DEBUG hi
DEBUG after s_common.phop
Welcome to my mineral collection!

I must admit that I find it difficult to understand how crystals could have the "metaphysical" effects ascribed to them by New Age lore (though the idea that certain stones have such powers are ancient).

I suppose there is an irony here, if only because so much of my time and attention in recent years has been riveted on... mineral crystals! I might as well be under some sort of spell.

To me, each specimen is a unique intersection of aesthetics, chemistry, geography, history, people, and just plain mystery.

There are now over 5700 distinct mineral species recognized by science. Early in my collecting (back wwhen it was just passing 4000!), I recognized the hopelessness of collecting everything, and decided to focus on one of the simplest of them, Rhodochrosite, the Carbonate of Manganese (MnCO3).

Here are nine rhodochrosite specimens from the collection, each from a different locality from around the world. If looking at these few wonderful, totally natural crystals doesn't move you in the least, that's OK. Everybody responds to a different degree. Maybe some other time...

But if you are one of the many to whom these "beings" speak irresistably, I'm hoping you'll have time to click on any of the pictures, and thus begin to explore my online collection catalog.

P.S.: Don't worry, it's not all Rhodochrosite; There other colors, too!...


Copyright 2009 Richard M. Geiger