The Rockhounder April 2014 the Purpose of the Gem, Lapidary, and Mineral Society of Montgomery County MD, Inc
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The Rockhounder April 2014 The purpose of the Gem, Lapidary, and Mineral Society of Montgomery County MD, Inc. is “to increase knowledge and popular interest in earth sciences, geology, mineralogy, paleontology, lapidary arts, and related subjects.” IN THIS ISSUE Regular Meeting Minutes 2 REGULAR MEETINGS Member Update 2 Meetings are held the 2nd Monday of the month from September to Get Involved at Smithsonian 3 June. The Society will meet on Monday, April 14, 2014, in the dining room of Board Minutes 3 the Rockville Senior Center, 1150 Carnation Drive, Rockville. A short A Golden Surprise 3 business meeting will begin at 7:45 PM but the room is available to us at 7:30 GLMSMC Auction 4 PM so come early and chat with old friends. Lure & Lore of Rocks 5 The presentation this month is Cuprian Tourmaline: Brazil and Beyond by Field Trips 5 Michael Wise, a mineralogist in the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Rockville Science Day 5 National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Mini Miners 6 FRA 6 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Show Table 7 Meeting will be held Monday, April 21, 2014, at the home of Andy Muir. Websites of Interest 8 All Board members are expected to be there. Any member is welcome to Safety Matters 8 attend but kindly let Andy know if you plan to attend at Bench Tips 9 [email protected] or phone 301-990-1370. Upcoming Events 10 Letter to the Editor 11 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: HELLO FELLOW ROCKHOUNDERS Just wanted to let everyone know that we had an excellent show this year! We had even stronger attendance than last year and lower expenses as well. REMINDER The influx of Scouts on Sunday was welcome and Conrad Smith's Eagle Scout I refuse to put the snow project was a big hit. Jim Kostka was instrumental in helping with the project announcement in the APRIL issue, but if it snows, by now you and promotion. know what to do! Tremendous thanks to the Smithsonian again for their annual display and special thanks to the National Park Service - Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Historical Park for their first time loan of a truly historic Maryland Mine gold specimen from the Ingall's collection. The specimen displayed is the best of the collection and has not been on public display since the early 1970's. It was truly something to behold and we have also secured the loan of specimens from the NPS on a perpetual basis for the show. Thank you to Pat for once again being our Downstairs Show Chair and Andy for stepping up as our Upstairs Show Chair. They provided all of the coordination the show requires and solved any problems that came up. I tried over the show weekend to personally thank as many of our members as possible for the help that they put forward. I know I missed being able to thank all of you in that fashion, but please accept my sincere thanks now, for all the time and effort you put into the weekend. We TRULY cannot do it without our volunteers and I just can't thank everyone enough!!! Next up, we have our tremendous upcoming auction on April 12th with loads of top quality material and equipment for sale. All members should have gotten an auction notice via e- mail with the particulars and pictures of some of the material. This auction will The deadline for the April likely be one of our best ever, so don't miss it! This is a rare opportunity to issue of The Rockhounder is acquire old stock material that is from many mining localities that are long gone April 25, 2014. or are just plain, hard to get!!! We look forward to seeing you all there. Page 1 April 2014 The Rockhounder The Board has voted to make the hugely popular, Superdig at the Sterling Hill Mining Museum of Ogdensburg, New Jersey, a club sanctioned event. This way, if you want to participate, you are covered under the Society's existing field trip insurance policy through the Eastern Federation of Mineralogical & Lapidary Societies. Just another great benefit of being a GLMSMC member! If it were not club sanctioned, you would have to pay for a membership into the Delaware Valley Earth Science Society, which is providing the Superdig event, so you would be covered under their insurance policy. Thanks again go to the Delaware Valley group and the Mining Museum for putting on this spectacular event All my thanks again, Chris Luzier, President REGULAR MEETING MINUTES: MARCH 10, 2014 The March 10, 2014, meeting was called to order by President Chris Luzier at 7:44 PM, with approximately 64 people attending. This meeting was the last preparation meeting before our 2014 Annual Gem Mineral, Lapidary, & Fossil show on March 15-16. Awards: Mark Dahlman announced that 8 junior members of the GLMSMC had earned their Fluorescent Mineral badges and singled out Jonathan Baum for special recognition in being the 9th junior in the state of Maryland to achieve a 6th badge. This notable accomplishment was recognized and awarded to Jonathan Baum by Holly McNeil and Dr. Jeff Post, Curator of the Smithsonian National Gem & Mineral Collection. It was also George Durland’s 80th birthday and he honored us all by celebrating with a birthday cake at this meeting. Congratulations, George, and thank you for sharing this event with us. We truly appreciate your many years of outstanding service and contribution to our society. Annual Show: Pat Repik-Byrne announced that so far she had 47 exhibitors and 16 demonstrators and encouraged all members to step up and help out as volunteers at the show. This should be our best show ever but it would only be as good as we, the members, make it with our time and talents. Auction: During our regular meeting a silent auction took place of some fine gem and mineral books bequeathed to GLMS-MC by the Speilman estate. Members were reminded that the actual gem and lapidary part of this bequest was still being cataloged and appraised. They will be auctioned at a special event scheduled for Saturday, April 14, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM at the Rockville Senior Center. EFML Liaison: Wendell Mohr announced upcoming events and activities of interest to GLMS-MC members and made an urgent call for a member to step forward as the next editor of The Rockhounder, our award-winning monthly newsletter. Micromineralogy: GLMSMC member David McClean, President MEMBER UPDATE of the Micromineralogists of the National Capital Area announced We welcome a new family to our that MNCA will be hosting the annual Atlantic Micromineralogy society, Priscilla Quackenbush, Symposium on April 4-5, 2014 at the Springhill Suites Marriott Hotel Priscilla Critser, Mary Quackenbush, in Alexandria, VA, with special presentations both days by reknown and Danny Quackenbush, 13404 microscopist and mineralogist Joe Marty, from Salt Lake City, Utah. Bonnie Dale Drive, Gaithersburg, Registration: $30. MD 20878-3095, 301-357-6355, Field Trips: Jonathan Harris announced that our first collecting [email protected]. trip of the year, unless snowed out, is scheduled for Saturday, March 22, 2014, at the Vulcan Quarry in Manassas, VA. We are teaming up with our NOVA Mineral Society friends on this event. Only paid, registered GLMSMC adult and youth members may attend, with their signed insurance waivers and GLMSMC rules in hand at the Quarry office at 7:00 AM. Treasurer’s Report: Holly McNeil reported our adjusted cash balance (funds net of the Lillian Turner designated funds) was approximately $23,000. Activity for February included receipt of the remaining dealer payments for the show and payment of most of the show expenses except the trailer related expenses. The other activity for February was renting the Senior Center for the upcoming April 12th auction. Page 2 April 2014 The Rockhounder Presentation: Vice President Dave Tiktinsky introduced the night’s guest GET INVOLVED AT THE SMITHSONIAN speaker, Dr. Jeff Post, Curator of the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Smithsonian Institution’s National Gem BY WENDELL MOHR & Mineral Collection. Dr. Post, who is The museum is always looking for volunteers. also a resident of Montgomery County They need your help! Here's your chance to join and GLMSMC member thanked us for some of the great scientific research projects and 20 years of annual gifts presented to educational activities of the Museum. Contribute the Smithsonian – “the American your time and expertise to support the work of the People’s collection”—for the acquisition of new gem and museum behind-the-scenes in the Mineral Sciences mineral specimens for public display and research. He Department. If you, or older children, are talked about new acquisitions made at the 2014 Tucson interested contact Jeff Post at [email protected] or Gem & Mineral Show. Among the new acquisitions were phone 202 633 1814. He will gladly review kyanite from Nepal; color-changing diaspore from opportunities and their conditions. Anatolia, Turkey; a 51 carat danburite from Tanzania, andradite (demantoid) from the Green Dragon Mine in Namibia; a 147 carat yellow beryl from Brazil; opal from Ethiopia; and a beautiful complex specimen of aquamarine from Pakistan displaying an unusual platy habit, that was acquired thanks to the endowment of GLMSMC members Wendell and Joanne Mohr. Adjournment: The regular meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:45 PM. Dave Fryauff, Secretary BOARD MEETING MINUTES: MARCH 17, 2014 A special meeting of the Board was called to order on March 10, 2014, by President, Chris Luzier at 9:00 PM during the regular meeting to discuss items of importance to the show scheduled for that weekend.