News Nuggets

Newsletter of the Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

Volume 52 Number 1

The officer installation and scholarship awards dinner was held at the UNM Conference Center on December 11, 2004. The club awarded two $1,000.00 scholarships, one to a University of New Mexico student and one to a New Mexico Tech student. Grant Kuck, the club president, awarded the scholarships to these students.

I was born in Albuquerque and grew-up in Los Alamos, moving back to Albuquerque when I was eleven. I graduated from St. Pius X high school, and immediately enrolled at UNM, in the department of chemical engineering. I left UNM in 1997 with no intention of ever returning. After marrying and realizing that I suddenly had more than myself to consider, I returned to UNM after almost five years.

I have always enjoyed the New Mexico outdoors. I have lost count of the times, as I was driving or hiking through the mountains, that I would stop and wonder why a certain landform looked the way did, or how it was formed. Pursuing a degree in geology was a natural decision for me.

(Brian has been a student employee of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Albuquerque office and he will receive his B.S. degree in Geology in June 2005.)

I'm an international student from the Czech Republic. After high school I traveled a lot. I spent several years in Germany before I came to the States. I came to the U.S. in 1999 and started school at the Oakland Community College in Michigan in 2000. I became the president of the Phi Theta Kappa student chapter in 2002. I graduated from OCC in May 2003 with an Associate Degree in Science.

Scholarship award winners Brian Lucero and Jana Stankova pictured with AGMC President Grant Kuck.

There are 33 retail and wholesale shows in Tucson beginning late January through mid February 2005. Please refer to a current copy of Lapidary Journal (or www.tucsonshowguide.com) for a complete list.

The Tucson Gem & Mineral Society’s show is at the convention center at 260 S. Church St. Just take the freeway and exit on Congress Blvd.

Show Dates:  February 10-13, 2005

(or even if you can)

Kathy Lawicki needs volunteers to bring refreshments for our general meetings. There will be a sign up sheet at the January meeting. The club will reimburse you for the refreshments you bring. Remember, it’s your club and you are needed to keep it successful!

President - Grant Kuck; Home phone: 323-1520; E-mail: gkuck@flc.org

VP - Membership - Kimberly Richie; Home phone: 296-8847; E-mail: cattrax55@wmconnect.com

VP – Field Trips – Stephanie Melof; Home phone: 281-7192; E-mail: stephbell22@yahoo.com

VP – Field Trips – Ron Boyo; Home phone: 262-0053; Email: RGB417@aol.com

Secretary – Open

Treasurer - Howard (Jake) Jacobs; Home phone: 869-1565; E-mail: goldpanjake@msn.com

Historian - Dave Moats; Home phone: 892-8163; E-mail: beepbeep59@hotmail.com

Editor - Paul Napolitano; Home phone: 856-2157; E-mail: tcot@spinn.net

Show Chair - Paul Hlava; Home phone: 255-5478; E-mail: hpf1@qwest.net

Special Events - Orlando Garcia; Home phone: 345-0520; E-mail: jabog02@msn.com

The Club Newsletter; News Nuggets exists to assist the membership in communications and to provide information on club activities. Contributions from all members are welcome on any information that will promote club activities or that would be of interest to club members. News Nuggets is scheduled to be mailed approximately one week prior to the monthly meeting. Mail news, articles or comments to: Paul Napolitano, Editor, 7304 Yorktown, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, or email to tcot@spinn.net.

The Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club was organized on January 22, 1944. The club is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and enjoyment of the Earth Sciences and associated subjects. Its primary purpose is the exchange of information and the furtherance of knowledge of Mineralogy, Fossils, Geology, Rock Cutting and Gem Faceting and to stimulate interest in the development of these studies.

All Meetings are held at the NM Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, NM. The general meeting is held on the 4^th Monday of the month (unless otherwise announced) at 7:30 p.m. The Junior Club meets at 6:45 p.m. prior to the general meeting. Board of Directors’ meetings are held at 7:30 pm on the first Monday of each month. (Call for location). The public is welcome to both meetings.

Welcome to another year of learning about minerals, rock hounding, and hanging out with people who like to do both. We have a number of new faces on the Board of Directors this year and a lot of new members as well. I'm just glad we have monthly meetings so we can all get to know each other. Every year seems to start out with a bang. At the end of January and half way through February, there's the largest gem and mineral show in the world going on next door in Tucson, Arizona. Then, midway through March it’s our own show at the State Fairgrounds. How about that? If you don't go broke at Tucson you get a second chance in Albuquerque.

As we begin the year I just want to say thank you for renewing your membership. As you know, your dues are important to the smooth running of our club, and your faithfulness in renewing them is appreciated. If you haven't paid your membership dues yet, you can bring 20 dollars (in cash or check) to our next meeting and give it to our Membership Chair. Or if it is more convenient, you can send a check to: Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Club; P.O. Box 13718; Albuquerque, NM 87192

This year our Club needs a Secretary - someone to take notes at our Board of Directors meetings and type them up so we can then read the "minutes" at the start of our next meeting. If you are interested, please either see me at our next meeting or call me. My home phone is 323-1520 and my work number is 296-9100. By the way a special thank you to Suzanne Seymour who so graciously helped out in that capacity at our last meeting! It was a big help!! The AGMC also has need of a Membership Chair, someone to keep track of our membership and dues and that sort of thing. At present, Kimberly Ritchie is doing that job in addition to her position of being the Vice President of Programs. If you can help, see me at the next meeting or give me a call.

Kathy Lawicki has filled one position you may not be aware of: Refreshment Coordinator. Thank you Kathy! She will be looking for members to bring refreshments to our monthly meetings. It should cost you twenty dollars or less for refreshments and don't forget to keep your receipt(s) as the Club will reimburse you. All you have to do is just pick up something enroute to the meeting or, if you like, bake some cookies ahead of time.

And last but not least, a big, big thank you to John Scully for all the work he has put into our web page. It is a wonderful resource! If you haven't checked it out, please do so. Our web address is: www.agmc.info.

Of course we're always looking for more members to display their rocks and minerals and this web site affords us that opportunity. If interested, please contact John (and perhaps also Dave Moats) to place specimen pictures on our internet site.

I think I've talked enough for the first message of the year. I hope it will be a good one for you and the club. Don't forget… keep looking down! (Unless you're at the Tucson Show... then keep looking everywhere!!).

-Grant Kuck

The December 11^th Party was a success.  Special thanks to each participant and helping hand!  Several people contributed without attending or staying and many came early to help set up. The silent auction was successful enough to cover the cost of the evening.  Thanks for being so generous in bringing and buying. 

The food was fabulous.  We planned for 80 and had about 76 including the Hillbilly Band. The centerpieces were by Cindy Shields. Tom Schmierer arranged for the table favors in memory of Jim Winchell.  Gwen donated the bird whistles.  The bird concert and the Hillbillies had trouble getting off the ground.  Gabriel Valesco played the National Anthem on his trumpet.

2005 officers were introduced.  The two scholarship winners were present: Brian R. Lucero from UNM and Jana Stankova from New Mexico Tech.  Door prizes included several books, jewelry, a rock hammer, a polished fossil tray, pizza, and treats.

Pizza-Village Pizza of Corrales; Plate: Paul Hlava; Southwest Flavor, a cookbook: Adela Amador, Turquoise Unearthed, earrings: Turquoise Museum; Rock pick, Roadside Geology, Rockhound Guide: Mamma’s Minerals; NM Rock & Mineral, Opal cutting, Gem Carving: Gary Young Southwestern Minerals.

Thanks to everyone present for the joyful evening, the assistance, and the clean up.  It is always a pleasure to work for the benefit of AGMC.

-Gwen Poe

By David Bleakly

El Malpais National Monument (near Grants, New Mexico) was established on December 31, 1987, to preserve the unusual geological and biological features of the area. Unusual features include extensive lava tube systems, the youngest lava flow in the state, classic cinder cones, well-preserved lava flow surface characters, and interesting associated plant and wild life.

The principal volcanic material is basalt and the several flows in the monument were emplaced between about 700,000 to 3,000 years ago. The diversity of plant life in El Malpais is surprisingly great and the openings of lava tubes have allowed the creation of remarkable communities of plants. The composition of the lava and therefore its visible characteristics are similar to those in Hawaii. We will see slides of the lava flows and some of the plants at El Malpais as well as some slides of similar Hawaiian volcanic features. Maps and specimens will be available for inspection.

By John Betts

I am a part time mineral dealer. I get many questions about the prices of collectible mineral specimens. Novices are the most confused because they have yet to understand the confusing factors that affect mineral values. The following is a chronology of prices and events of a typical mineral specimen.

All minerals start in the ground. A specimen is not worthless (because collectors may still lust after the undiscovered specimen) but it does not yet have a price tag. It will lay there undisturbed, as it has for millions of years, until one of two things happen. Either it will erode from the solid rock, work its way into a sedimentary deposit and start another cycle of rock formation, OR man will intervene and do something with it. It could go to a smelter to be refined into a commercial / industrial resource. Or it could become a collectable mineral specimen. I am going to focus solely on this latter path.

A collector digs it up and stores it wrapped in newspaper in his basement. It typically will remain in this state for two or three years, until his wife threatens to toss out all of the "junk" in the basement.

Price = $0

The collector washes it off for the first time and decides it is still worth keeping even though most of the other material he collected should have been left in the ground. He trades it at a swap along with ten other pieces to a collector that can see through the iron staining and dried pocket clay. He gets an amethyst from Brazil in exchange.

Price = $0.50

The experienced new owner dissolves the pocket clay and iron staining in acid to reveal the real beauty of the crystals. It is now clean and lustrous.

Price = $5.00

The specimen is donated to the local mineral club for their fund raising auction.

It sells for $12.

The new owner trades it away at a local swap to a savvy collector who knows the location has just been closed and no more specimens will ever be found.

New owner values it at $25.

Years later, Mineralogical Record runs an article on the lost location. The author identifies a rare left-handed twin crystal form as unique to the location.

The owner doubles the price to $50.

The owner dies, leaving most of his collection unlabelled. His heirs have no idea of what to do with the collection. A local mineral dealer calls the widow and offers $1800 for the whole collection and will not charge her extra for moving it.

The price paid for each specimen is approximately $0.50.

Now the dealer misidentifies the unlabelled mineral, as originating in Austria and a $50 price is assigned along with the "classic" location notation. The specimen does not sell for two years. The small-time dealer discovers there is no money in selling mineral specimens. He decides to sell wire-wrapped amethyst pyramids instead. He sells his whole stock for 20% the labeled prices.

The specimen sells for $10.

The new owner is more knowledgeable and recognizes the true origin of the specimen. He researches the location and makes a Xerox copy of the article in Mineralogical Record as a sales prop and prices it at $100. An "instant" collector, who has just started collecting minerals again, now that he makes enough money at age 35 after giving up collecting in high school, buys the specimen.

He pays $90.

He is happy. He got 10% off! Meanwhile, there is so much demand for minerals from the old location that prices climb. Brian Wayne Lees-Thompson reopens the mine attracting attention to the location again. Because of savvy marketing and the perceived shortage of specimens, prices are set at numbers that look like long distance telephone numbers (though the small specimens are only priced at numbers that resemble zip codes).

After two years the market is saturated. (After all, how many people are there in the world that will pay over $10K for a mineral specimen, 500?) Mr. Lees-Thompson can't give them away. Prices drop to 10% of post-reopening prices. The minerals from the mine become a commodity worth about as much as Uruguayan Amethyst!

Meanwhile our specimen is sold to a new owner for $150.

He shows the specimen to an experienced collector who owns a microscope. They spot rare inclusions of baloneyium. They write an abstract that is accepted for presentation at the Rochester Mineralogical Symposium. They give a 15-minute presentation.

It is offered for sale for $500.

It sells immediately to a locality collector that specializes in only that location. It is placed in a position of honor in his collection. The abstract is published in Rocks and Minerals magazine. The collector is offered $1000 for it and he refuses. As the owner's age goes up, so does the mineral's value in the owner’s mind. But he also knows that he can't take it with him when he passes on. He offers it to a local museum for $5000. The museum has an annual acquisition budget of $1000. They try to find someone to purchase the specimen for donation to the museum. In the meantime the owner dies. The heirs know nothing about the collection - they just want to move into the house. So, everything is hauled away by the trash hauler. The mineral specimen ends up in the local landfill and starts the rock-forming cycle anew.

So what is a mineral really worth? This silly chronology illustrates that the price is determined in varying parts by aesthetics, rarity, location, associations, uniqueness, marketing, and scholarly study. As in art, the value increases with knowledge of the subject. There is no absolute value. As a result there are no hard and fast rules.

(Adler, 1981)

If there were not mishaps along the way the greater fool theory would prevail. Each owner would buy it and sell it to a greater fool that will pay more. Eventually it works it's way up the price ladder until it reaches a practical limit. As a collector, all that matters is whether there is a bigger fool out there to pay more than we did. And there is.

Adler, Mortimer J., 1981, Six Great Ideas, Macmillan Publishing Co., New York

For permission to reprint and to read other articles authored by John Betts, visit John Betts - Fine Minerals (www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com).

From the devious mind of Paul Hlava

OK, Troops. You’ve had some time off. Now you have to get back in the saddle and start figuring out these Mystery Minerals! For 2005 I have decided to concentrate on geographic names. Have fun.

The Game Plan – I will describe a mineral and you have to guess/decipher/research the name of the mineral and the answers to the other questions asked about uses, history, notable facts, etc. I expect the Top Guns in the club to be able to guess the name off the top of their heads. The learners will need a reference book or two. You will benefit most if you do not ask others for the answers but work it out for yourselves. When you have decided on the name you can compare notes with others or wait for the answers to be announced at the meetings or published in the News Nuggets. Good luck and have fun.

This Month’s Mystery Mineral is a triclinic silicate that is a major rock-forming mineral. Crystals are usually anhedral to subhedral in the granular mass of a rock. Free-standing, euhedral crystals are very rare. Cleavage – one perfect and one good at about 94 degrees. Transparent to subtransparent to translucent, Brittle, Luster – vitreous, Harness 6 to 6.5; Specific Gravity about 2.7; Color – colorless, white, gray, yellowish green. Polysynthetic twinning produces striations on the perfect cleavage surface.

Questions

What is the name of the mineral?

What was the mineral named for?

What is the mineral used for?

Localities – (Just list the famous/important ones)

(OK. This is a common rock-forming mineral so it is all over the place. One or two localities would be OK.)

--NM –

--USA –

--World –

What is the name of the mineral? Adamite

Who was the mineral named for? No, No, No! Not that Adam. It is named for Gilbert Joseph Adam (1795-1881), a French mineralogist who supplied the first specimens for examination.

What is the mineral used for? Ore of zinc.

What causes the green colors? Copper – cuproadamite

What causes the violet colors? Cobalt

Localities – (Just list the famous/important ones)

-NM – Stevenson-Bennett Mine

-USA – AZ, CA, CO, MT, NV, NJ, SD, UT

-World – Mexico, Nambia, Australia, Chile, Congo, and lots more.

Paul Hlava 050109

Saturday, January 29^th

Our first field trip for 2005 is guaranteed to be warm and dry! We have graciously been offered tours of both the Geology Museum and the Meteorite Museum at the University of New Mexico (UNM). The plan is to meet on the first floor of Northrop Hall at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 29^th. We will be split into two groups to take turns touring the two museums. Both tours should be concluded by noon.

Here is a little information on what the museums have to offer:

Current exhibits include introductory displays on the nature of minerals and major groups of fossils, numerous outstanding mineral specimens representing the major mineral groups, gem minerals, Triassic and Paleocene-Eocene vertebrates, Miocene-Pleistocene elephants in New Mexico, Pennsylvanian and Permian marine fossils from around the state, orbicular rocks from around the world, and geological materials used in everyday life.

Two exhibits focus on world-renowned geologic features in New Mexico -- the Jemez caldera and the Harding pegmatite mine, and another includes a large dinosaur bone available for close inspection. A separate room contains minerals that fluoresce which the lights are turned out. Cabinets of new acquisitions (e.g., a pair of dinosaur eggs) are also on display.

The Meteorite Museum, as part of the Institute of Meteoritics, was opened in 1974, and is a major educational resource for the University and New Mexico in general. The museum has on display many fine samples of stony, stony iron, and iron meteorites from the Institute's collection, including one of the largest stone meteorites in the world, Norton County.  An important recent acquisition is a spectacular 1,600 pound specimen of the Navajo iron meteorite which is on long-term loan from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

The 75-square-meter museum located on the ground floor of Northrop Hall is visited by thousands of people every year, including many elementary and high school students from Albuquerque and surrounding communities.  The meteorites on display in the museum are only a small part of the research and teaching collection, which includes samples and thin sections from over 550 meteorites. All the meteorites in the meteorite collection are available for study by researchers within the Institute and throughout the world. It is an Institute policy to actively seek new acquisitions in order to constantly improve the breadth and scope of the collection.

Parking at UNM can be difficult since classes are also held on Saturdays. The Earth & Planetary Sciences Department has kindly offered us 20 Visitor Parking Passes to share among our members. It has been suggested that members coordinate to carpool. Parking passes will be available at the AGMC general meeting on January 24^th.

Please NOTE: Even with a visitor parking pass you CANNOT park in a Reserved spot. Here is what the UNM website offers as suggestions for parking:

All parking on the UNM campus is by permit only except for the UNM Visitor Parking is located immediately east of Popejoy Hall (SE corner of the map). Fees vary between $ 0.50 for under 1/2 hour or less and $6.00 for 3 or more hours. There are a very limited number of parking meters (with a 30 minute to 4-hour limit depending on the meter) on Redondo Road just south of Northrop Hall, and on Central Avenue (1-hour limit) adjacent to the campus. Both the city and campus police regularly ticket parking violators. Several commercial paid parking lots (generally costing somewhat less than the UNM Visitor lot) are available just off campus on Yale Blvd just south of campus and adjacent to University Blvd just west of campus, and parking on most side streets in the area between Central and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd west of campus is free.

This is your club membership form for 2005. Please include all the names to be included in your Household membership. This information is required by the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies A.F.M.S. for insurance and dues purposes. Annual Dues are $20.00 per household and $10.00 per household for memberships from July 1, 2005 - December 31, 2005.

Last Name__________________________ Date_______ Renewal from 2004? Y N

Senior Member Names: 1.___________________________

2.___________________________

Junior Member Names: 1.___________________age______

2.___________________age______

3.___________________age______

If this is a renewal, is the News Nuggets going to the proper address? Y N

Please complete the following information

Mailing Address: ______________________Apt. # ________

City:____________________ State: _______ ZIP + 4: _______-_____

Phone: (_____) _____-______ Please include. This is only for club use and not for any other purpose

e-mail Address: _____________________________

You will receive your newsletter by e-mail unless otherwise requested.

Annual Dues: Dues are $20.00 per household.

Send this completed form and check to: AGMC

PO Box 13718,

Albuquerque, NM 87192

David Bleakly

"Volcanic Features and plant life of El Malpais National Monument (and Hawaii)"

The unusual lava formations, plant, and wildlife of El Malpais National Monument will be discussed. Slides of these and similar Hawaiian volcanic features will be presented, accompanied by specimens and locality maps.