, Dave’s connoisseurship and his status as a world-class collector continued to grow. His name became synonymous with minerals of perfection, as did his strong interest in paying top dollar for minerals without damage (very small damages have since become known as “wilbers”), which he regarded as superior (revolutionary at the time). In 1974, he purchased the better part of the Dr. Peter Bancroft collection, 52 specimens for $400,000, the highest price ever paid for a modern-era American mineral collection at the time, and for long after. Most people in the field consider this event, in addition to Dave’s passionate belief in the escalating and standout the value of the very best specimens, to have sparked the modern high-end mineral market. His passion for minerals has continued, even though he has sold off his collections and now collects antique glass. Dave has worked in a number of consultancy roles for museums and private collectors and now lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Treasures From My Collections, and Changes in Mineral Collecting Over 60 Years Dave has been around minerals for over 60 years, and has witnessed firsthand the transition of mineral collecting from a “rockhounders” hobby in the USA to a world-wide integrated market and its present emergence as an art-style asset class. He has been credited with sparking much of the modern “symptom” of high prices associated with the best specimens, and will share with us some of his observations and insights from collecting these treasures. He will share stories of some of the famous pieces he has handled (many of which are also in the IKONS book) and of how much the hobby has changed over the years.

Photo credit: Mineralogical Record, Tucson 50th Anniversary Issue

Dr. Eugene Meieran Gene Meieran received his MS and ScD in Materials Science from MIT in 1963 thanks to his interest in natural crystals. Since then, he has worked on many of the important problems that impacted the emerging semi-conductor industry. Gene joined Intel in 1973, and has been honored as a Senior Intel Fellow since 2003. Gene started collecting minerals in 1949. After moving to Phoenix, AZ in 1988, he began a long friendship with Wayne Thompson, who helped Gene evolve his collecting interests to high-quality gem species and native element crystals. He spear-headed the extraordinary “American Mineral Treasures” exhibits at the 2008 Tucson show and co-authored the companion book. Many of his important specimens have been donated to major museums including Harvard and The Smithsonian. For his work in mineral preservation and education, he was awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medal in 2004.

Collecting the Best-Ikons and the Ikons Book

Photo credit: Wendell Wilson, Mineralogical Record, IKONS

Gene takes center stage as he discusses his friend, Wayne Thompson, and Wayne’s legendary IKONS book. Wayne has personally collected and/or managed projects around the world for specimen recovery, and Gene will talk about some of the highlights of Wayne’s efforts, particularly Pakistani gem crystals, the Medina aquamarine pocket, the Urucum kunzite pocket, and the fine wulfenites from the San Francisco Mine in Sonora, Mexico. Gene has witnessed Wayne’s progression in the hobby and watched Wayne’s experiences in selling the finest specimens from his projects and collections as the mineral market matured over the years from 1970 till now.

These experiences are now distilled into Wayne’s book IKONS. This book documents the criteria that Wayne has found over the years to reflect both marketability and status in the finest specimens, the “Van Goghs” of the Mineral World. The IKONS book is today considered the best short reference work on the subject, and Gene will expand on some of the stories from the book.

Photos by Joe Budd

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What a great weekend. Your efforts have made Dallas the mineral focal point that rivals Tucson in many ways.

Good for you!

Thanks for all you do.

- Bob Jones

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science

Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall

Welcome Party

Photos by The Mamones Photography, Gail Spann, and Jolyon Ralph

SYMPOSIUM TALKS AT SMU

“The best three days of minerals of my entire life!”

-Dave Wilber

The Arkenstone Open House

Photos by The Mamones Photography, Gail Spann, and Jolyon Ralph

Nature & ScieNce auctioNS More exciting auctions in 2014

Join us for Hoppel 3!

Gypsum Red River Floodway, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 4 x 3.4 x 1.25 inches (10.2 x 8.6 x 3.2 cm)

inquiries: Craig Kissick CraigK@HA.com 877-HERITAGE (437-4824) Ext. 1995

For a free auction catalog in any category, plus a copy of The Collector’s Handbook (combined value $65), visit HA.com/MR30143 or call 866-835-3243 and reference code MR30143.

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