On Tuesday, May 2, at 7:00 p.m., we’ll be having our monthly meeting live and in person, featuring…
Classic Mines and Minerals of Sweden
with Ted Johnson
The details…
This month’s guest speaker, Ted Johnson, will be giving us a whirlwind tour through the mineralogy of Sweden. Although Sweden may not be the first country that pops into your head when you think about worldwide minerals, it is no stranger to mineral museums. Mining has been occurring for hundreds of years, with prolific iron, copper, cobalt, silver, and gold being produced. As a result of this activity, numerous excellent specimens have made their way out to collectors and museums over the years. Sweden has many pegmatite deposits, and the type localities for spodumene and petalite are found there. With the growing demand for Rare Earth Elements, the town of Ytterby, which lends its name to the element Ytterbium, is getting new attention, since many of these elements were first described from there. And the wide range of fluorescent minerals found near Langban compares favorably to Franklin, NJ.
Many club members may remember Ted Johnson from his previous BMC talks on Minerals of Massachusetts (2020), the Tilley Foster Mine (2014), and Dal’Negorsk (2012). Ted has been collecting minerals since 1960, when he began collecting around Patterson, New Jersey, and has become an avid student of the history of famous mineral districts. He has family roots in Sweden, which has led to a fascination with minerals from the Scandinavian region. He resides in Connecticut and specializes in collecting New England minerals and pegmatite minerals from around the world. For the last 37 years, he has been operating the Yankee Mineral and Gem Company to support his mineral obsession.
The mineral hall of the Harvard Museum of Natural History is usually open to us from 6:30 PM if you want to visit early. The meeting is nominally scheduled to start at 7 PM with social time and raffle registration. The business portion of the meeting should start by 7:30, and we will shift to an hour of our featured guest by 8:00. Our monthly raffle happens at the close of the presentation, and we like to be out of the building by 9:30.