[Rockhounds] Numbering Specimens / Collections catalogs

[Alan Goldstein]

My fossil and mineral collection cataloging began in ~1979. The minerals are 
a numerical sequence by mineral class, the fossils have a letter-number 
sequence (Crinoid = CRI123, etc.). Would I use the same system if starting 
today? Minerals - no, fossils - yes.

I don't even want to bother entering the collection in a computer database 
because I have too many specimens. It would take me months. I've separated 
my mineral and fossil collection catalogs because I don't have a three-ring 
binder large enough to hold their combined pages. I do keep a copy of my 
catalog in a drawer at work and I have been slowly photgraphing my 
collection and copying it to CDs. That is one reason why I have posted 1,300 
mineral photos on mindat.

The motivation to catalog started when I was a high school student 
volunteering at the natural history museum that was getting ready to 
re-open. I saw how much history was recorded in Gerard Troost's catalogs 
(written between 1828 - 1849). Whether my personal collection and catalogs 
will end up in a museum remains to be seen. I hope my fossil collection does 
and at least the interesting locality specimens from my area. My fossil 
collection is already too large to donate to the park interpretive center 
where I work. In any case, I hope I have a few more decades to add to the 
collection.

Nearly 20 years ago, while science curator at the museum where I volunteered 
a decade earlier, I accessioned a mineral collection from a shotgun-style 
house in west Louisville. The house had floor jacks to keep the rocks from 
warping the joists! The collection was not top-quality, but contained a 
seven volume catalog and collections of correspondence, dealer catalogs and 
magazines dating back to ~1870. That started my saving correspondence and 
memoriabilia.

Luckily (for me) my wife puts up with it! She use to collect with me until 
health issues arose. I have work spaces in and around the house and she has 
her space so she only complains right after a major collecting trip before I 
have a chance to move things out of the kitchen or around the computer work 
station. Right now I have brought home a very large mineral exhibit from the 
interpretive center and am trying to put everything away. It will take a few 
days, but it gives me a chance to reorganize a storage cabinet.

Alan G.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kreigh Tomaszewski" <Kreigh at tomaszewski.net>
To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 7:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Numbering Specimens (WAS: Paint)


> John,
>
> If you had started numbering specimens when you started collecting they 
> would roughly be in a time sequence. But the number is just a unique 
> identifier to tie together the specimen, the label, and the catalog entry. 
> If you have ten specimens of the same rock from the same trip you have ten 
> numbers (some of them may turn out to have micro crystals of something 
> unique). And it really doesn't matter what order you put them in.
>
> If you want to try sub-classifying you are going to have the problem of 
> remembering the next sequence number for each sub-classification. I have 
> specimens from old collections that used a Dana # -- sequence number to 
> identify each specimen. A different sub class for every mineral, each with 
> its own sequence number. Seems to be overkill to me.
>
> If you don't want to maintain a 'where did I put the specimen' field in 
> your catalog, organize your specimens by sequence number. Otherwise the 
> sequence number is just a unique identifier. Put your catalog on the 
> computer. You can slice and dice your collection into any kind of 
> sub-category easily to get a list of matching specimen numbers to go pull 
> out of the collection.
>
> So grab the nearest specimen, slap a Siebel0001 label on it, put the same 
> number on the label, and create a catalog entry. Grab the next one and 
> repeat with the next number. If your needs change along the way, all you 
> need to do is add some fields to your catalog; no need to change the 
> numbers.
>
> Kreigh