hello!
This is the place for @aotihavblog's collections of minerals, rocks, fossils, and other geological errata!
I had wanted to start a digital catalogue of my specimens for years, and it's finally time to hunker down and start taking some photos!
The focus will primarily be on mineral specimens, with an emphasis on those with locality information, as these comprise the bulk of my collection. Species IDs will be reported as given on documentation (unless there is significant evidence of misidentification), or ID'd to the best of my knowledge!
Please bear with me as I am an amateur, and certain ID's may be speculative.
I have also come into possession of lots of tumbled and polished specimens. These are not my area of expertise, and may lack IDs when posted (or have various guesses based on the preponderance of certain specimens in the tumbled stone trade).
NOTE:
I have, through various circumstances, obtained dyed, irradiated, and otherwise modified specimens. I prefer not to purchase these myself. These may be posted but will often have a note attached indicating that they have been modified in some regard.
I am not a fan of these processes and I prefer specimens that have been minimally adulterated. Etching and other prepping, as well as gluing of specimens that have sustained damage are practices I have less issue with.
I love oddities such as slag glass/natural glass/tektites, mineraloids, etc! These represent a broadening of the focus here but will probably be posted as well.
I love specimens with matrix! Unfortunately, matrix ID is much less common to find and coverage of it may be spotty!
I also have a lot of hand collected stuff that is less focused on defined minerals and xls (and moreso on examples of rocks), especially glacial till from NY state!
I prefer old stock or amateur/small-scale collected stuff when possible, as (unfortunately) the mining that produces many stunning specimens for this hobby also has a host of environmental and labor implications that I am painfully aware of.
I will try to tag accurately! Please feel free to offer critiques and revisions.
Thank you for your time! Enjoy!