Springfield Show 2007

摘要

Part of the pleasure inherent in the mineral hobby is the anticipation one feels right before attending a show. As the show day approaches you start fantasizing about what you will find for your own collection (any sleepers?), whom you will meet at the show, how long you will stay, what side trips you will make, how much the safari will cost-and should I take along my Chihuahua puppy "Butterbean"? You discuss these issues with your spouse, who couldn't care less about the rarity of one mineral relative to another, as she feels that all minerals should be blue, pink, red, yellow or green, and transparent. There is no room in her mineral universe for white, black, brown, or mushroom-colored minerals, or minerals that are opaque or translucent. Rhodochrosite, yes; stilbite, no way! Such attitudes are amplified when the collector's spouse accompanies him (or her!) to a show. Aside from promising the moon (paint the bathroom, clean the garage, etc.), you carefully time your purchases of drab minerals so as to occur when your wife is in the coffee shop. Deep down, though, you respect her opinion and sense of aesthetics because she has a sharp eye and has brought many colorful bargains to your attention. This year my level of anticipation prior to the Springfield Show was higher than usual. Not only were top-shelf minerals going to be for sale; I was going to see those great new fluorite on celestite specimens from Clay Center, Ohio. The fluorite was found earlier this year (2007) and, according to Ohio collectors in the know, is the best fluorite found there in the last 50-plus years. (See also the Tucson 2007 show report, in which Dave Bunk tells Tom Moore that this fluorite strike occurred in November 2006.)