Did you collect minerals and rough stones as a kid?

[RockHugger]

I am curious how many people here are serial collectors. I collected rocks and minerals as a kid, and I still have them. I actually just went through them a few months ago and yanked out all the ''decorative garden'' rocks. I had like 5 of them in there (you know the chalky white ones?). I guess at some point I thought they were cool LOL.

I started at about 5, my first rock was a 130ct aquamarine chunk. Its not facet material, as it has a ton of fractures in it. It has split in 2 over the years of childhood abuse. I have tigers eye, a ton of quartz, pirite, garnet ''cubes'' in the matrix, and like a lb unidentified polished stones I tumbled.

Anyone else start as little kids?

 

[T L]

Yes, I did, and my parents also bought me those rock tumbling kits. Back then, several million years ago when I was young, I had a book with a photograph of an emerald in a host rock. That was like my "holy grail" and I was forever looking for the same thing as I went rock hunting. My love affair with gems started at an early age. Little did I know that it was highly doubtful that I would find emerald in Illinois.

I used to love geodes, and other rocks, mostly granite and agate, that I would collect and put in boxes.

 

[Pandora II]

Yes - to the extent that my parents built a rockery out of my ''rejects'' some years ago!

 

[Arkteia]

I did not collect stones or rocks but (here is the advantage of early education) I went to many mineralogy museums - there was excellent museum at the town where I was born (that is where they once used to mine best gems in Russia). Moscow and St. Petersburg have beautiful museums. I also read a certain Russian which was a wonderful introduction into the world of mineralogy and gems.

My mother''s friend, however, was a geologist and combed the Ural mountains in search for new minerals. She brought nice stones for my collection. I still keep them. I miss her and want to facet and set citrines she brought me - although unfortunately, they are very light. But I feel that so little is left of her, I should keep something as a memory.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

No, but I was fascinated by people who did and thought geodes were the most awesome things EVER! I think I still have an amythest one in my old room at my parents house

 

[Largosmom]

Oh yes! It was a family affair...we camped in the Nevada/Colorado/California/Arizona desert and "rock hounded" often. I remember hunting (but not finding) geodes, and shopping in "rock shops". We went once to the Virgin Valley of the Nevada/California border area and dug opals. Then we tumbled then in a rock tumbler in lye and on the weekend we would sift the remains through screens to catch the fine opals. My dad then set them as floating opals in glycerin in a little pendant. I still have mine, but the glycerin has gone dark with age...not sure the opals could be retrieved from the necklace. I also have a snowflake obsidian cab that he made in a size for a belt buckle or large bracelet.

I did not retain the rocks I had as a child other than these examples, but I''ll be checking when I see him this weekend to see if he has any other of the rocks he played with when he was younger.

I can remember "crazy lace" agate, obsidian, snowflake obsidian, and other stones that he cut and made into silver jewelry.

Thanks for some fond memories!

Laura

 

[RockHugger]

Nice stories! Most gem collectors it seems dont just wake up and say "Hey, I wanna collect tourmaline today!". It seems like something we became addicted to at a very young age...and with most addictions it just got more expensive over time LOL.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Funny you ask I was just thinking about that as I was unpacking yesterday and found a mineral specimen of an amethyst. I got it when I was 6 after begging and pleading. It was the first time I thought about the fact that I liked gems as a kid.

I had several other samples as well, but I have no idea where they are.

 

[LaurenThePartier]

My Dad was in a Geology class when he proposed to my Mom. He had just come hoime from a field trip and I think his exact words were, on bended knee, "I brought you another rock".

Throughout my childhood I had pickle buckets full of minerals and specimans, and I think that''s where my whole fascination with shiny rocks came from.

 

[lavatea]

Yep, I have a shoebox full of the gems and minerals I collected as a kid. It moves with me every time we move. I just posted about it earlier on another post. I definitely need to go through it and see what I have. I collected cool shaped and colored rocks and fossils before that, but I got rid of them long ago.

When I was 11 I went with my grandparents to California, and we went with a relative and walked a riverbed searching for tourmaline. I still remember that relative cracking open a huge boulder looking rock, and inside were tiny veins of tourmaline and pinpoint garnets (or so he said - I''m sure the pink was tourmaline because there are tourmaline mines near there, but who knows if the other was garnet or not). We drove home with big chunks of that rock in the trunk. Now it''s in my parents'' back yard.

 

[kas baby]

Date: 1/11/2010 8:27:38 PM
Author: LaurenThePartier
My Dad was in a Geology class when he proposed to my Mom. He had just come hoime from a field trip and I think his exact words were, on bended knee, ''I brought you another rock''.

Throughout my childhood I had pickle buckets full of minerals and specimans, and I think that''s where my whole fascination with shiny rocks came from.

awww.. LTP, how cute of your dad to say- sounds like a funny guy.


as for me, we had pea gravel surrounding our patio when I was little and I would go and look for ''glittery ones.'' I also had an amethyst and rose quartz tumbled cabs, and a heart shaped rhodochrosite my mom gave me. I also have what someone told me was ''Lemurian Quartz''

so yeah, I''ve always had some fascination for the natural world... I''m just now leaning towards the sparkly kind

...although, I would like to get a crystal singing bowl or two... or five...

 

[chrono]

I''ve always liked shiny and unusual rocks/pebbles but my parents always found them and threw them out.

 

[RockHugger]

Date: 1/11/2010 10:29:16 PM
Author: Chrono
I''ve always liked shiny and unusual rocks/pebbles but my parents always found them and threw them out.

AWW!!

 

[RockHugger]

My starting my kids on the rock collecting too. My 2 yr old LOVES my gems, so I got her some ''reject'' gemstones to play with. She calls them Nya Nyas (dont know why, LOL). They are a 20ct amethyst and a 15ct citrine (both are very invluded). She runs around the house with them. My 8 yr old has a bag of emeralds. They are not facet grade of course, but still cool cause they are emeralds.

Whenever we go somewhere on vacation we pick out a rock from the area for the kids as well. Just starting them on a harmless lifetime gemstone obsession.

 

[Arcadian]

We would go to Arkansas and SoutheasternMissouri to the caves. I had (and still have) lots of quartz from those areas.

I have an big chunk of ammy that I got when I was in highschool. I also have a chunk of tigers eye (at least thats what it looks like...lol)


My dad gave me a fist sized chunk of pyrite. I did put it away a few years ago but should probably pull it out and put it in the bar for fun.



-A

 

[RevolutionGems]

What do you mean "as a child"? Are you supposed to stop?

Damn! I still collect on Mt. Antero (aquamarine, phenakite, smokey) and Devils Head (smokey and topaz) several times a year. Plus, it just so happens that the parking lot at my office is covered with Colorado river rock which means it has tons of nice red agate and other fun stuff.

Picking up rocks is a childhood habit I never was able to break...

 

[haagen_dazs]

didnt collect gemstones.. too poor..
collected marbles though

 

[Nomsdeplume]

Yeah! Still have them.

 

[Fly Girl]

I've always loved to pick up pretty stones. I had examples of quartz in about every shade as a kid. My favorites were the rose quarz and smoky quartz. When our kids were small we would often bring home rocks from our trips. I have some obsidian and some large mica chunks (the driveway at our B&B in South Dakota was covered with mica!) from those trips. When they had to put together a rock collection for school, they had a huge head start.

I remember being in Hawaii a few years ago, and there was a hands on mineral collection at a children's museum at the airport. It was the first I realized that Hawaiian children would completely miss out on the rock collecting experiences that most children get. The lady at the museum agreed, and said the minerals were very popular since their children grow up on a volcanic island and all they can collect is lava.

 

[RevolutionGems]

Date: 1/11/2010 7:55:13 PM
Author: Largosmom
Oh yes! It was a family affair...we camped in the Nevada/Colorado/California/Arizona desert and ''rock hounded'' often. I remember hunting (but not finding) geodes, and shopping in ''rock shops''. We went once to the Virgin Valley of the Nevada/California border area and dug opals. Then we tumbled then in a rock tumbler in lye and on the weekend we would sift the remains through screens to catch the fine opals. My dad then set them as floating opals in glycerin in a little pendant. I still have mine, but the glycerin has gone dark with age...not sure the opals could be retrieved from the necklace. I also have a snowflake obsidian cab that he made in a size for a belt buckle or large bracelet.


I did not retain the rocks I had as a child other than these examples, but I''ll be checking when I see him this weekend to see if he has any other of the rocks he played with when he was younger.


I can remember ''crazy lace'' agate, obsidian, snowflake obsidian, and other stones that he cut and made into silver jewelry.


Thanks for some fond memories!


Laura

A quick note Largos-
Virgin Valley opal, though incredibly beautiful, is also extremely dfragile and brittle. If you were to take it out of the glycerin it would craze and crack and crumble into nothing. Leave it in the jar and admire its beauty that way.

 

[Edward Bristol]

Totally!

I never understood anything but I loved collecting gems and minerals. In the books gems were boring but in the field - wow!

My parents used to drive into the mining areas in Sri Lanka and as soon as we stopped the car, there were hundreds of people appearing out of nowhere offering rough gems for sale.

Small little me started his own dealing "table" while my parents did the serious stuff. They had no fun. I did.

Not surprisingly I mostly traded with miner kids. I swapped Swiss knifes, digital watches, jojos or torches against sapphire crystals, tourmaline and others. The best deals I kept secret, so that my father would not confiscate them. He was like that.

 

[iluvcarats]

Yes. And sea glass. I would wander the beaches of Maine searching for sea glass. I can''t believe my parents let me do that

but I''m glad they did!

 

[Kim Bruun]

When I was kid, my mom had a pot-smoking friend who was a crystal healer. She had a her own shop which was filled with all sorts of beautiful crystals, including a giant amethyst which must have weighed 15 kilos at least. She used to tell all thoughts of crazy stories about the stones, and my young, impressionable mind gobbled it all up. I spent most of my allowance on crystals and unusual stones, but have since learned that what I really find therapeutic is a clear gem of vibrant colour.

 

[Largosmom]

I am really enjoying all the stories!

Jeff...all the glycerin has gone brownish black in my pendant...I''m tempted to crack it open and see if I can wash the opal clean again..the little glass bulb is only about a half inch around, so it''s not large. There are probably a half dozen little chips in the little bulb. I suppose, though that the glycerin has dyed the opal an odd color though. It surely brings back some memories of chalky caleche (sp?) dust, though.

Laura

 

[rhbgirl24]

Yup. All the time, so did my DH and his family. We actually still have a shelf in our home with some actually valuable specimens.

 

[Liane]

I dabbled in it on and off, was never very hardcore. Mostly I liked fossils when I was a little kid.

My first gemstone was a gift when I was about 18 months old. I don''t remember this at all, but my mom likes to tell the story. Apparently we were on a boat to Alaska and I saw a lady standing nearby with some pyrope garnet crystals. I smiled and smiled so much at the garnets that she gave one to my mom.

I still have the stone. It''s probably about 4-5 carats, cut like a soccer ball and basically black. But I like it. It serves as proof that I was a gemstone addict almost before I could walk.

 

[chrono]

Does this mean my children have no hope of escaping this “illness”?

Both enjoy looking through my unset stones (including touching and handling them although I discourage that at his point since they are quite young) and wearing my jewellery.

 

[lyra]

Yes! LOL. I had some huge amethyst crystals that a geologist gave us along with some cool fossilized rocks. He explained how he would break open certain rocks and find the fossils inside. I had geodes too and just mundane stuff I found locally like rose quartz and pyrite. When we needed some rocks for the garden many years ago, we actually went rock hunting and found a couple more large rocks with fossilized remains. We actually dig them up and take them with us when we move! No one would even notice, but my DH and I are very fond of them.

 

[ilovegemstones]

I love rocks and minerals! The kids in my class are rock tumbling now, and my daughters have their own collections! My collection was accidently given away by my father. I really miss this huge geode I used to have! Funny how I remember those rocks inside out.

 

[blinkydoll]

Heck Yeah! I loved collecting rocks as a kid--- mostly crystal and quartz.. and garnet... agua..etc etc... After collecting them... i stepped up to making silver jewelry with faceted stone beads...like earring and bracelets n such--I still have them-- they are cute-- but I don''t wear them.
Now I put them out as decorations now-- I have a geode section with some amethyst... and some other unknown geodes. I have allways loves the sparkley rocks... and i still do! Along with the faceted jewelry kind,