Newcommer to the Forum
3 messages in this thread
I wanted to introduce myself to the forum in the form of quick note. I have
been an avid mineral collector for the past 16 years since I took mineralogy at
Fullerton Community College and recreational gold miner for the past 20 years.
I have an interest in virtually any mineral group but particularly fancy
pegmatites, oxidation enrichment zones, the benitoite locale, and hot springs
type deposits of sulfur, cinnabar, and arsenic/antimony sulfides. Over the
past 15 years I have accumulated a large amount of material, and, in a need to
make room for new finds would be interested in trading, selling, or in some
other way, parting with some of these treasures. I live in Trinity County
California and have visited the Hale Creek Inesite locale a number of times and
have a lot of that material.
If anyone is interested in swaps of rocks or stories I'll try to be a regular
reader of messages in this forum and get back to you. Thanks!
John V.
Hi, John–
Welcome to the forum!
Benitoite is of substantial interest to us fluorescent mineral collectors. It
characteristically fluoresces a bright blue under shortwave UV (I think it is
self-activated, needing no impurities for fluorescence, which is fairly
unusual), and some specimens show a pink fluorescence under longwave UV. I
have a specimen of benitoite (w/neptunite and ?joaquinite? on natrolite),
chosen more for its fluorescence than its well-formed crystals, but I have none
of its close relatives bazirite, pabstite, and fresnoite, which all show this
blue fluorescence as well.
I am a Californian also, born in the bay area, but lived most of my life in
greater L.A.; but now my job has had me on a long term assignment in Oklahoma.
Is Trinity county up near Mt. Shasta?
–Doug
Hi Doug!
Yes Trinity Co is near Mt Shasta – about 25 miles from the NE corner of the
county. I have several specimens that glow under a black light which include
Benitoite, specimens of petrified wood from New Mexico, and calcite from many
locales. I also broke down and purchased some of the wonder glow stuff from
Franklin, New Jersey at the Sterling zinc mine.
How many others are out there are avid Mineralogical Record readers? I'd like
to see a sub-forum group develop with that common link…John