The-Vug.com brings you this article about Tom Gressman from Collector’s Edge Philadelphia Collection.

The Philadelphia Collection
A Sneak Peak From The Collector’s Edge

While all of the major mineral shows are always worth going to, this year the Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show (Fall Denver) is going to be the epicenter of mineral history!

Tom Gressman from Collector’s Edge pulled out a shelf from the dozens of cabinets housing the Philadelphia Collection to show us some goodies.

For over 50 years the George Vaux collection (Father of William Vaux) has been under lock and key at the Philadelphia Sciences Academy. However, thanks to the joint co-operation of Bryan and Kathryn Lees of The Collector’s Edge Minerals International, Wayne and Donna Leight of Kristalle and Ian Bruce of Crystal Classics, these specimens are going to be made available to many historical facilities and during the Denver show, the general public.

Tom took Brandy and I to look at some of the reference material from the collection over in the other warehouse.Looking at the collection is like taking a step back into time, as most of the material is from expeditions of the 19th century. There are dozens of specimens from locations that are now national and state parks.

This fine polished section of a Calcite Stalactite came from the Luray Caverns, Virgina. Now this a state park and popular tourist attraction for residents of the mid-atlantic region.

This amazing yellow calcite was collected from the Yellow National Park before collecting restrictions were put into place

One of my favorite stories from the history of the Tsumeb Mine has always been Samuel Gorden’s tale of collecting world class Azurite specimens from the mine. Anyone familiar with the classic Tsumeb issue of The Mineralogical Record would recall the event, but for those of you unfamiliar, Samuel Gorden traveled to Africa to collect specimens for the Philadelphia Academy. During his visit to the Tsumeb mine he uncovered a pocket of some of the finest Azurites the mine had ever produced.

Upon learning of this find the mine manager, Kegal, ordered Samuel into his office and showed him on the contract that Samuel was only allowed to LOOK for minerals in the mine, not TAKE minerals from the mine. With some quick thinking Samuel suggested that they take turns picking specimens from the pocket. If you are anything like me you have wondered what the best specimen from the trip looked like. Well, thanks to Collector’s Edge, Kristalle and Crystal Classics, we need wonder no more.

Beyond that, many hundreds of specimens are from extinct mineral locations, such as fine specimens from the eastern section of the United States.The collection had a few stunning Copper included Calcite Clusters , with very uncommon UNDAMAGED Calcite crystals!

Two fine North American Amethyst specimens

Spectacular Gratonite from Cerro De Pasco, Peru

Where, where do you find a Brazilian Crocoite?

WOW! Look at this fine single Azurite from Tsumeb!

And finally these two specimens came from an old crumbly boxe simply labeled “Bisbey”.

Now that’s one nice large plate of Bisbee Azurite!

**For more on the Philadelphia Collection, visit The-Vug Films Page**