In the heyday of species collecting, there were relatively large numbers of mineral enthusiasts who supported the small species dealer community in the United States and Europe. Many systematic collectors were remarkably knowledgeable in such arcane pursuits as chemistry, obscure localities and specimen provenance as they pertained to mineral samples, and aesthetics were clearly less important than the finer, perhaps more esoteric points of assembling a deep and varied reference collection. The number of such collectors today is woefully small compared to just 25 years ago. A pity!
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