Josephine Scholl Collection Catalog
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Josephine Scholl Collection Catalog Updated May 2017 MMGS acquired the large mineral collection of Josephine Manchester “Jo” Scholl (1906-1991) of North Windham, Maine, in April 2016. Jo’s granddaughter approached someone she knew to be interested in rocks and minerals, faculty member at neighboring St. Joseph’s College (and MMGS member) Steve Bridge, for advice on disposition of the collection which for some 25 years had sat untouched in the basement of the Scholl home, now occupied by Jo’s son and daughter-in-law. Much of the collection is well labeled, and Jo left a catalog listing more than 1,600 of the best items, greatly enhancing the interest and value of the collection. Many school and even college classes made the trip to the Scholls’ basement to view the collection during Jo’s lifetime. Steve viewed the collection in April and was offered the opportunity to purchase it himself. He decided that because of its size (tens of thousands of pieces) and significance, it would be more appropriate for MMGS to acquire the collection and manage its disposition. MMGS decided at its April 2016 meeting to purchase the collection for the modest asking price. During the summer and fall of 2016 a team of MMGS members packed up the collection, moved it to storage, and began processing and organizing it for sale. The initial inventory compiled during packing and moving includes more than 400 line items, most of them boxes containing dozens of specimens. (Seventeen line items are metal cabinets, each cabinet containing an average of 20 plastic drawers of small pieces—at perhaps nine or ten pieces per drawer, those cabinets alone contain more than 3,000 pieces!) The first auction of Scholl specimens was held November A sample page of Jo Sholl’s manuscript 19, 2016. catalog The collection was assembled between the 1950s and about 1980. Much of the material was field collected by the Scholls on excursions to collecting sites around Maine and elsewhere in New England, eastern Canada, and across the U.S. (Jo’s husband Charles is said to have explained that Jo was the collector and that he merely drove the van and lugged rocks.) Many of the localities represented have long been inaccessible to collectors, and several no longer exist at all. Jo Scholl’s collection is a time capsule of what a motivated collector in the Northeast could acquire during the heyday of the rockhounding hobby in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. The Scholls were members of the former Coastal Maine Mineral Club and for several years held large, multi-day swap meets annually on their property in North Windham that attracted collectors and dealers from as far away as the Midwest. Many specimens are noted in the catalog as having been acquired at those events. Jo’s sister Martha “Mattie” Menard (1903-1993) lived with her husband next door to the Scholls and was an equally ardent mineral collector who traveled widely and is listed in the catalog as the source (“M.M.” or “M.M.M.”) of many more specimens. Martha’s collection, said to have been comparable to Jo’s, was sold at auction shortly after her death. Where possible, MMGS sale labels for specimens from the Scholl collection include Jo’s catalog number at the bottom. Many specimens also retain their original masking-tape labels. Jo’s handwritten collection catalog consists of two spiral-bound notebooks. One notebook lists the specimens in numerical order and the other, apparently compiled from the first notebook, lists the rocks and minerals in alphabetical order. A typical catalog entry indicates the catalog number, name, and locality for that item, and many entries include the source, date of acquisition, and/or price paid for the specimen as well. In many cases the same catalog number was applied to a group of specimens of the same species and locality, usually (but not always) acquired together from the same source. Thus in many cases the same catalog number appears on more than one label. Bethany Clopton, with help from her husband Ed, compiled information from the two notebooks into the catalog that appears here. This MMGS label showing Jo Scholl’s document is presented for its historical value as an edited transcript of Jo’s catalog number notebooks and is not a definitive catalog of Scholl specimens held or sold by MMGS. To the best of our abilities we have corrected spellings, clarified obsolete or varietal mineral names, and completed locality names (e.g., by adding “Maine”) where it could be done with confidence. Errors and inconsistencies remain that we were unable to resolve or perhaps just overlooked. Jo’s masking-tape label on the same specimen Left Margin No. Species Location Source & Other Note * Items marked in the manuscript with a red dot in the left margin are believed to have been removed from the collection by Jo Scholl. 1 Actinolite Maynooth, Ont Aug. 1957 2 Agate Parrsboro area, NS 3 Albite xls Harvard mine, Greenwood, ME Excellent 4 Calcite, white MacDonald's mine, Hybla, Ont 5 Amethyst Hall's Harbor, NS 6 Andalusite Lancaster, MA 7 Apatite xl Durango, Mexico 8 Apophyllite growth 9 Asbestos Eden, VT 10 Autunite Georgetown, ME Vanessa 11 Barite xl Weld, CO 12 Beryl Bethel, ME 13 Biotite Mt. Apatite, Auburn, ME 14 Breccia 15 Calcite, orange MacDonald's mine, Hybla, Ont * 16 Chabazite Wasson's Bluff, NS July 1958, John Wasson 17 Chalcedony Cape Blomidon, NS 18 Chert, sample Missouri 19 Chiastolite (Sanford area) Acton, ME 20 Chrysocolla Bisbee, AZ Carl Hoffman 21 Columbite Noyes Mt, Greenwood, ME 22 Conglomerate 23 Copper McLain State Park, MI 24 Corundum Craigmont mine, Combermere, Ont. 25 Datolite East Granby, CT 26 Dendrites on feldspar Greenwood, ME and LaFlamme qy, Minot, ME 27 Desert roses (barite) 28 Diopside Cornish, ME 29 Drusy quartz Harvard mine, Greenwood, ME 30 Dinosaur gizzards Yakima, WA (gastroliths or thunder-eggs) 31 Essonite garnet Pitts Tenny mine, Minot, ME 32 Feldspar MacDonalds' mine, Maynooth, Ont. 33 Flint 34 Fluorite Rosiclare, IL Wetzels 35 Fossilized shells in mud & Bonnechere Caves, Ont silt 36 Garnet Cook Road, Windham, ME 37 Gneiss 38 Gold fleck Natural Park, The Ovens, NS 39 Granite Barre, VT 40 Gypsum, crystallized West Bay, NS 41 Hematite 42 Herkimer diamonds Fonda, NY MM 43 Hornblende Windham, ME 44 Howlite Calif. (From man at Mr. Pitts) 45 Idocrase (Vesuvianite) Sanford, ME 46 Jasper Jasper Beach, Starboard, ME (E. Machias; also Machiasport) 47 Kyanite Dundee Falls, ME 48 Kunzite (pink spodumene) Mt. Apatite, Auburn, ME 49 Lepidolite Mt. Apatite, Auburn, ME 50 Limestone 51 Lithiophilite Tamminen's mine, Greenwood, ME 52 Lodestone (Magnetite xl) in Chester, VT chlorite 53 Malachite E. Granby, CT 54 Manganapatite B.B. Greenwood, ME 55 Marble Proctor, VT 56 Mica 57 Mica, plumose Mt. Apatite, Auburn, ME 58 Mica xls B.B. Greenwood, ME 59 Milky quartz 60 Molybdenite Silver Lake, NH 61 Montmorrillonite Tamminen's mine, Greenwood, ME 62 Mica schist Middle Jam, Gorham, ME 63 Natrolite Oregon 64 Obsidian Gardiner, MT 65 Opal 66 Orthoclase 67 Prehnite E. Granby, CT 68 Pseudomorph: Quartz after McKay's Head, NS Stilbite 69 Puddingstone 70 Pyrite Idaho Springs, CO (The Old Miner) 71 Quartz, massive 72 Quartz xls Hot Springs, AR (The Wetzels) 73 Quartz, smoky Henry Beck & others 74 Quartz, rose Bumpus qy, Albany, ME; Pelletier Farm, Greenwood, ME 75 Quartz, smoky, xls Passaconaway, NH 76 Rhodonite 77 Rubellite Black Mt. Rumford, ME 78 Scheelite Cornish, ME 79 Schist Middle Jam, Gorham, ME 80 Schist 81 Serpentine and magnetite Carl Hoffman 82 Shale 83 Siderite Brookfield, NS 84 Silver Zuni, NM 85 Slate 86 Soapstone Chester, VT 87 Sodalite Bancroft, Ont 88 Spodumene Mt. Apatite, Auburn, ME * 89 Staurolite Cook Road, Windham, ME 90 Stibnite Lake George, NB 91 Stilbite Partridge Island, NS and Wasson's Bluff, NS 92 Talc Chester, VT 93 Tourmaline (green) Tamminen's mine, Greenwood, ME 94 Traprock East Granby, CT 95 Turquoise Albuquerque, NM 96 Uranium Orphan mine, Grand Canyon, NM & MM AZ 97 Zoisite Pennsylvania 98 Wavellite Magnet Cove, AR 99 Barite (bladed or finned) Wetzels 100 Ancient Marl Broken from off-shore reef, Myrtle Beach, SC 101 Smithsonite Pinal Co, AZ 102 Rubellite (pink tourmaline) Newry, ME 103 Calcite xls Parrsboro, NS Eldon George 104 Gypsum, satin spar Near Two Islands, NS 105 Quartz xls: iron-stained McKay's Head, NS 106 Jasper breccia Perry, ME 107 Limb cast Yakima, WA; one from OR also 108 Agate Found in NS. cut and polished by M.M. 109 Red jasper Found in NS. cut and polished by M.M. 110 Yellow jasper Found in NS. cut and polished by M.M. 111 Dinosaur track Farmington River bed, Windsor, CT 112 Fossils (3) Parrsboro, NS Eldon George 113 Fossil From Mr. Drake, Truro, NS * 114 Petrified wood Farm at Painted Desert 115 Chalcedony after coral, one Tampa Bay, FL M.M. piece polished on edges 116 Fluorite Thomaston Dam Site 1959, M.M. Thomaston, CT 117 Ancient Marl Myrtle Beach, SC 118 Agate from "Petrified Man" Wiscassett, ME 119 Jasper E. Machias, ME Perham's 120 Jasper, green plasma Perry, ME 121 Magnetite Craigmont mine, Hybla, NS 122 Tourmaline, black Strickland qy, Portland, CT 123 Opalized wood Yakima, WA Helen's Rock Shop, Yakima 124 Agatized wood (scenic Oregon Helen's Rock Shop, Yakima agate) 125 Quartz xls, milky Lantern Hill mine, N. Stonington, CT M.M. 126 Amethyst vein in traprock E. Granby, CT M.M. 127 Agate, prized blue of NS Cape Blomidon, NS 128 Mica xl orchid Newry, ME 129 Emery with magnetite xl Chester, MA 130 Lava, with carved ivory dog Pacific area 131 Calcite, "Phantom of Minot, ME Cinnamon Garnet" 132 Quartz xl lining Cape Blomidon, NS 133 Geode, quartz Keokuk, IA 134 Ruby mica B.B.