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Smith Almost Quits Micromounting
You are here: MineralCollecting.org >> Posted Articles >> Article 20

by Paul E. Smith (Almost an ex-micromounter!) Fairfax, Virginia 22030-5369.
E-mail: jpmicros@aol.com
This article appeared in the April 1999 issue of the Mineral Mite, the newsletter of the Micromounters of the National Capital Area in Washington, D. C.

SMITH ALMOST QUITS MICROMOUNTING!

That's right, I almost did. I guess I was tired out from all the activities at the Conference and the excitement, plus the fact that Jennie had gone to see three of our grandchildren in Texas and I was all alone. Here is what happened. On the field trip to the Hunting Hill Quarry in Rockville, Maryland on Sunday of the Conference, I had collected a few scraps of material from the side of a big boulder where Jim Edwards had found several exquisite clusters of bright pyrite. I was able to obtain a few pyrites and what I believe is prehnite, plus some calcite singles. As is my custom, I saved all the scraps that I was able to chisel off. Once the baggie in which I was collecting the scraps blew from the top of the boulder and several scraps were lost but I ended up with about a dozen pieces, large and small. Earlier, I had collected some very nice coalingite, which seemed to take a golden sheen in the sunlight. At the same time I also found a few excellent pieces of actinolite in the typical green veins.

Fred Schaefermeyer had been to the far end of the quarry where there was a lot of frenzied activity, mainly by Andy Dietz and by Fred Parker, who gave me a piece of what was being collected. It consisted of white sprays of fibrous material that I am sure we had seen many times previously but never cared much about, since it was often badly weathered and unattractive. That evening Jim and I explored the material from the boulder. The pyrite was beautiful indeed. They had many irregularities that bear further examination and were sitting in and on light green prehnite. Jim had obtained the best samples since he was the one who had discovered it, but he had left enough that I was satisfied with my pyrite. However, as I examined the specimens under higher magnification I suddenly noticed tiny hairs or wires, some imbedded as inclusions in the prehnite and some seemingly resting on top. I had seen material like this some years before and more recently in material that Fred Parker donated for next year's auction. Right, it was millerite. As I examined the specimens more carefully, I found several that had the millerite, AND THEN I found a spray of three or four tiny hairs coming from a common base! The most, or nearly the most beautiful sight I had seen. Of course all things are relative, but it was exciting. I wanted to photograph it right then, but it was getting late and we were tired, so I carefully placed the spray on mineral tac in a can and left it at the microscope. Well, with Jennie leaving for Texas and my trying to keep house, I did not take time to look at the specimen for a couple days. When I did, I could not see any spray! It had disappeared! I looked and looked at every magnification I had and still no millerite spray. You bet I was devastated. How could I have been so careless. I must have touched it as I placed it in the can and dislodged it. Wow! What a klutz! I could not go on. The spray had been so beautiful and was so unexpected. I covered the scope, shut off the light and left.. I could not believe it. I had lost the spray without even having taken a picture. I just did not want to look at another micro. I thought I might even quit collecting, that is how bad I felt. Last night after the MSDC club meeting where I told Fred how I felt, I went down to the microscope and took another look at the specimen. I had placed it on mineral tac in the can and it still was not there. Then I turned it over and THERE IT WAS! Wow! Now I can continue collecting. This is what happened. I had been looking at the spray at quite high magnification on the scope where I take photos since Jim Edwards was using Jennie's scope. When I went back to look, I did not try it at the high magnification and did not really look nor did I turn the specimen over! The spray was on what seemed to be the nonproductive backside in a small crevice well protected. It is a wonder that I hadn't pressed it harder into the mineral tac and really lost it. Now it is securely glued to a pedestal and in a box with an appropriate label on the top and bottom. And I have photographed it more than one time. Let's hope the photos are as beautiful as the real thing.

Oh yes, the white sprays that Fred gave me turned out to be a new mineral for Hunting Hill! Lance Kearns, James Madison University, has identified it as xonotlite, the last "X" entry in Fleischer's Glossary of Mineral Species.

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