A Specimen Without Its Label Is Just a Rock
Put a quartz in front of ten people and nine will say “quartz.” But which quartz? Origin is what makes a specimen individual, and it lives on the label.
Put a quartz in front of ten people and nine will say “quartz.” But which quartz? Origin is what makes a specimen individual, and it lives on the label.
Rare, small, and one of the deepest blues in the mineral kingdom. A closer look at cornetite, the first mineral ever discovered in the Congo.
The risks that damage mineral specimens are not always the obvious ones. Shock is just the beginning.
A collector drops an aquamarine. The insurer asks for photographs. There are none. Two real stories about mineral collection insurance and what documentation actually changes.