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To read Ian's show report on Springfield, click here
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One of my dearest friends, and great travel companion, Dr. Peter Keller has been awarded the prestigious “Lowell Thomas Award” from the Explorers Club! He will be honored at a dinner at the Explorers Club headquarters in New York this coming October. Way to go Peter!!!!
Peter, Wayne and I have been friends for over 30 years or more. One of our fun ‘friendship’ items is the fact that Peter and I share the same birthday. It is our tradition that IF we are both in the same county (he lives just a few miles from us) on that day we meet for dinner. If not, a phone call from someplace in the world. One year Peter called and I asked him where he was.....”on the steps of the Portola Palace in Tibet”, another year the call came from a boat off Papua New Guinea.
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Opening on 17 July 2010 and running to 3 Jan 2011 is an extra special exhibit at the Bowers Museum of Santa Ana, CA.
Gemstone Carvings: The Masterworks of Harold Van Pelt
Everyone in the mineral business knows the name of Harold and Erica Van Pelt, a couple who are considered the best Mineral and Gem Photographer in the world. The Van Pelts have been the photographers for Kristalle for over 30 years (as well as close friends), and our advertisements such as on the inside cover of the Mineralogical Record are famous for their work.
Carving by Harold Van Pelt, photo courtesy of Bowers Museum.
We will shortly be posting pictures of the grand opening held on Saturday 17th which coincided with Harold's 80th birthday.
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18 July 2010
I've mentioned that my friend Ted in Sedona is a wonderful photographer. For those of you in cold, rainy climates this photo won't make you feel any better, but it is a wonderful southwest scene.
9th July 2010
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Recently, in May/June 2010, I had the opportunity to travel with Dr. Peter Keller and members of the Board of Directors of the Bowers Museum (California, USA) to explore the Silk Road in China. Bowers currently has one of the most important exhibits ever launched in the States - see: http://www.bowers.org/index. I had the most amazing trip through Bejing (including a visit to the Geological Museum to see the display by Collector's Edge), Urumgi to see were the mummies that were found in the Tarim Basin/Taklamakan Desert (Discovered in the late 1980's these perfectly preserved mummies are 4,000 years old! The famous "Beauty of Loulan" is currently at the Bowers Museum), Turpan, Hotain for more mummies and the Jade Market, Dunhuang along the Silk Road for the Yu Ming Gate and Great Wall of Han Dynasty; and the famous Mogao Buddhist Caves and Xian to mingle among the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. To see pictures and read more tales from China, please read my article on the whole trip by clicking here. |
19 May 2010
This is another stunning photo from my friend Ted....look at those colors!
28 April 2010
Wayne and I recently returned from a two week trip ‘down under’ to one of my favourite countries - Australia. It reminds me of how the U.S. ‘used to be’ and the folks are just as funny and accommodating as can be. We started our trip in Brisbane and took in a small annual show in Warwick - while there were no good minerals to speak of it was a nice trip out there through lovely countryside.
One thing that astounded us was the high cost of food and restaurant visits. The cost was about 2-3 times what we would pay in Laguna Beach, which ain’t cheap!! And they charge for bread! Sometimes the bread could cost more than your glass of wine. In addition, a 1.5% surcharge is added for anything where a credit card is used. The exchange rate during our visit was 0.92 U.S. to the AUD. The other interesting thing that businesses do is to ‘round off‘ the total. So.o.o. my advice is to ‘picnic’ your way through Australia. Having said all this....I still love the country and we’ll go back next year for the annual Gemboree to be held in Bathurst.
From Sydney we drove down to Canberra, stopping off at the University of Wollongong and had a lovely lunch at the harbour with curator Penny Williamson.
Professor Howard Worner donated his collection of approximately 1000 mineral and rock specimens, together with his medals and awards, his mineral-collecting gear and a copy of the first edition of his book “Minerals of Broken Hill” to the University of Wollongong in 2000. These were put on permanent display in the foyer of the Sciences Building (Building 41) of the Wollongong Campus by Paul Carr and Penny Williamson in two phases.
And yes, we did throw some stuff on the barbie.....Alan and Olga put on quite a spread for all of us.
Once back to Sydney we did more ‘networking’ and dropped off all of our Grandview Mine material with Dr. Peter Williams, University of Sydney, who saw to success the description and naming of our former “Mineral #5” (now Grandviewite) which we found at the mine in the Grand Canyon many years ago. Peter is working with Ray Grant to do hydrology mapping for the National Park Service. Peter is chairman of the Mineral Naming Commission.
Later in the week we met for a wonderful lunch on Sydney harbour, with Cheryl Hunt, who is also at the University of Sydney, and I chowed down on my favourite Barramundi and sipped some fine Australian wine, all the while gazing out at that beautiful harbour. We wandered around the Circular Quay area and treated ourselves to some yummy gelato.
Albert and Doreen Chapman were very special friends of ours from about 1969 - I remember on their very first visit to the States they were guests at our small apartment in Corona del Mar. Over the years we saw them frequently and wrote often. Their granddaughter, Melanie, was a delightful girl and every time she came with them I would go off with her and we would do some “girlie” shopping. I’m glad to report that Melanie graduated university with a degree in architecture, lives in Paris and teaches there. Wayne and I had our last visit with Albert just a few weeks before he died. He was certainly the leader and mentor of the mineral collecting community all over Australia. The museum exhibit is well done and I’ll share a few things here with you.
G-day Mate!
30 Mar 2010
I know, I know....you think all I do is arrange the flowers in our booth, BUT there is an adventurer lurking inside me. The recent Mineralogical Record article on Tanzanite reminded me of a fantastic trip I had with Peter Keller to Tanzania. Upon landing in Arusha we could look across and see the Merilani Hills where the Tanzanite mines are located. As the crow flies, it wasn't very far, but getting there was another matter. Our intrepid driver, Niguel, loaded us in the Land Rover and off we went! Several hours later, through wash outs and very bumpy roads we arrived at the mining site. I had been collecting in Brazil, in the emerald mines of Colombia, in Ceylon and any number of other 'distressed' areas but nothing prepared me for the poor conditions at Merilani (which incidentally the Tanzanians correctly called it Mererani) - just cardboard lean-tos (if you were lucky), holes everywhere, sickness, no water - just deplorable conditions and so many very young men with a dream of finding the 'big ones'.
We spent the day and talked with many of the miners, were shown what they were finding, but knowing the superstition about women in the mine, I just took it all in without being too intrusive. This photo by Peter I call my 'National Geographic' moment - no touchups in the color - that's the way it was - everything was gray - the sky, the dirt, the miners - all except Dona who definitely stood out like a sore thumb! I was high on the hill and Peter took this with a telephoto lens (before the days of digital cameras). Enjoy!
Dona at the Tanzanite Mine
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19 March 2010
One thing I have noticed over the many years is the decline in members of local mineral societies. One society that has suffered from this is the oldest mineral society west of the Mississippi - the Mineralogical Society of Southern California founded in 1931.
Pasadena City College had a wonderful professor named Edwin VanAmringe who gave an evening class for ‘prospectors’ and VanAmringe took them on field trips. The excitement of self-collecting lead those first few to find others in the area via an announcement in the 1930 issue of Rocks and Minerals about interest in starting a local society. The idea was well-received and a local collector, John A. Renshaw, persuaded VanAmringe to help in forming the society. Cards were mailed out to those that responded to the Rocks and Minerals note, local collectors and geologists and in June of 1931 over 40 people showed up at PCC to hear VanAmringe talk on “Mineral Collecting as a Hobby”. Renshaw was elected the first president of the newly-formed Mineralogical Society of Southern California and by the third meeting over 175 were in attendance!
The BULLETIN of the Mineralogical Society of Southern California was born in November 1931 and has been issued every month since then. Field trips, usually led by VanAmringe, were so popular that at times over 75 people would be in the field.
Notable collectors were drawn to the Society; names such as Ernest Chapman, Earl Calvert, Jack Streeter, Stan Hill, Jim Minette, Bill Moller, Bob Pedersen, Dick Bideaux,
George Rossman, Al Ordway and so many more.
MSSC's first field trip - October 1931
Crestmore Quarry, Riverside County, California
75 members attended
At one time Wayne Leicht (you know, my husband) served three terms as President and during his tenure we were fortunate to persuade the likes of Paul Desautels, Pierre Bariand, Ole Petersen, Peter Embrey, Fred Pough, Cliff Frondel - all of whom we had as guests at our home. During Wayne’s years of service the Society enjoyed the highest membership and attendance, usually standing room only at meetings.
Wayne Leicht and Paul DeSautels in 1971
I think it was at MSSC where I honed by ‘social animal skills’ since I was usually in charge of refreshments and open houses. I do remember when Pierre Bariand came to visit and lecture I spent days trying to perfect a ‘baba au rhum’ cake because the damn thing was invented in Paris in 1835. I finally succeeded and turned up at the meeting with four or five of them!
MSSC also sponsored a local mineral show which gained fame for the many displays of exquisite minerals. Sadly, due to high costs and location problems the show has faded into memory only. It was at one of the shows held at Pasadena City College that we sold our first specimen to the Smithsonian - quite a ‘high’ for us at the time. People came from all over the western states. Ah.h.h. but I digress......
Back to my original thought about the decline in membership: back in those early days the only publication was Rocks and Minerals and it was more widely distributed in the east. Today, through the internet and any number of publications, collectors can get ‘up to the minute’ data, communicate with each other in ‘real time’ and our lifestyles seem to be so much more hectic. I know Wayne and I are guilty - the meetings are an hour’s drive for us and on Friday night the traffic is more intense, so it’s easy to say ‘we’ll go next month’ but we never seem to. Today the trend is to form loose social groups of collectors; i.e., the MAD group in Dallas and also one in Houston, or to join a thread of conversations on Mindat.
MSSC continues on and one thing that makes them unique is that it is an ALL MINERAL
Society - they do not offer much for the lapidary, fossil or gem crowd. I would encourage any of you to join for the nominal fee: www.mineralsocal.org
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16th March 2010
I seem to surround myself with excellent photographers and here is another one I want to share with you. Our very long-time friend (and at one time our attorney) lives in Sedona and is also quite an aviator. Each morning he sends me a photo of something that catches his lens from either the ground or the air. This iris is magnificent....take a look at his website for some more dramatic and breathtaking photos: www.tedgrussing.com
Dona
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10 March 2010
Thought you might get a chuckle out of this photo - look at me with the Farrah Fawcett hair and Wayne before grey set in - I think he resembles Dave Bunk a bit. This photo was taken in around 1979 in front of our old shop on Forest Avenue in Laguna Beach. And how cute...we're both dressed in blue! I am wearing my famous crystallized gold pin which was stolen in a home robbery many years later - keep an eye out for that piece!!
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22 Jan 2010
Pets have always been a big part of our lifes, and for many years we had two cats which we rescued as kittens from a junkyard - Opal and her brother Citrine. Shy at first, they both loved to keep our many visitors to the house company. You can see fantastic photos, taken by Willie, of both the cats on our 'about us' page. Sadly Citrine passed away last year, and everyone misses him. To keep Opal company, we decided to get another kitten - Jet aka Mischief - and my goodness what a little ratbag this kitten is! Just look at the mischief in her eyes in this photo. But we love her and will keep you up to date on her exploits!
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20 Jan 2010
The Tucson show is nearly upon us, and we are nearly ready and packed to go. We look forward to catching up with all our friends over the next few weeks!
Coming later this year, we will be contributing several of our Native Gold and Silver specimens to the 'All that Glitters' exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum. The exhibit opens on 15th May 2010, and will be an exceptional display of glittering gems, precious metals, as natural mineral specimens, gemstones, jewellery and art.
For more information on the exhibit, please use the following link:
http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/allthatglitters/
11 Dec 2009
Just looking at this gorgeous photo makes me feel more cheerful - another by Willie.
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2 Dec 2009
What amazing photo - a Bobcat up close and personal- captured by Willie
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25 Nov 2009
Another gorgeous photo from Willie McCarty - a hummingbird in action
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9 October 2009
Here are some more of the beautiful photos that Willie took on our trips to Africa... the photos speak for themselves.......
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8th October 2009
Here is another of our most favourite people - Kristina Bode. Kristina's father Rainer Bode runs the German publishing company Bode Verlag, and mineral magazine MineralienWelt. Kristina is a part time airline hostess for Lufthansa, and when ever her flights come into Los Angeles she comes to visit us, it is always a fun trip!
Kristina
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27 July 2009
It was with great sadness that we learned about the sudden passing of our dear friend William ('Willie') McCarty on 13 July 2009. Willie was a phenomenal photographer, and as a tribute to his memory, I would like to share with you many of his photographs on this page.
Bolsa Chica Reserve in Huntington Beach, CA, taken in August 2008
Two Giraffes in Tanzania, taken on the 'Dream Team' Safari trip in April 2008
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30 May 2009
Two of our favorite people in the world are Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. Their photography of African cultures is unsurpassed (those of you who subscribe to National Geographic will recognize their work). Recently we joined them for dinner at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art (www.bowers.org) for the opening of an exhibit entitled "Passages" and the introduction of the new, incredibly beautiful book on the Dinka tribe. Carol and Angela have been guests in our home on numerous occasions and we always love to see them and to hear about their next adventure. Here is link for a wonderful interview with Carol and Angela with National Geographic: http://news.
Carol, Dona, Wayne and Angela at the reception at the Bowers Museum
If you are interested in their many books, tune in to Amazon.com and check out the long list of some of the most beautiful books you've ever seen.
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30 May 2009
Most of you know Bill McCarty and his wife Roberta as collectors of fine Arizona minerals and our constant helpers at our booths in Tucson and Denver....BUT...did you know that Bill (we call him "Willie") is a photographer extroadinaire??? He sent me this photo of Saturn that he captured and it's just too good not to share. Way to go Willie!
Photograph of Saturn by Bill McCarty
Every now and then I'll show you some of Willie's photos - check out the shots of our two cats on the About us page!
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