Building a Collection!
I get a lot of questions about my collection when people see it for the first time - and one I get a lot is about how to get started.
To be completely honest - I get most pieces in my collection through four sources - shows, friends, digging, and the Internet.
Shows. This is what I recommend for anybody looking to start a mineral collection. Gem and mineral shows give you a great idea of all the different kinds of minerals and as a plus, they tend to show much more affordable specimens.
Try to strike up conversations with the dealers - they have the experience and can really help you build your collection!Friends. A good deal of my minerals has come from people I’m good friends with. This way of obtaining pieces only really works once you know a few people in the mineral community.
To do that, you can join mineral-related groups or follow mineral-related tags on social media and interact with people that way.
You can also join your local rock club or visit local rock shops. My friends know my collection focus and tastes and will show me specimens they are given the opportunity to get.Digging. Not much beats the experience of getting dirty out in the middle of nowhere and uncovering your own treasures!
Do your research - start with published guidebooks for your area and make sure to respect any private property.The Internet. Not only can you network and socialize on the Internet, many sellers big and small have their own Web stores on platforms like eBay or Etsy and/or dedicated websites to sell their minerals.
Reach out to me if you want recommendations for a few large dealers/shops to begin doing business with!
Through all of this, I cannot stress enough the importance of making friends and getting to know people! The more connections you make, the easier it will be to build your collection.
Fast-forward a bit. Your collection takes up a corner of your bookcase - and you’re starting to forget which piece came from where, or what the pieces even are in the first place.
This is when you need to label your specimens, or better yet, catalog your collection. You can use any software with flexible graphics design for labeling. You don’t need to spend money on some professional product - my labels are made on PowerPoint.
I recommend you print them out on cardstock and preferably laminate them for extra durability. Each label should at least have the mineral name and the locality.
Cataloging your specimens could be as simple as making a binder full of duplicate labels but it seems like a lot of people use Excel or a similar spreadsheet program to log their specimens.
