Boston Mineral Club

BMC Meeting Announcement - Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Program: The Fillow Quarry at Branchville, CT: A Classic Mineral Locality

Presented by: Harold (Fritz) Moritz

This year's December Boston Mineral Club meeting will feature a presentation by Harold (Fritz) Moritz on a classic Connecticut mineral locality, the Fillow Quarry at the village of Branchville. Fritz is a geologist, mineral specimen collector and photographer. As a native of Connecticut, a state with very diverse geology and mineralogy, he has been collecting and researching the history of minerals from there since the mid-1970s, when he was about 14 years young. In the early 1990s, he became a founding member of the Sterling Hill Mining Museum and has been collecting in and learning about the magnificent Franklin-Ogdensburg, New Jersey, USA zinc deposits ever since. His collection numbers about 3300 specimens mostly from these two areas. He is very active in several Connecticut mineral/gem clubs. After 24 years as an environmental consultant, he now works part time as a contract photographer for MineralMovies.com and Stonetrust.com and is photographing his collection. He has provided the following introduction to his presentation:

“First opened in 1876, the Fillow Quarry immediately became the type locality for 9 new minerals, the most for any Connecticut locality. Their descriptions were published by Brush and Dana of Yale in the late 1800s. Rich in phosphate and lithium, this pegmatite served as both a scientific and economic resource (feldspar, quartz, muscovite) until WWII.  Specimens contributed to the understanding of the alteration of spodumene; the chemistry of amblygonite-montebrasite, columbite-tantalite and apatite group minerals; as well as the nature of the atom and the age of the Earth. Several investigators studied the formation of pegmatites. Richly illustrated, this presentation will show fine examples of the minerals found there, both common and rare, and some surprisingly fluorescent, many from the large collection amassed by Ronald Januzzi.”

Fritz has numerous mineral photos of specimens from this locality on mindat. If you want to do a little homework before the meeting check out the mindat locality page for the Fillow Quarry at http://www.mindat.org/loc-6816.html.

To complement the presentation BMC members are encouraged to bring in their favorite specimens from Connecticut localities. The BMC display case will be available to display and protect your specimens.

Please note that the Harvard Mineralogical Museum will be open to us from 7 to 8 PM as usual and refreshments will be provided during the meeting. The meeting will conclude with a mineral raffle.

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BMC Meeting Announcement - Tuesday, November 5^th, 2013

Program: BMC Annual Meeting and Specimen Competition

Annual Meeting

This year's November Boston Mineral Club meeting will again combine the popular BMC Specimen Competition with our annual business meeting. Since there are no national elections in 2013 we will meet on the first Tuesday in November. Our annual meeting is conducted while we are waiting for the results of the specimen competition to be tallied. The annual meeting features the election of club officers for 2014, a treasurer’s report, a summary of 2013 field trips, and other committee reports. A time for general discussion of future club activities will also be provided. Four of the current BMC board members (Jim Catterton, Linda Frahm, Barbara Liebman and Barbara Wagner) have indicated their desire to step down from their positions in 2014. They have each served the club well and I encourage you all to thank them for their service. The following individuals have indicated their willingness to serve the club next year and are nominated for the offices indicated:

• President: Nathan Martin
• Vice President: Anna Golitsyna
• Treasurer: Steve Gerome
• Secretary: Michael Haritos
• Newsletter Editor: Melissa Jeswald
• Directors: Peter Cristofono, Kevin Czaja and Barbara Wagner

Additional nominations for any of these offices can also be made by members present at the annual meeting.

Specimen Competition

This year’s specimen competition once again provides an excellent opportunity for members to show the rest of the club some of their favorite specimens, and possibly get an award in the process.  As in previous years, all members will have the opportunity to submit mineral specimens to be judged in various categories.  All those who attend have the opportunity to vote for the specimens they like the best in each category using ballots provided by the club. The ballots will be tallied during the annual meeting and awards will be presented that same evening.  There are three parts to a Boston Mineral Club Specimen Competition.

1. A competition restricted to individual self-collected specimens,
2. An open competition of individual specimens that can either be purchased or self-collected, and
3. A specimen display competition for displays consisting of 10 or more specimens.

Lists of the competition categories and rules are available on the BMC website from a link on the Mineral Specimen Competition webpage.

To provide more room to display specimens we will meet in the two classrooms off the hallway next to our normal meeting room in Haller Hall. There will be BMC signs to direct you.  We have used these same two rooms for several years and they work well for this event.  The basic schedule for the meeting is as follows:

• 6:30 to 7:15 PM – room preparation & table setup(helpers needed)
• 7:15 to 8:15 PM – specimen registration and setup (please arrive early if you are entering specimens)
• 8:15 PM – ballots distributed to members, voting begins (no specimens may be added after this time)
• 8:15 to 9:00 PM – specimen viewing and voting
• 9:00 PM – voting stops, all ballots collected
• 9:00 to 9:40 PM – Annual BMC business meeting (including election of officers) while votes tabulated
• 9:40 to 9:50 PM – Announcement of winners, presentation of awards & photographs of winning specimens
• 9:50 PM – pack up specimens and cleanup room

If you are bringing specimens, please arrive before 7:30 PM so that you will have plenty of time to register your specimens and get set up.  Important: Any specimens not set up and registered when voting begins at 8:15 PM cannot be included in the competition.  To save time please download the specimen and/or display registration forms from the the two additional links on the Mineral Specimen Competition webpage.

Please fill these registration forms out before you come.

Please note that the Harvard Mineralogical Museum will be open to us from 7 to 8 PM as usual and refreshments will be provided during the meeting. However, due to the tight schedule of events there will not be a mineral raffle. Also please remember that guests are always welcome at all of our meetings and should be invited to attend this one as well.

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BMC Meeting Announcement --- Tuesday, October 1^st – 7:30 PM

Program: The Formation of the Earth ---  Speaker: Dr. Scott Kenyon

The October meeting of the Boston Mineral Club will take place on Tuesday, 1 October. The meeting will feature a presentation by Dr. Scott Kenyon of the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University.  His professional interests focus on the formation and evolution of stars and planets and he works to reconcile various theories with observations. His presentation to us will seek to help us understand how planets are formed with a special emphasis on our favorite collecting locality, The Earth. For an overview of his ongoing research activities you can visit his website at www.cfa.harvard.edu/~kenyon/. He has provided the following abstract of his talk:

Abstract: Every year in the Milky Way Galaxy, a star is born. All newborn stars are surrounded by extensive disks of gas and dust.  Each disk contains enough material to build a planetary system similar to our own. I will describe the processes that transform the disk into a planetary system and show how a motley collection of pebbles, rocks, and boulders becomes a planet similar to the Earth.

To complement the presentation club members are encouraged to bring in specimens of rock forming minerals. Examples include quartz, biotite & muscovite micas, calcite, dolomite, feldspars, garnet, amphiboles (e.g.: hornblende, actinolite, tremolite), olivine, pyroxene, etc. If you do a web search on “common rock forming minerals” you will find a number of resources.

Since many of the rock forming minerals are not as flashy or colorful as those most commonly exhibited, it is good to have a meeting display theme dedicated to them. Let’s see how many different species we can bring in to display! The club’s display cabinet will be available to display your specimens and refreshments will be available as always.  The Harvard mineral museum also should be open to us starting at 7 PM. Everyone should plan to arrive by 7:30 PM to socialize and set up any specimens they have brought.  We will start the meeting around 8:00 PM with a brief business meeting followed by our speaker. After the presentation is completed the meeting will conclude with our traditional mineral specimen raffle.

The topic of this meeting should be of interest to a general audience so please invite friends to attend. Visitors are always welcome to attend BMC meetings. I hope to see you there!  — NATE MARTIN

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BMC Meeting Announcement – Tuesday, September 10^th. – 7:30 PM

Program: Annual Collecting Show and Tell Night

Speaker(s): Various BMC Members

Here are a few suggestions to consider: 

A)    We have had some great club field trips this year. Field trip leaders will report on the summer field trips and members are encouraged to bring in their best specimens from any 2013 BMC field trip. 

B)     Others may have gone out collecting on their own. Come tells us where you went and show us what we could expect to find there. 

C)     Did you travel this year and see or collect something related to our hobby that has special interest for you? If so, bring in a sample specimen or some pictures and tell us about your adventures. 

D)    Did some great specimens follow you home from the Springfield show or another mineral show this year? If so, bring them in and tell us what motivated you to purchase them.  

If you are planning to speak at the meeting please either call (781-674-0017) or email me rocknate@gmail.com with your topic so I can put together a basic list of presenters and topics for the meeting.  

The club’s display cabinet will be available to display your specimens and refreshments will be available as always.  The Harvard mineral museum should be open to us starting at 7 PM. Everyone should plan to arrive by 7:30 PM to socialize and set up any specimens they have brought to talk about or to trade (specimen trading also is encouraged at this meeting).  We will start the meeting presentations around 8:00 PM, and after the presentations are completed the meeting will conclude with our traditional mineral specimen raffle.

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BMC Meeting Announcement – Tuesday, June 4th – 7:30 PM
Speaker: Nicholas McDonald
Topic: Window into the Jurassic World: Fossils of the Connecticut Valley

Nicholas McDonald will be the speaker for the June meeting of the Boston Mineral Club. He is a geology, biology and chemistry instructor at Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut, and is emeritus Chairman of the Science Department. He holds two degrees in geology, including a Master's from Wesleyan University. In 40 years of fossil collecting, Nick has brought to light literally thousands of well-preserved specimens from the Jurassic rocks of central Connecticut and Massachusetts. He has published two books and authored numerous scientific papers on geology and paleontology. He is also an avid book collector, focusing on the history of geology, paleontology and mineralogy.
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BMC Meeting Announcement – Tuesday, May 7th – 7:30 PM
Speaker:Kevin Downey - Topic: Chasing Minerals in China

Kevin Downey will be the speaker for the May meeting of the Boston Mineral Club. Kevin is a well-known local mineral dealer. His mineral business, “Well Arranged Molecules”, can be found at selected mineral shows including the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in February, the East Coast Gem and Mineral Show (Springfield) in August and several local club shows. Kevin began collecting minerals at age 9, had his first exhibit course at an AFMLS show at age 12. He eventually financed some of his college degree by selling his collection. After studies in Geology he began a long avocation exploring, mapping, documenting and helping preserve caves, (and cave minerals), worldwide. Professionally, Kevin owns and runs a photographic studio specializing in advertising and commercial projects.
Kevin never lost his love for fine minerals and he began his business by importing selected minerals from China. He continues to personally seek out new mines, discoveries and unusual materials and his presentation will describe some of his experiences in China.

The very limited use of heavy machinery and high explosives also has helped with specimen preservation and many miners today a quite skilled in safe removal of fine pieces. The newest developments in China include the rapid growth of a prosperous middle class with an explosion of mineral collectors and a huge demand for fine specimens within China. This coupled with more modern, high volume mining systems has closed many small, noncompetitive mines. Side effects of these developments are ever more difficult competition for good minerals and often much higher prices. Despite this, China remains a great source for fine display quality minerals. Each year new finds and incredible discoveries are made which will be spread throughout the world collector community.

To find new sources it is necessary to find and visit many remote areas which in some cases have tens of thousands of small local mines, only a few of which will have desirable minerals. These travels are the story of this presentation. These travels are not always successful and can involve some grand misadventures, but it is always exciting. This talk will include images from some of the best localities and their minerals. Some example Chinese specimens from Kevin’s website are included in this meeting announcement. BMC members are encouraged to bring one or two of their favorite specimens from Chinese localities to complement the presentation. The BMC display case will be available for that purpose.
Nathan Martin

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BMC Meeting Announcement – Tuesday, April 2nd – 7:30 PM
Topic:Dr. Carl Francis - Topic: The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum, Bethel, ME

Dr Carl Francis will be the speaker for our April meeting. Most of us got to know Carl during his tenure as the curator of the Harvard Mineralogical Museum. However, following his retirement from Harvard he has remained very active in the mineral world as an executive editor of Rocks and Minerals Magazine. Carl has also become involved with the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum being planned for Bethel, Maine. Carl’s introduction to his presentation is presented below.

“The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum is a start-up museum located on Main Street in Bethel about 20 minutes further up Route 26 from the famous Perham’s (now-closed) shop in West Paris. It currently is under construction and we expect to open later this year. The original mission was to preserve in Maine and exhibit some of the best specimens Maine has produced. The Perham collection was purchased for this purpose and will be featured in an exhibit that honors all of Maine’s mineral and gem shops. The pegmatite minerals of Oxford County will be presented in the context of the local feldspar mining, so the museum will be something of a hybrid between a local history museum and a natural history museum. The talk introduces the museum with a description of the collections acquired, the exhibits planned and our ambitions for programs.”

For additional general background information visit the museum’s website at http://www.mainemineralmuseum.org.

BMC members are encouraged to bring one or two of their favorite specimens from Maine localities to complement the presentation. The BMC display case will be available for that purpose. In addition I will be available both before and after the meeting to answer questions about our Nova Scotia field trip that will take place at the end of May.

Please note that due to a conflict with another museum event he Harvard Mineral Museum will NOT be open to us before the meeting. However our meeting will be held, as usual, in Haller Hall. Refreshments will be available starting at 7:30 PM and the meeting will formally begin at 8:00 PM with a short business meeting before starting the presentations. The evening will end with our traditional mineral specimen raffle.

I hope that you can attend. Also please remember that visitors are always welcome at our monthly meetings.

Nathan Martin

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BMC Meeting Announcement – Tuesday, March 5th – 7:30 PM
Topic:The 2013 Tucson Experience
Presenters: Nathan Martin and Mike Haritos

Every February thousands of mineral, fossil, gemstone & jewelry collectors from all over the world travel to Tucson, Arizona, to attend one or more of the many gem and mineral shows that are scattered throughout the town. There are jewelry shows, fossil shows, wholesale shows, high-end mineral shows like the one at the Westward Look Resort, a-little-bit-of everything-shows like the one at the Kino Sports complex and everything in between. The multi-week event is drawn to a close by the “main show”; a 4-day event presented by the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society. One highlight of the TGMS show is the displays of some of the best mineral specimens in the world. The theme of this year’s show was “Fluorite – Colors of the Rainbow” and many of the displays reflected that theme. Both Mike Haritos and I attended the show and will provide a review of what new and unusual mineral specimens we observed for sale (including a new find of world class brookite from Pakistan and pink fluorite with ilvaite and green quartz from China. They will also provide a sense of the fabulous specimens they observed in the displays as well as some of the unusual sights observed around town. They also purchased some specimens for the 2014 BMC auction and will bring a few of them in to display.

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BMC Meeting Announcement – Tuesday, February, 5th – 7:30 PM

Combined Meeting with the Boston Malacological Club

For the second year in a row, the February meeting of the Boston Mineral Club will be held jointly with the Boston Malacological Club (i.e., The Shell Club). Both of our clubs meet at Harvard on the first Tuesday of the month, and this combined meeting gives each group a chance to share information about our common interest in collecting. The theme of this combined meeting, “Some of our favorite things,” was chosen to allow the presenters wide latitude in their presentation materials. The program is roughly divided into two half-hour segments, one for each club. Shell club presenters include Warren Graff, Scott Robichaud, and Kristina Joyce. Warren and Scott will talk about examples of the “best” shells from their collections, and Kristina will give a short presentation on the shell museum their club helped to establish in Sanibel, Florida.
Boston Mineral Club presentations will include three, short 10-minute “snapshot” presentations by Jerry Carter, Kevin Czaja, and Michael Shih.
● Jerry Carter will give a brief presentation on the Linnaean taxonomy on minerals. This taxonomy was defined in the very famous 1735 work by Carl Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, which laid out the division of biology into three kingdoms, divided into classes, and down to the genus and species level. Less well-known is that Linnaeus attempted to impose a similar, and wildly incorrect, system on minerals.
● Michael Shih collects fossil ammonites, an extinct order of cephalopods, which include nautilus, squids, and octopi that thrived between the Lower Devonian through the Upper Cretaceous period. He will discuss the importance of ammonites to geologists and biostratigraphers, the importance and diversity of shell structure (with an emphasis on Cretaceous ammonites), and speculate on their life cycle. The presentation will be complemented by numerous worldwide examples of ammonites from the Cretaceous period.
● Kevin Czaja’s presentation will give an overview of some of the quality specimens from classic pegmatite localities in his home state of Connecticut. Kevin will be bringing some nice examples from the Harvard collection to show us.
In keeping with the theme of the night, Boston Mineral Club members are encouraged to bring in their favorite mineral or fossil specimen to display, and Shell Club members will do the same. That will help each group to better appreciate the beauty that we find in our individual collecting interests. The BMC display case will be available to display your specimens.
The Harvard Mineralogical & Geological Museum will be open as usual from 7 PM to 8 PM, and the meeting will be held in Haller Hall (our usual meeting room). Refreshments will be available starting at 7:30 PM, and the meeting will formally begin at 8:00 PM with very short business meetings for both clubs before starting the presentations. The evening will end with our traditional raffle.
This should be a great meeting. I hope that you can attend. ■ — NATE MARTIN