What should I collect: one size, one locality, one species or everything?
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Pick one theme for your first year and let the rest wait. A collection with a focus, such as minerals you collected yourself, minerals from one state, one species in all its forms, or every piece in one size class, is easier to house, easier to learn from, and easier to sell later than a box of everything. Your choice should follow three things: how much space you have, whether you want to be in the field or at shows, and what you can afford per specimen. This page compares the common themes on those terms and shows how each one changes what the collection is worth to the next owner.
Seven common themes compared
| Theme | What it is | Space | What drives the cost | Effect on resale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-collected | Only pieces you dug or picked up yourself, each with your field notes | Grows with how much you collect; usually starts in flats | Travel, tools, fee-dig charges; specimens are free or close to it | Strong if every piece carries a precise locality and date; weak if notes are thin |
| Local or state | Minerals from your county, your state or one mining district | Flexible | Mostly travel and a few purchases to fill gaps | Valued by regional collectors and museums; a documented local suite can be hard to replace |
| Single species | One mineral (fluorite, quartz, calcite) in as many localities, colors and habits as possible | Flexible | Ranges widely; classic localities cost more | Attracts specialists; buyers expect the suite to be well labeled |
| Systematic | One example of as many species as possible, often arranged by chemical class | Large, since the list runs to thousands of species | Rare species are small and cheap or rare and expensive; few are both | Appeals to systematic collectors; common species add little |
| Size class | Everything in one size, such as thumbnails or miniatures | Small: thumbnails fit 1.25 inch boxes [1] | Small pieces of high quality cost less than large ones [1] | Good, because uniform size and boxing make a collection easy to show and sell |
| Micromounts | Specimens that need magnification to see, mounted in small boxes | Very small | Low per specimen; a stereo microscope is the main expense | Specialist market through micromount societies |
| Fluorescent | Minerals that glow under ultraviolet light | Medium; needs a dark display space | UV lamps and specimens | Specialist market; locality matters, as with any specimen |
None of these excludes the others. Many collectors keep a self-collected suite and a small bought collection side by side. The point is to have one rule that tells you, at a show table or a dump, whether a piece belongs.
Choosing by space
Size is the decision that most affects your home. The dealer and collector iRocks gives working sizes for the small classes: a thumbnail is "usually no larger than one inch square" and fits a 1.25 inch plastic box; a miniature is "generally close to 2" in size, and will usually fit into a 2.5" cube"; anything that needs magnification to view "is technically classified as a micromount" [1]. A drawer that holds a few cabinet specimens holds many times as many thumbnails. iRocks also points out that small specimens are easier to move to shows and exhibitions [1].
The full table of size classes, including toenail, small cabinet and cabinet, is on size classes: thumbnail, miniature and cabinet, and the boxes that fit each are on what size box.
Choosing by how you like to spend your time
- If you want to be outside, choose self-collected or local and state. Your budget goes on trips, and your collection is a record of places you have been. You will spend more time on land status, permission and field notes; the steps are on planning a collecting trip.
- If you prefer shows and research, choose a species, a size class or a systematic collection. Your time goes on learning localities and judging quality, and your budget goes on specimens.
- If you like close work, micromounts reward patience with a microscope and very little space; how they are mounted is on micromounts.
- If you like the night, fluorescent minerals combine field collecting with display; the lamps and the eye and skin precautions for shortwave UV are on fluorescent minerals and UV lamps.
Themes that need extra care
Some themes draw you toward species that need special handling. A systematic collection will sooner or later meet arsenic, mercury, lead and uranium minerals. The National Park Service lists aluminum, antimony, arsenic, beryllium, bismuth, bromine, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium, thallium and uranium as common toxic elements in geological specimens and recommends neoprene gloves for handling them [2]. Radioactive specimens release radon, which builds up in a closed cabinet [3]. If your theme includes these, read which minerals are dangerous before you buy.
A self-collected theme draws you toward rules. Fossils, petrified wood, meteorites and artifacts each have their own collecting law, and none of them follows the mineral rules (see collecting fossils on public land).
How a theme changes what the collection is worth later
A collection is usually sold by someone other than the person who built it. What makes it sell well is documentation and coherence. A Mindat article on selling a collection notes that old collection and dealer labels "can be extremely important and add some value to the collection itself," that records of locality and any specialization help with sorting and selling, and that "without measurements and good photos, it is impossible to judge the value of a specimen" [4]. It also warns that buyers may "'Cherry' pick the specimens," taking the best pieces and leaving a remainder worth much less [4]. A themed collection, with a catalog and labels, is easier to sell as a whole or in sensible lots than an undocumented mix.
Classic and rare material sells best through specialist auctions, while popular, well-known species do better on general sites, according to the same article [4]. That is another argument for a theme: you know which buyers it is for. Why locality accounts for so much of a specimen's value is on why locality is most of the value.
A first-year rule of thumb
- Write your theme on the first page of your catalog in one sentence.
- Decide your size limit and box size before you buy boxes.
- Label everything the day it arrives, with locality first.
- Review the theme after a year. Keep it, narrow it, or start a second suite with its own rule.
Pricing out the theme you chose
Every theme has a different budget: trips and tools for a self-collected suite, specimens and boxes for a bought one. The line items, with what to spend on and what to skip, are on what it costs to start collecting.
References
- iRocks, Size Matters! Collecting Miniature Mineral Specimens, June 9, 2016. https://www.irocks.com/size-matters-collecting-miniature-mineral-specimens
- National Park Service, Greg McDonald, Health and Safety Issues with Geological Specimens, Conserve O Gram 11/11, September 2006. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/museums/upload/11-11_508.pdf
- National Park Service, Radioactive Minerals, Conserve O Gram 11/10, September 2006. https://nps.gov/subjects/museums/upload/11-10_508.pdf
- Bri Dragonne, Advice for people selling and sorting a mineral collection, Mindat.org article 836, last updated November 19, 2009. https://www.mindat.org/article.php/836/Advice+for+people+selling+and+sorting+a+mineral+collection.
