[Rockhounds] museums selling specimines

[Grant Johnston]

Several years ago I stopped at the California Stte Gem and Mineral
Museum in Mariposa.  They had dozens of little perkey boxes with
labeled specimines for sale for $2 each. As I went through them,
picking out what I wanted, the Ranger told me they had been left to
the museum from the estate of a mineral collector.

Nobody knew what to do with them so they decided to sell them for $2
per box. I was only the second perrson to look through them. I
remember she said the first person filled up "3 flats" but I can't
remember how many were in a flat.

I'm a rockhound, not a mineral collector, but I bought about $20
worth. They are nice to have because of the lables wih locations
identified. However, I'm not sure if the person who left them to the
museum intended for them to be sold. I'm pretty sure some of them were
worth a lot more than $2. Somebody got a deal.

Grant