[Rockhounds] Texas collectors MR supplement

[Rik Dillen]

Tim et al,

I second your opinion completely. The supplement is nothing more than a nice photo book with spectacular specimens, unreachable for 99 % of the collectors. Besides the fact that the specimens on each page are owned by the same person I see absolutely no connection, and this supplement does not learn me anything. I'm not jealous because I have less money, I just want such a magazine to emphasize more on education than on public relations of wealthy individuals.
I would like much more effort on practical issues concerning mineral collecting, articles on localities, "real" mineralogy (e.g. physical properties of minerals and its background, scientific methods for mineral identification (e.g. SEM, XRD, ore microscopy, the new emerging hand-held Raman-spectrometry instruments etc.), tips and tricks for conservation and dozens of other subjects that almost nearly never appear in this magazine.
Anyway, this supplement is certainly not what I was waiting for :>)

My two €-cents...
Grts,

Rik DILLEN 
E-mail rik.dillen at skynet.be 
Homepage : http://users.skynet.be/rik.dillen 

MINERANT 2009
9-10/5/2009
Antwerp Expo - Antwerpen - Belgium
www.minerant.org

-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Tim Jokela Jr.
Sent: dinsdag 3 februari 2009 5:50
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Texas collectors MR supplement

Well I'll be damned, I'm not the only one!

I suspect it's completely funded by the wealthy Texas collectors themselves, 
so not much point complaining to WW.
If MR did put funds or time into it... oy. Who needs more mindless rock 
porn? Somebody add up the beryl, rhodo, and tourmaline photos, how boring, 
same old stuff. Perhaps two specimens in there of interest to the real 
collector. I'd far rather have a full-color supplement on what's new from 
Mont Saint-Hilaire, or Laurium, or Kola.
NEWSFLASH TO MIN REC: if you've seen one 10k Pakistani aqua, you've seen 
them all.
While it's lovely to know what the idle rich of Texas are up to, a vanity 
mag is of no use to me whatsoever, and will be in my club's next auction.
Why MR is going down this path, I do not know. One suspects the editor is 
getting far too cozy with his arrogant millionaire buddies.
Tim Jokela Jr
tjokela at execulink.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Goldstein" <deepskyspy at insightbb.com>
To: "Rockhounds List" <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 4:07 PM
Subject: [Rockhounds] Texas collectors MR supplement

I would like to hear comments from the list regarding the free Texas mineral 
collectors freebie included with the current issue of Mineralogical Record. 
It contains some pretty photos (a lot of Sweet Home rhodochrosites and 
tourmaline crystals) along with a two paragraph bio from each of the 29 
collectors (or couples). There are some nice fluorite specimens (one of my 
favorite species) scattered among them.

While I like a bunch of pretty pictures as much as the next collector, I 
would rather see those folks with deep pockets fund something more 
educational or historically significant. How about a supplement of the best 
self-collected specimens and the stories behind their discovery?

Alan G.