Minerals.net

The NY-NJ Gem & Mineral Show is now in its third year and has risen out of its infancy. It has become a significant show, filling a void in the metropolitan area of our country's largest city. This is the show's second year in the giant New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, New Jersey, which is about a 40 minute drive from Midtown Manhattan. The show took place from Friday through Sunday, April 11-13.

The show was the brainchild or Lowell Carhart, who also runs the Tucson 22nd Street Show and the Denver Coliseum Show. Lowell, who was raised in New Jersey, realized that the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area lacks a significantly sized show, and was determined to change that. The New York/New Jersey area is home to many significant localities and both serious and amateur collectors. There are collectors who specialize in the world-famous Franklin/Sterling Hill deposits (especially fluorescent collectors), others who collect the outstanding traprock minerals of the Watchungs (such as Paterson and Prospect Park), as well as those who focus on minerals from New York City, the Hudson Valley, and Connecticut.

The show had really filled out the convention center this year, taking up much of the space in the interior of this massive 150,000+ square foot venue. Some of the features of this year’s show included a full-sized T-Rex skeleton, public showcase exhibits of local minerals, an outstanding fluorescent room, and lectures from well-known speakers such as Bob Jones and Justin Zzyzx.

There were several high-end mineral dealers selling museum quality pieces in the fine mineral gallery. Many of these well-known dealers had outstanding, museum-quality pieces available in beautiful display arrangements. The fine mineral gallery room featured a dazzling $2 million gold exhibit featuring "as dug" gold specimens from around the world. The Maine Mineral and Gemstone Museum had two large showcases in the Fine Mineral Gallery of recently mined minerals from Maine, especially Tourmalines from the Havey Quarry. (This Museum will be opening later this year; it was a treat to get a sneak preview of some of their display minerals).

In addition to the giant, 38 foot Tyrannosaurus Rex that stood proudly on the show floor, there were several other fascinating, full size fossils, including a complete 12' tall Entelodont skeleton, and the world's finest collection of exquisite Devonian Bundenbach Hunsrück fossils. The show also had rocks that you could touch from the moon, Mars, and 4 Vesta, (one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System.)

There was also an entire room showcasing fluorescent minerals from the nearby Franklin and Sterling Hill zinc deposits. The exhibits were organized mostly by the Franklin and Sterling Hill Museums, and featured one of the largest displays ever of glowing fluorescent minerals under a single roof.

Last year's public exhibits had great representation of NY/NJ Minerals, but the showcases were big, bulky, and not photogenic. For this year’s exhibit, the show staff put together the more traditional "club-style" cases with risers. They were able to get showcase boxes from the Franklin Museum, and invested time and money to repair them and allow their use for future shows and other club uses. The exhibits were once again curated by Justin Zzyzx who put hours of work into this massive effort.

There was a big disappointment in the public exhibits, as many of the showcases were empty and just had labels. Apparently some of the big museums that committed had cancelled at the last minute due to a miscommunication. This did put a damper on the exhibits, though the showcases from some private collectors that had setup display cases of local minerals from the Northeast were still outstanding.

Minerals.net had a booth at the show, where Hershel Friedman was selling part of his collection of local NY and NJ Minerals, as well as promoting the Minerals.net website. Hershel had set up a screen at the booth that was playing some of the Minerals.net videos he produced. He also placed several articles in the show guide, which can be seen by clicking this link. His articles appear on page 16, 17, 24, and 25.

Although there was a nice turnout of dealers and buyers at the show, there was some disappointment with the lack of additional mineral dealers. There was a healthy representation of dealers selling beads, jewelry, and fossils, but outside the fine mineral gallery there were definitely complaints that not enough mineral dealers were present. This includes both established mineral dealers as well as some of the smaller local dealers. This also likely contributed to the fact that I saw very little new material being brought to the market at the show. Anything new I had already seen two months earlier in Tucson. There were also some complaints from dealers in aisles that they received much lighter foot traffic than the corners.

I have heard the show staff is aware of these matters, and they are working diligently to address them in the coming year. This show has outstanding potential to continue growing and become one of the most important shows in the world. The key to success is to attract more relevant dealers, which in effect will bring more serious buyers who will travel longer distances to attend the show. Overall I really enjoyed the show this year and look forward to seeing its continued growth in the coming years. I have divided the pictures into four separate posts for easier reading:

• General Show Scenes
• Public Exhibit Showcases
• Public Display Minerals
• Dealer Displays

Article Written by Waymon Cox
Park Interpreter, Crater of Diamonds State Park
[email protected]

David Anderson first learned of the Crater of Diamonds State Park when he saw Arkansas’s Diamond site featured on The Travel Channel’s “Best Places to Find Cash and Treasures.” His first visit to the park was in 2007. Because of his love for diamond hunting here, he now calls Murfreesboro home so he can hunt regularly for diamonds  in the park’s 37 ½-acre search area. Yesterday after looking for about four hours, Anderson found a 6.19-carat white diamond, the largest of the hundreds of diamonds he’s found at the park. He discovered it in the East Drain area of the search field. Anderson named his clear, white marquise-shape diamond the Limitless Diamond after the 2014 motto for the charitable organization Speed the Light. He plans to donate proceeds from the sale of this diamond to Speed the Light.

According to Park Interpreter Waymon Cox, “The Limitless Diamond is about the size of a jelly bean, and it’s the 15th-largest diamond found at Crater of Diamonds State Park since 1972. It is also the largest white diamond we have registered in three years since the 8.66-carat Illusion Diamond was discovered in April 2011 by Beth Gilbertson of Salida, Colorado.”  He said, “This diamond is definitely a beauty. It looks almost entirely clear and appears to be an unbroken crystal.”

Cox continued, “It’s no surprise that a large diamond was found this week. Over four inches of rain fell on the park last weekend, and David found his diamond on the first sunny day following the rain. Rainwater washes soil from the search area and often exposes heavy gravel and diamonds on the surface.” He emphasized, “David has worked hard to find more than 400 diamonds here over the years, but he had never surface searched for diamonds until this year. This is the largest, and probably the easiest, diamond he’s ever found!”

Cox noted that the park staff often doesn’t find out what happens to diamonds from the park after they are registered. “We are excited to follow David’s journey with the Limitless Diamond and to see what the end result will be!”

On average, two diamonds are found a day by park visitors. The colors of diamonds found at the park are white, brown, and yellow, in that order. Cox noted that with Anderson’s diamond, the current trend continues of visitors finding diamonds on the surface of the search field. Due to good rains this year, and some especially hard rains recently, the park is experiencing perfect conditions for visitors to find diamonds right on the surface of the search area. Diamonds are a bit heavy for their size, so a good downpour will wash the dirt away, leaving the diamond exposed.

The search area at the Crater of Diamonds is a 37 ½-acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of the eighth largest diamond-bearing deposit in the world, in surface area. It is the world’s only diamond-producing site open to the public. In addition to diamonds, semi-precious gems and minerals are found in the park’s search area including amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite, and quartz. Over 40 different rocks and minerals are unearthed at the Crater making it a rock hound's delight.

The park’s policy is finder-keepers. What park visitors find is theirs to keep. The park staff provides free identification and registration of diamonds. Park interpretive programs and exhibits explain the site’s geology and history, and offer tips on recognizing diamonds in the rough.

Many factors help visitors who like to surface search for diamonds at the park. Park personnel regularly plow the diamond search area to bring fresh, eroded diamond ore to the surface. Then, erosion from heavy rains concentrates the heavy rocks and minerals, like diamonds, in the low-lying parts of the search area.

In total, over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at Arkansas’s diamond site since the first diamonds found in 1906 by John Huddleston, the farmer who at that time owned the land, long before the site became an Arkansas state park in 1972. The largest diamond ever discovered in the United States was unearthed here in 1924 during an early mining operation. Named the Uncle Sam, this white diamond with a pink cast weighed 40.23 carats. Notable diamonds found by park visitors since the state park was established at the site include the Amarillo Starlight, a 16.37-carat white diamond discovered in 1975 which ranks as the largest diamond ever found by a park visitor. The second largest find by a park visitor is the Star of Shreveport, an 8.82-carat white gem unearthed in 1981.

A notable diamond from the Crater of Diamonds that has received much national attention is the 1.09-carat D-flawless Strawn-Wagner Diamond. Discovered in 1990 by park visitor Shirley Strawn of Murfreesboro, this white gem weighed 3.03 carats in the rough before being cut to perfection in 1997 by the renowned diamond firm Lazare Kaplan International of New York. The gem is the most perfect diamond ever certified in the laboratory of the American Gem Society. It is on display in a special exhibit in the Crater of Diamonds State Park visitor center.

Another gem from the Crater is the flawless 4.25-carat Kahn Canary diamond that was discovered at the park in 1977. This uncut, triangular-shape gem has been on exhibit at many cities around the U.S. and overseas. It was featured in an illustrious jewelry exhibition in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1997 that included precious stones from throughout the world including the Kremlin collection, the Vatican, Cartier, and Christies. And, in late 1997, the Kahn Canary was featured in another prestigious exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York entitled “The Nature of Diamonds.” Former First Lady Hillary Clinton borrowed the Kahn Canary from its owner, Stan Kahn of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and wore it in a special, Arkansas-inspired ring setting designed by Henry Dunay of New York as a special way to represent Arkansas’s diamond site at the galas celebrating both of Bill Clinton’s presidential inaugurals.

Crater of Diamonds State Park is on Ark. 301 at Murfreesboro. It is one of the 52 state parks administered by the State Parks Division of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. For more information, contact Waymon Cox, park interpreter, Crater of Diamonds State Park, 209 State Park Road, Murfreesboro, AR 71958. Phone:  870-285-3113. Email:  [email protected] or visit CraterofDiamondsStatePark.com.

We have emailed our April 2014 Minerals.net online newsletter. Please click the image below for the larger version.

"Rockhounding New York": A Falcon Guide

By Robert Beard

This book is the second in the series by the author, Robert Beard. It deals with the unique geology in New York State, and focuses on sites that are accessible to the public only. The book covers the entire state, from the Canadian border to the New York City Metro area.

I have a special liking to the book, because the author published my name in the acknowledgements, as well as information that I provided him through my mineral website and through e-mail communications. It was a nice surprise to see my name in the book, as I was not expecting it!

The book gives thorough reviews of each site, including collecting difficulty, GPS location, driving directions, land status, family-friendliness, as well as special concerns. Numerous well known sites are discussed, as well as some little known localities, where you can pick up fossils or minerals at your leisure. Being an avid New York collector, I was surprised at some of the sites that were listed, as I have driven past many of them numerous times, and never knew they were there. Discussed within the book are other topics, rockhounding basics, a discussion of state geology, and a full map of collecting localities. The author also goes into detail on the subject of the natural resources of the state that are produced commercially, which was a very interesting read.

Some surprising information in the book has already sent me on a few road trips to investigate some new sites for collecting possibilities. Some of these new ones are four sites on Staten Island, numerous sites around Bear Mountain (I am a regular collector in this area, and the book introduced me to several additional spots), several sites around Kingston, NY, and numerous fossil sites along US Highway 20 through the center of the state. The author also published several of my favorite collecting spots, including Amity, Ellenville, Wurtsboro, Highland Mills, Barton/Hooper, and a complete listing of all of the Herkimer Diamond sites.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book, and I believe it will make a great addition to any rockhound's library.

Click here to buy the book on Amazon.