Micromounts

The smallest size class, and arguably the most serious end of the hobby.

A whole sub-craft

Micromounting has its own societies, its own shows and its own literature. It is not simply small specimens; it is a different way of collecting.

What it buys you is access to material that does not exist at display size: rare species, perfect crystals, and localities where nothing larger was ever found.

What a micromount is

A specimen a few millimeters across, mounted on a pedestal inside a small box, oriented so the crystals of interest face the viewer under a microscope.

Orientation is the craft. A micromount is prepared to be viewed from one direction, and mounting it wrong wastes the specimen.

Viewed at 20x to 40x, typically, which is a stereo microscope rather than a loupe.

The mount

The specimen is fixed to a small pedestal with an adhesive, and the pedestal into the box.

Adhesive choice matters more than it looks. It should be reversible, so the specimen can be recovered, and it should not off-gas inside a sealed box a few millimeters from the specimen.

The box is normally polystyrene or polypropylene with a clear lid. PVC at this distance, in this volume, is the worst version of the acid problem in the whole collection.

Label on the outside, because there is no room inside and because the specimen must not be disturbed to read it.

Why collectors like them

A thousand species in one drawer, at a cost per specimen that display collecting cannot approach.

Species that are only ever microscopic, which is most of them.

And preparation as a skill in its own right, which is the part that keeps people in it.

The barrier is the microscope, and the fact that nobody can admire the collection without one.

References