"The Grenville Province, covering much of upstate New York, southeastern Ontario, and southern Québec, has been the source of many amazing mineral specimens. Its crystalline rocks are more than a billion years old, and unlike most mineralogical heritage sites, new discoveries are the rule rather than the exception.The province also contains deposits of commercially important minerals such as iron, zinc, talc, garnet, apatite, and mica. M ..."
"Apatite, the most abundant phosphate on Earth, is ubiquitous in the lithosphere and in vertebrates of the animal kingdom. Because it forms large colorful crystals, this toothsome mineral is among the most prized species populating mineral collections worldwide. Commonly confused with other minerals, Apatite takes its name from a Greek word meaning to deceive. This collector s compendium explores in luscious color the science, history, l ..."
"The spectacular landscapes of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado are graphic evidence of the violent geology that concentrated a wealth of minerals in the triangle loosely defined by the picturesque mining towns of Telluride, Silverton and Ouray. An ancient hunting ground of indigenous peoples, these rugged high peaks concealed gold and silver discovered by westerners only in the last 150 years. These discoveries spurred mi ..."
"Populations in both eastern and western cultures have been mining, trading, and carving garnets for millennia. Named for its likeness to the flesh and seeds of the pomegranate (Latin granatus), garnet is most commonly thought of as a red gemstone, but it actually occurs in all colors of the spectrum. In fact, garnet is a complex group of fifteen separate mineral species, which are sometimes hard to differentiate visually and more often ..."
"While the ancients referred to many purple stones as Amethyst, today the term is more exclusively applied to quartz in the violet spectrum. The gemstone has long been assigned spiritual and mystical properties including protection from inebriation. However, this like-named volume offers no protection from the intoxicating power of Amethyst - a collectible that is still very much collectable."
"From its mineralogy to its landscape to its personalities, Bolivia is an enigmatic place where anything can and does happen. For centuries, Bolivia's mines and minerals have influenced its history, attracting conquerors, inciting wars and unrest, and making a few men obscenely rich. Bolivia is an impoverished country, which hosts rich resources. It is home to some of the world's most inhospitable climes, which are populated by a warm an ..."
A Companion to European Romanticism(1st Edition) (Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture) by Michael Ferber Hardcover, 600 Pages, Published 2006 by Wiley-Blackwell Illustrated ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-1039-6, ISBN: 1-4051-1039-2
"Colorado's geological display is like that of no place else on Earth. The eastern half of the state is part of the Great Plains, a swath of low lying topography that was built on horizontal strata deposited by ancient seas. The Great Plains give way to the Rocky Mountains, which rise in ragged peaks six to seven thousand feet above the plains. The Rockies transition to the Colorado Plateau, a high desert of brightly colored sandstones a ..."
"Micromounting is the study and collection of mineral specimens that require magnification. The typical micromount is a group or single crystal that is only a few millimeters in diameter. Specimens are mounted in small boxes (usually less than 1 inch square) and are best viewed though a low-power, stereo microscope. Mineralogists and collectors have for centuries delighted in what they saw under a microscope. Micromounting enables one t ..."
"Just over a century ago, celebrated Tiffany & Company gemologist George Frederick Kunz (1856 1932) published The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913), in which he wrote on birth or natal stones: The origin of the belief that to each month of the year a special stone was dedicated, and ... was endowed with a peculiar virtue for those born in that month and was their natal stone, may be traced back to the writings of Josephus, in the f ..."