Gem & Mineral Council Newsletter

Transcription

1 I WOULD LIKE TO RETURN MY VENUE 8 PRO AND ACCESSORIES Gem & Mineral Council Newsletter 1. GEM & MINERAL COUNCIL EVENTS January 17, 2015: Lecture by Tony Kampf: CSI Mineralogy January - March 2015 The first GMC lecture of 2015 was at the home of Tony and Kathy Kampf, in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles. Tony gave a talk called CSI Mineralogy: Fakes, Frauds and Fantasies. Many mineral specimens (and indeed most gemstones) have been doctored in some way to improve their appearance and their salability. Unfortunately, the practice of enhancement is a slippery slope, sometimes leading to outright fakery and fraud. Tony highlighted some of the creative and sometimes humorous techniques used for enhancing and faking minerals and gems and the clues to look for in detecting them. Tony s talk entitled CSI Mineralogy: Fakes, Frauds and Fantasies Members of the GMC wait for Tony s lecture to start 2. GEM & MINERAL SHOWS February 3 15, 2015: The Tucson Show 1

2 Mineral Sciences Staff made their annual trip to Tucson, AZ for the world's largest gem and mineral show. From Feb 6th - 15th Alyssa Morgan and Tony Kampf scoured the numerous hotels and tents looking for new specimens to add to the collection. New finds included plumbogummite pseudomorphs after pyromorphite from China and finelycrystallized tarbuttite from Namibia. Museums and collectors from around the world brought exhibits to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society Show (a.k.a The Main Show ). This year s theme, "Minerals of Western Europe", gave NHM a chance to show off some fine carbonate specimens from famous western European localities. NHM's spectacular epidote from Knappenwand, Austria, was featured on the show's poster. Tony and Alyssa also attended the annual meeting of the Society of Mineral Museum Professionals and Tony gave his CSI Mineralogy lecture as one of the featured presentations at the Show. For more information and pictures from Tucson, please see our blog: NHM Display: Carbonate Classics from Western Europe, featuring some wonderful classic specimens from the Bandy Collection! Epidote from the Knappenwand area, in the Untersulzbachtal valley, in Salzburg, Austria. This is certainly one of the finest of all European mineral specimens! Official show poster for TGMS featuring NHM s epidote! 2

3 Paella dinner in Tucson! In honor of the Society of Mineral Museum Professionals hosted by Tom and Gail Spann and Jordi Fabre. It was delicious! Putting the finishing touches on our Carbonates of Western Europe exhibit at the TGMS show. 3. AU REVOIR ELOISE, BEST WISHES TO YOU IN PARIS Caroline, Mineral Sciences Intern, visited Europe this past January. While in Paris, she stopped in to see Eloise at her new job at the Ecole des Mines des Paris. The school and museum are quite large and old (founded in 1783)! The Musuem has an excellent collection of minerals from all over the world, (especially France), as well a great rock collection. The cabinets at the Ecole des Mines des Paris 3

4 All labels are in French (obviously), but if you know your minerals well, you can see what this wonderful collection has to offer! Do not hesitate to visit and get a tour if you happen to be in Paris! Caroline with Eloise in front of the collection 4. NEW ACQUISITIONS Plumbogummite pseudomorphs after Pyromorphite Yangshou Mine, China 10 x 6 x 5 cm Purchase made possible by GMC Collector s Circle member Conan Barker. Tarbuttite on Hydroxylapatite and Hemimorphite Skorpion Mine, Rosh Pinah, Luderitz District, Karas, Namibia. 7 x 4 x 2.5 cm Gem and Mineral Council Purchase 4

5 5. FUTURE EVENTS April 18, 2015: The Treasures of the Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation by Larry French Founded in Milan, in 1919, Buccellati ranks among the world s elite jewelry houses. The late Gianmaria Buccellati amassed a personal collection containing many of the finest contemporary jewelry, goldsmith and lapidary works. Please join us for this wonderful event. Please Rsvp to Kathy s at: gmc@nhm.org or call her at (Kathy comes into work on Thursdays, but you can leave her a voic any other day). A few of the items in the Gianmaria Buccellati collection 6. MISCELLANEOUS Here are some news stories about the new mineral carlsonite, which Dr. Tony Kampf recently described. Carlsonite is the first new mineral found in the state of Ohio (except for some found in a meteorite that landed there). Ohio is not known for mineralogical diversity, but carlsonite was discovered in the aftermath of an oil shale fire! 5

6 7. PUBLICATIONS Mills, S.J., Kampf, A.R., Christy, A.G., Housley, R.M., Thorne, B., Chen, Y.-S. and Steele, I.M. (2014) Favreauite, a new selenite mineral from the El Dragón mine, Bolivia. European Journal of Mineralogy 26, Mills, S.J., Kampf, A.R., Christy, A.G., Housley, R.M., Rossman, G.R., Reynolds, R.E. and Marty, J. (2014) Bluebellite and mojaveite, two new minerals from the central Mojave Desert, California, USA. Mineralogical Magazine 78, Kampf, A.R., Kasatkin, A.V., Čejka, J. and Marty, J. (2015) Plášilite, Na(UO 2 )(SO 4 )(OH) 2H 2 O, a new uranyl sulfate mineral from the Blue Lizard mine, San Juan County, Utah, USA. Journal of Geosciences 60, Kampf, A.R. and Housley, R.M. (2015) Chiappinoite-(Y), Y 2 Mn(Si 3 O 7 ) 4, a new layer silicate found in peralkaline syenitic ejecta from Água de Pau volcano, Azores. European Journal of Mineralogy 27, Christy, A.G., Kampf, A.R., Mills, S.J., Housley, R.M. and Thorne, B. (2014) Crystal structure and revised chemical formula for burckhardtite, Pb 2 (Fe 3+ Te 6+ )[AlSi 3 O 8 ]O 6 : a double-sheet silicate with intercalated phyllotellurate layers. Mineralogical Magazine 78, CONTACT US You can contact the Gem & Mineral Council at: or gmc@nhm.org. Remember that we update our Facebook page daily with pictures of gems, minerals, news, etc. You will also find updated information about our coming events and photo albums of our past events. You do not need to be a Facebook member to visit our page! Follow our blog! 6