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General2013 - Personal Finds

2nd Feb 2013 20:27 UTCDavid Baldwin

As it's now 2013, I thought I'd start a new topic for this year's personal finds. Here's mine from today.

2nd Feb 2013 21:20 UTCMaggie Wilson Expert

Nice photo and nice phind, David!

11th Feb 2013 01:00 UTCMark & Linda Mahlum

Nice, Dave.

The only thing I've found so far in 2013 here in the Colorado Rockies is snow crystals. Very exciting collecting. After all, no two are identical.

Mark

11th Feb 2013 01:10 UTCDavid Zimmerman (2)

Do we get to include phinds in the basement that we forgot about? It is winter and all........:-)

Very nice piece David. Great photograph too.

11th Feb 2013 08:42 UTCDavid Baldwin

David, Why not? I know what you mean, i'm always collecting stuff, wrapping it in the field, bringing it home and then it ends up in storage for a few years sometimes. I'm currently attempting to condense my storage (I rent a 20ft shipping container which is half full of rocks, mostly fossils) and I'm trying to fit it all in my garage and 2 sheds, so I guess I'll be finding a few things I forgot about myself.

11th Feb 2013 18:14 UTCLori Simon

That is a beautiful find. It has gotten my "hunting genes" stirring. Gotta plan some trips. All my hunting buddies have moved to far away states, or got married to women who do not understand that when their husbands hunt minerals with a pretty blonde it is NOT considered cheating on them. What could they be thinking? We are too busy looking at the ground or digging holes.

David, good luck on fitting that all in. I did that last summer, and I ended up with two 12 X12 sheds and the garage and four huge shelves in the house fro displays. I have to admit that I can find most of my minerals quickly when I want to look at them. I just can never move again.

Good Job,

Lori

12th Feb 2013 03:43 UTCDavid Zimmerman (2)

Welcome to Mindat Lori! Sounds like you've been afflicted with the disease for quite some time now and this is a good place to get some temporary relief of the symptoms! I always tend to get a little jealous when I come here to Mindat....but that's more of a mineral envy variety......:)-D

David, I'll post a basement find tomorrow. I can't believe that it was within reach in the bottom corner cabinet! I once found an old wulfenite specimen that I hadn't seen in 10 years or so....forgot all about the darn thing and boy was I ever happy when I found it a few years ago. I remember saying to myself "Dang, I had good taste even back then!!!".:-D

12th Feb 2013 17:40 UTCSister Elias Freeman, OSB.Sol

David,

Terrific specimen--and great photography, too. What equipment do you use? I'm about ready to invest in something better than my cell phone and could use some ideas.

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Mark and Linda,

You are very lucky to be collecting snowflakeite in the Rockies. I have had little success collectinig it in central coastal New Jersey. The variety of snowflakeite found here is minus -3 on the Mohs scale. It's so soft that merely breathing on it will turn it into an instant "pseudomorph" called "waterite." Snowflakeite from the Rockies is reliably described as 0 on the Mohs scale, much harder than the NJ variety. This surprised me when I first learned of it, because the NJ variety is full of Carbon, Sulfur, and one or two other toxic minerals I can't remember now, so I assumed it would be harder than Colorado snowflakeite. Oh well.

I think that I must be going stir-crazy from an inability to go out hunting. Of course, since I DO have rocks in my head, I can always hunt inwards.

Yes! always YES!

Sister Elias

12th Feb 2013 22:47 UTCDavid Baldwin

Hi Sister Elias,

After a fair bit of research, and a decided budget, I settled for a Canon EOS 60D DSLR camera and bought a EF-S 60mm macro lens. I also bought the Helicon Focus software which is invaluable for this type of photography. It's very early days for me with this set up, as I still need to set up a proper, more permanent studio with good lighting. All my photos so far have been taken on my coffee table with 1 or 2 daylight lamps providing the lighting, but despite this, I'm still getting results that I thought were only possible for professionals.

Dave

13th Feb 2013 20:53 UTCBob Harman

Collected on Feb 11, 2013 in Washington County Indiana this 13 cm x 6 cm geode is from the Indiana 56 road cuts. Several 2 cm CALCITES are seen to occur on the brick red DOLOMITE. See the several other Indiana geodes from this locality that I collected and kept in the "midwest geode" thread. Collectors who don't collect geodes cull out the areas of calcite crystals and surrounding dolomite, then collecting just the area as non-geode specimens CHEERS.............BOB

29th Mar 2013 19:23 UTCDavid Baldwin

Here's another baryte from today, in a habit I haven't seen before from here.

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