Running out of space {was: Re: [Rockhounds] AD - Cabinet Sizespecimens}

Mon Jan 12 09:22:45 PST 2009

Getting somewhat older has its advantages too (besides many more
disadvantages) : for each grown-up child that left our home I got one more
room to store minerals.
Anyway, the main purpose of my mineral collection is for my entertainment.
That means that my children are completely free to do whatever they want
with my collection after my death. Whatever suits them most is OK for me :
selling the collection as a whole (at a fraction of the price it is worth,
probably), selling piece by piece, donate it to a museum, a club or one or
more individual(s), keep it for themselves (which I doubt they would do) or
whatever.

As the function of the collection is my personal entertainment, the function
of the collection as such will cease to exist at that moment.
My children will have the freedom to do whatever they like (I am confident
that they would not just scrap it), I am completely relaxed about the fate
of my collection for the rest of my life, and just enjoy it rather than
having concerns about its future.

My two (euro-)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 Nathan Martin
Sent: zondag 11 januari 2009 21:38
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: Re: Running out of space {was: Re: [Rockhounds] AD - Cabinet
Sizespecimens}

Larry,
Great topic - and very timely as I am getting ready for the annual Boston
Mineral Club auction next Saturday.
Like almost everyone else I too have a space problem.  The main problem is
that I never seem to be able to find the time to sort, clean and trim the
specimens I collect in the field.  As most of us know you often really don't
know what you have collected until you clean it up.

The annual BMC auction is a big help because it gives me a hard deadline to
shoot for.  We usually have about 200 flats of minerals in our silent
auction and another 200 specimens or groups of specimens that go into the
voice auction.  Obviously those don't all come from me but I am currently
cleaning up both KY fluorite specimens, Indiana geodes and Ohio fossils from
last October's trip to the Midwest.  I get a good feeling from donating
specimens to benefit the club and it helps me to free up some space.  Of
course the danger is that I have been known to bring home more than I take!

If your club has an auction by all means contribute to it.  If they don't
have one see about starting one.  We regularly raise $2000 to $3500 per year
to help support our club's activities and it can help me at least partially
clean up my basement and garage.

best regards,
Nate Martin
Lexington, MA

On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Lawrence Rush
<larryrush at worldnet.att.net>wrote:

> Kreigh.....
>
> I have never met a serious collector who did not eventually have a space
> problem! I have learned to recognize the true collector by visiting his
> home. They will inevitably have minerals in every room, including the
> bathroom! All of us have specimens on mantles, on vanities, in cases in
the
> living room, on shelves in the guest room, in boxes under our beds, (some
> rolling around in our car or truck!), ad infinitum!!
>
> (See anyone you know??)
>
> This idea of selling off my larger pieces did not come easily! I look at
> any piece in my collection (maybe 2000 specimens now) and can remember
> digging it out, who I was with, sometimes even remember the weather, the
> drive there, bits and pieces of memories...that is the stuff that life is
> made of! You cannot sell your life experiences, at any cost! It is very
> difficult to exchange a memory for corrupting cash, always! Others not dug
> from the unyielding rock came at a financial sacrifice, after many minutes
> of soul-searching at a show. Yet others arrived in the mail from a
generous
> trader, who maybe I have never met, but who has elected to part with one
of
> HIS favorite memories to exchange for mine. But, reality gnaws away in the
> back of my mind, reminding me that I am not getting any younger, as much
as
> I would wish it were otherwise, and I know I MUST downsize. I don't want
to
> leave this "mess" to my survivors, who don't look at it with the same eyes
> as I do.
>
> And there you are........my solution. Maybe not the best, maybe not
> appropriate for you, but one which will need my needs, as bittersweet as
> they may be!!
>
>
> Regards.....Larry
>
>
>
> ----- 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: Saturday, January 10, 2009 10:39 PM
> Subject: Running out of space {was: Re: [Rockhounds] AD - Cabinet
> Sizespecimens}
>
>
>
>  Running out of space to display (or at least store) one's collection is a
>> not uncommon problem among those of us afflicted with the Rockhounding
>> hobby. I would like to start a discussion of how to deal with the issue.
>>
>> Larry has presented the first alternative, deciding what must go to make
>> room for better/smaller specimens. As the curator of a collection, this
is
>> an ongoing process, and most of us do it to some extent. Eliminating
>> duplicates, reducing the size of specimens, or upgrading specimens to
better
>> quality are all viable alternatives.
>>
>> I would suggest that there are only two more alternatives...
>>
>> The first is increasing the density of the collection. More items go
>> into storage, and less are on display.
>>
>> The second is finding more space to display or store the collection.
>>
>> ...but I would love to learn of another alternative.
>>
>> I am also running out of space.
>>
>> I am a systematic mineral collector. I have a large cabinet in the front
>> hall, opposite our China Cabinet, displaying my best specimen of each
>> mineral I have collected. It is essentially full, packed with specimens
much
>> too close together (and some in plastic boxes stacked on top of each
other).
>>
>> Most of the rest of my collection has taken over the basement. I have
>> shelfs behind the open doors hanging on the walls, in the laundry room,
and
>> specimens packed on the bookshelves (you have to move a rock to pull out
a
>> book). I have a couple three foot tall stacks of flats (and more in the
>> garage), and a traveling collection in plastic tubs I take to schools.
>>
>> Maybe a third of my collection has been cataloged (I'm working on it; I
>> started late).
>>
>> How are you dealing with running out of space?
>>
>> Kreigh
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Saturday, Jan 10, 2009, at 15:27 America/Detroit, Lawrence Rush wrote:
>>
>>  Well, we are snowed in here in the NE US (or about to be!), so I have a
>>> free inside day to sort out a few large specimens to post on my web
site.
>>> The real reason I am offering these is that I am out of space in my
personal
>>> collection room, and with these gone, I can add a lot of new Miniatures
and
>>> Thumbnails!!
>>>
>>> http://www.connroxminerals.com/Cabinet.html
>>>
>>>
>>> (anybody want a few tons of those natural ice crystals called SNOW?)
>>> Beautiful to look at, but admittedly hard to preserve)
>>>
>>> BTW, these are among the most beautiful of all crystals to see, it is
>>> amazing how just 2 elements can form such a fantastic variety of
>>> forms..........
>>>
>>>
www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm<http://www.its.ca
ltech.edu/%7Eatomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm>
>>>
>>> Larry Rush
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
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>>>
>>
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>
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