This week Mandy and I went to a small regional mineral show in Plymouth Meeting, PA. The show was held at a place called the "LuLu Temple" which is a Shriners' "mosque" near Philadelphia. We have been going to this show for years and it is always a good place to find great material.

While there weren't too many displays at the show, there were a few things that caught our eye. One of those things was this picture of Charles Wheatley, the proprietor of the Wheatley Mine (as well as its namesake). The Wheatley Mine was originally opened around 1850 and was closed for good by 1920. It was a lead and silver mine and is perhaps best known among collectors for its classic pyromorphite specimens. Charles Wheatley was also a mineral collector - I am sure owning a magnificent pyromorphite locality was a great advantage in terms of trading!!! We aslo saw a display that featured several radioactive specimens and a book on radioactive specimens of Pennsylvania. Much to our dismay, there were no actual radioactive specimens from Pennsylvania in the display. But, as luck would have it, we found a francevillite from Pennsylvania at the show - how about that?!

And of course, no respectable Pennsylvania show would be complete without a general display of Pennsylvania minerals. Of particular note were this amethyst from Delaware County and this calcite specimen from York County. It is difficult to fully appreciate them from these photos as there was no adequate lighting on the case. However, the amethyst was doubly terminated with pronounced, saturated violet color at each end and the calcite crystal was large, lustrous, and had significant clarity.

Here is a view of all the action at the show. Do you see any familiar faces in the crowd?

Aside from attending the show, Mandy and I also looked at a private collection this week. All told we acquired a few hundred specimens this week. These specimens will be making their way onto the site and our ebay auctions in the upcoming weeks. However, it is not just a simple process of acquiring a specimen from an old collection, photographing it and selling it. Many of the specimens need significant preperation and cleaning before we sell them. We encounter specimens in all kinds of conditions. I thought it might be fun to share our techniques and some of things we've learned over the years. These are some of the more useful products that we use for various purposes. "Rust Stain Remover" - The active ingredient is hydrofluoric acid. This product is used for, among other things, removing iron stains from specimens "Iron Out" - The active ingredient is oxalic acid. This comes as a powder that is mixed with water in varying strengths. As the name implies, this is also used to remove iron staining "Weiman Wax Remover" - This product is the best thing to use on very old, stiff, dried out, gooey, or otherwise decrepit mineral tack. Without this product, one risks either damaging the specimen or winding up in a situation where all the tiny bits of ancient mineral tack remain impossibly stuck in every nook & cranny of the specimen. After carefully removing any large mass of tack if possible, the specimen is left to soak in the wax remover. After a few hours the tack is dissolved and can easily be brushed away with a paintbrush. This product has been shown to be very safe in my experience and does no harm any species I've used it with - although I have never tested it out with water soluble species Acetone - Acetone is the classic solvent for cyanoacrylate glues (like krazy glue, etc.) and other glues other than elmer's that are not water soluble "Goo Gone" - Goo Gone is our "go to" product for removing relatively "fresh" mineral tack that is being stubborn or stuck in delicate areas (for example, a thin gold or silver specimen that you do not want to bend) or "gooey" areas left behind by stickers of any kind

Here is an example of a commonly encountered situation - iron oxide staining. In this case I have a pyrite specimen with minor hematite on the underside, from Elba, Italy. There is some minor iron staining on some areas that I hope to remove using the oxalic acid (Iron Out). I start by dissolving a small amount of Iron Out in a small amount of water. Since I am only planning on treating a small area of the specimen I will try to use a Q-tip to address the area rather than leaving it to soak in the solution (which is often needed for more extensive iron staining). I leave a few drops of solution to sit on the areas of iron stain. After a minute or so, I apply some pressure with the Q-tip and am able to rub the stain off with much success.

On the left you can see that the pyrite crystal has a significant area of iron stain on the largest face. After treatment with the oxalic acid (in the form of "Iron Out") the pyrite crystal shows its gleaming metallic brilliance.

An old, cruddy, box containing a barely visible mineral specimen. This is an all too common sight for us. Unfortunately buying "old" collections means buying all the "old" containers, mountings, and boxes that go along with them. This is typical example of what I have to do before a specimen goes up for sale.

Upon removing the specimen from its old plastic box it is clear that the specimen is affixed to the styrofoam base with something other than mineral tack. I then carefully remove the majority of styrofoam with a small pair of nippers (small nippers are always close by as they are excellent for quick minor trim jobs). Careless removal of styrofoam, by just ripping a specimen off of it, has resulted in more than just one broken specimen.

With most of the styrofoam removed, one can easily see what kind of glue we are dealing with. In this case it is clear to me that it is not a water-soluble "Elmer's" type glue, which usually has a slightly milky appearance. So I know I need to use acetone to remove it from the specimen. However, if you are not sure you can always try water first and if it doesn't work then dry it off and soak it in acetone. I have found that starting out with acetone on a water-soluble glue can make things more difficult for some reason.

After letting the specimen soak in acetone for a little while, I remove it from the solution and use a stiff bristled paint brush to gently brush away the softened glue and remaining styrofoam. This process is repeated until all the glue is gone.

After all of this I gave the specimen a gentle cleaning with water and very soft brush to remove any old grime and remnants of the glue cleaning process. Here you see the end result - a lovely rhodochrosite specimen from.... a rare locale! I am giving a $25 dollar credit to the first person to successfully guess the correct locality. The locality only needs to be accurate down to the general region of that country - i.e. the equivalent of province, prefecture, state, etc. Just email your quess to mineralman999@yahoo.com