[Rockhounds] Texas collectors MR supplement

Wed Feb 4 09:40:14 PST 2009

Dear Sandra (et al.),
I appreciate your view on the issue, and have read (as you do) also other's opinions.
They (M.R.) could also have set up the supplement in another way. Instead of just arranging photos of randomly chosen very beautiful specimens in order of ownership, they could e.g. have written an issue on the mineralogy of Texas, with the request of all owners of minerals from Texas to use photos of their specimens to illustrate the article. Or whatever form of a logical subject, linked or not to specific collectors, rather than a nice book full of photos. Comments/text is lacking in this supplement.
But again, that's just how I personally see it... many others will see it through a different pair of glasses (I just have new glasses, that's perhaps why :>)
My next 2 (€-)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 Sandra B. Gee
Sent: woensdag 4 februari 2009 18:20
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Texas collectors MR supplement

It is helpful that Wendell gets an idea of what subscribers to Mineralogical Record want to see covered in future issues.  It is an interesting idea about having a pictorial essay on the best self collected specimens or the best rarest speices collection.  In the same way, I think that is how Min Rec came up with the Texas Collectors Supplement.
According to the Notes From The Editor in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue, it was input from some of the mineral societies in Texas that got the idea for the Texas Collectors Supplement started.  
A reason for the supplement directly from the Notes From The Editor, 
“In any field of collecting, there is simply no substitute for seeing a lot of specimens to broaden one’s knowledge base.  A book like this is the equivalent of a series of non-competitve displays, the next best thing to visiting each of the private collectors and seeing some of their favorite specimens in person.”
I am one of the collectors featured in the Texas Collectors Supplement.
Of the 29 collectors, there is 
---a CPA (Gus Eifler), 
---a physician (myself), 
---a math professor (Will Heierman), 
---a psychologist (Jim Houran), 
---a school administrator (Shelly Houran), 
---a museum curator (Mark Mauthner), 
---a sixth grade science teacher (Jeff Starr) and 
---an attorney (Rob Thacker).
Although the overwhelming majority of the collectors are in the oil and gas business, not all of us in the supplement can be described as “the idle rich of Texas”.   I first heard ideas about this supplement being batted around Spring of 2008.   Maybe I look like the idle rich because I spent the latter half of last year saving up money to help fund my share of the supplement.
I have a spouse who has been openly hostile to my mineral collecting.  Realistically, I won’t have the opportunity to have a lot of other mineral collectors coming by to see my small modest collection.  Since I am a visual learner, I do benefit from seeing other collectors’ collections to learn what constitutes a fine mineral specimen.  In this process, I’ve also gotten a better idea of what I do and don’t want to collect.  
It is unfortunate that there has been some stereotyping and negative emotions evoked from the supplement.  It would be my guess that to have a supplement focusing on the  best self collected specimens or the best rarest speices collection would create a similar response.  After all, how do you choose the criteria for best rarest specimen or best self collected specimen collection?
The reason I am on this list is that I do enjoy collecting minerals.  I choose to read the opinions of others that I don’t agree with and still remain with a group that has been very helpful for me in pursing my interest in minerals.
Sandra Burkhead Gee, M.D.

--- On Tue, 2/3/09, Alan Goldstein <deepskyspy at insightbb.com> wrote:

> From: Alan Goldstein <deepskyspy at insightbb.com>
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Texas collectors MR supplement
> To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 7:13 PM
> It was completely funded by the Texas collectors.
> 
> Perhaps a few of us can draft a letter to the editor to ask
> Min Rec to focus 
> on education and not promotion of individual or groups of
> collectors. 
> Wendell would more likely print it if written and signed by
> several readers. 
> I don't mind full page ads taken out by wealthy
> collectors to support the 
> magazine, but 180 pages of funding could be better spent to
> benefit the 
> subscribers.
> 
> Any takers? You can contact me directly so the entire list
> doesn't have to 
> hear about it, although we can present the result for
> comments if any other 
> readers want to co-sign it.
> 
> Alan G.
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tim Jokela Jr."
> <tjokela at execulink.com>
> To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock
> and gem collectors" 
> <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 11:49 PM
> 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.
> >
> > --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> > multipart/alternative
> >  text/plain (text body -- kept)
> >  text/html
> > ---
> > -- 
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