BMC News Volume 79, Issue 2 www.bostonmineralclub.org February 2014

I n some ways it is hard to believe that the 2014 BMC Auction has come and gone. Our preparations for this year’s auction started roughly 12 months

ago when I sent out an email asking for feedback from all those who attended the 2013 auction. Many of you responded with good opinions and suggestions for im-provement and your BMC board used that input to try to improve this year’s auction. We moved into a larger room at American Legion Post 440 in Newton, moved the date one week earlier to avoid potential conflicts with the Martin Luther King weekend, and adjusted the schedule to allow more time for consignments. Numer-ous other tweaks were made as well. I have made a sim-ilar request for feedback about this year’s auction via email sent out through our bmc-announce email system.

Priming the Pump. The core of every BMC auction is always the donations by our members of both silent auction flats and higher quality voice auction items. However, for the past few years the club has also pur-chased some specimens at the Tucson and Springfield Shows to add interest and variety to the voice auction. In mid-February of 2013 Mike Haritos and I went shop-ping in Tucson to purchase some specimens for the auc-tion at wholesale and also were able to solicit donations from several dealers. Then in August through the gener-osity of Marty Zinn and the East Coast Gem Mineral and Fossil show we were able to add a number of other

high quality specimens. Here is a complete list of the mineral dealers that either donated specimens to our 2014 auction or allowed us to make purchases at a good discount:

The 2014 BMC Auction Recap:

February 2014 President’s Message by Nathan Martin

In this issue:

President’s Message .............................. 1-3

Minutes................................................. 4

February Meeting .................................. 5

Calendar ............................................... 6

Remembering Ed Norton....................... 7

Remembering Jim Catterton .................. 8-9

The BMC News:

Editor: Melissa Jeswald

BMC Webmaster: Joe Mulvey

1

Inspecting the voice auction specimens

Continued on p. 2

East Coast Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show

(Marty Zinn)

Stonetrust (Robert and Stephanie Snyder)

Spirifer Minerals (Thomas Prasker)

D.K. Olson & Associates (Don and Gloria Olson)

Mineral Decor, India (Dr. Hemant Merchant)

The next time you see one of these dealers at a mineral show, please take the time to thank them for helping to make the 2014 auction a success.

These acquisitions plus the great donations that our members provided clearly elevated the quality of the specimens that we were able to offer this year and the higher than normal bids placed for many items reflected that higher quality. On behalf of your BMC board I want to thank all those who donated specimens to the auction. You will each receive a letter acknowledging your dona-tion and the income it provided to the club.

Getting a Head Start. The day of the auction is always hectic and it helps to do as much in advance as possible. We introduced auction pre-registration in 2013 and em-phasized it even more this year. In addition, Treasurer Steve Gerome applied his software skills to pre-print bid-der ID cards, silent auction flat labels and several other auction forms. This made life much easier for the auction workers during the hectic registration period. A couple of years ago we began posting photographs of auction spec-imens on the website and this year we ended up with over 80 specimens that could be viewed prior to the auc-tion. Mike Haritos also put together an auction catalog that bidders could use to keep track of which specimens were coming up for bid, at least for those specimens that were given to us in advance. I think these preplanning efforts were generally successful and hope that you agree.

Many People to Thank. Our auctioneer , Mike Har i-tos, did his usual fantastic job of conducting the voice auction and educating us all about the specimens while he was at it. But it takes a lot of hard work by many people to make a BMC Auction run smoothly. This was our first year to have an Auction Committee and we will probably make that a tradition as we move forward. Mike Haritos volunteered to chair that committee this year and other key participants in the auction planning included Donna Dickerson, Barbara Liebman, Steve Gerome, Anna Golitsyna, Peter Jackson, Mike Shih, Kevin Czaja, and Nathan Martin. On the day of the auc-tion the following additional people joined those previ-ously listed to help with one or more tasks involving bidder registration, membership renewal, voice auction specimen check-in, auction spotting and specimen coor-dination, silent auction setup, organization & recording, financial recording, hospitality and photography: Laurie and Jared Berezin, Gizella Betak, John Campbell, Jerry Carter, Rick Cowley, Peter Cristofono, Leslie Deland, Andrea Donovan, Don Ernst, Helen Flannery, Trish Gallagher, Ken Gliesman , Jeff Joy, Bill Kelly, Jack Liebman, Barbara Martin, Paul Monti, Gary Perrine, Jill Petersen, Carl Quesnel, Dawn Quirk, Stephan Segedy, Barbara Wagner, Xiang Yan and Paul Young. Thanks to everyone who helped make the auction run smoothly!

How Did We Do? Secretary, Mike Har itos has pre-pared a meeting report that documents the total sales by category and I’ll let you read his report on page 4 in-stead of repeating it here. The short answer is that it was our most successful auction in recent history with a total gross income of $ 12,614.80 and although our expenses were higher this year I am confident that our net income will beat last year’s result by a good margin. The addi-tional time allocated to the voice auction allowed us to auction all of the consignments in addition to the donat-ed specimens and permitted bidders to check out before the food arrived for our meal together. Fifty-seven peo-ple stayed for the meal and there was plenty of good food to go around.

- NATE MARTIN

2

Auctioneer Mike Haritos in action

To bid or not to bid – that was the question.

3

More photos from the 2014 BMC Auction...

Gloves now required for food service per state regulations! Looking for treasures in the silent auction

Paul Young, Paul Monti & Steve Towne

Great donated specimens drew a lot of interest

A Treasure Found ...

Sometimes you bid on one thing and come home with so much more.

In the silent auction, past BMC President and board member Peter Cristofono bid on and won a book once owned and signed by our late friend, Jim Catterton (also a past BMC President and board member).

The next morning, while examining the book, Peter found that Jim had collected wildflowers and carefully pressed them between the pages.

Linda Frahm shared: “It was like finding bits of treasure from a day Jim enjoyed on Earth. It was special! I may start putting flowers in my books from now on.”

Photo credit Linda Frahm Jim Catterton’s book and flower

Boston Mineral Club Meeting Minutes

Annual Auction – Saturday, 11 January 2014

Although rain threatened and later in the day it came down in buckets, 113 people registered to bid during the auc-tion, and 77of those who registered ended up as buyers. Note that the actual attendance was higher than the number of registered bidders but we only keep track of the number of bidder IDs issued.

The breakdown of the auction results is as follows:

31 specimens purchased by the BMC were sold for a total of .............................. $2,772.00

55 specimens consigned to the Auction were sold for a total of ........................... $5,079.00

93 donated lots to the Auction were sold for a total of ......................................... $5,469.00

174 lots donated to the silent auction were sold for a total of ............................... $3,402.00

A total of 353 lots were sold for a total receipts of ................................................ $16,678.00

Of the $16,678.00 total receipts $4,063.00 will be sent to the consignors who receive 80% of the selling (hammer) price. That leaves a total gross receipts of $12,614.80 from which expenses such as the hall rental, food, auctioneer etc. will be paid. The final net income figure will be announced after all the bills are paid.

Many of club members began the day at 8.00 am and were still present at 7:10 pm when I left the hall.

In a nutshell the event went quite smoothly due to the many, many hours donated by club members.

Note: some specimens were not auctioned because an opening bid was not offered.

Respectfully submitted – Mike Haritos, BMC Secretary

4

BMC Treasurer Steve Gerome had a busy day.

Thank you and great job!

Thank you to auction photographers

Ken Gliesman, Gizella Betak, and

Helen Flannery.

5

Three views of a Pleurotomaria

Warren Graff photograph Kristina Joyce photograph

Large stilbite display in Tokyo

Jonathan Goldberg photograph

Collecting mollusks in

a Japanese market

BMC Meeting Announcement – Tuesday, February 4th – 7:30 PM

A Combined Meeting with the Boston Malacological Club

Topic: The Minerals and Mollusks of Japan

Presenters: Jonathan Goldberg, Warren Graff, and Kristina Joyce

For the third year in a row the February meeting of the Boston

Mineral Club will be held jointly with the Boston Malacologi-

cal Club (i.e.: The Shell Club). Both of our clubs meet at Har-

vard on the first Tuesday of the month and this combined

meeting gives each group a chance to share information about

our common interest in collecting objects of beauty from the

natural world. The theme of this combined meeting is “The

Minerals and Mollusks of Japan”. Brief outlines of each of the

three presentations that will be given are as follows:

Kristina Joyce – A member of the Boston Mineral Club since

2001 and a past president of the Boston Malacological Club,

will present photographs and comment on her trip to Japan this

past May-June where she encountered minerals and mollusks

in museums and in nature. She will also highlight the scholarly

nature studies of the Japanese imperial family

Jonathan Goldberg- Boston Mineral Club member for 7

years, Jonathan lived in Japan for 2 years from 1997-1999 and

met his wife there. He plans to give a geologic overview and

mining history of Japan along with the famous/archetypal and

rare minerals there. Other topics will be suiseki, which is the

Japanese interest in beautiful and interesting stones, and the

fossils of Hokkaido—especially ammonites.

Warren Graff- Twice past president of the Boston Malacolog-

ical Club, will show examples of the slit shells—one of the

most revered families of mollusks in the world and especially

in Japan. He will show why they are highly prized for their

unique beauty in color, shape, and morphology even though

they are no longer rare.

In keeping with the theme of the night, Boston Mineral Club

members are encouraged to bring in any mineral specimens

in their collection that come from Japan to display and Shell

club members are encouraged to similarly bring in any spe-

cial shells in their collections from Japan. The BMC display

case will be available to display your specimens.

The Harvard Mineral Museum will be open as usual from 7

to 8 PM and the meeting will be held in Haller Hall (our usu-

al meeting room). Refreshments will be available starting at

7:30 PM and the meeting will formally begin at 8:00 PM

with very short business meetings for both clubs before start-

ing the presentations. An important part of our business

meeting will include a vote on the by-law change that was

published in the November 2013 newsletter.

I am told that our normal refreshments will be augmented by

refreshments provided by Victoria Ellsworth of the Boston

Malacological Club to add some Japanese and Valentine’s

treats to the evening. The evening will end with our tradition-

al raffle which will also include a shell from Japan donated

by Scott Robichaud.

I hope that you can attend this meeting. I think you will find

it interesting.

- Nate Martin

6

FEBRUARY

Sat., Feb. 1

The Harvard Museum of Natural History Earth Rocks

Family Festival. Details: http:/www.hmnh.harvard.edu/

lectures_and_special_events/index.php

Tues., Feb. 4

BMC Meeting; joint meeting with the Boston Shell

Club; Program: Shells and Minerals of Japan. See page

5 for complete information.

Thurs. Feb. 13–Sun. Feb. 16

60th Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show:

60 Years of Diamonds, Gems, Silver and Gold.

Tucson, AZ. The largest gem and mineral show in the

United States. Exhibits, special programs, lectures and

seminars, and hundreds of dealers. Details:

www.tgms.org/

Sat.-Sun. Feb. 15-16

The 21st Annual James Campbell Memorial Gem, Min-eral and Fossil show and sale,10 am - 5 pm). Admis-sion $5. Co-sponsored by the Capital District Mineral Club and the New York Academy of Mineralogy. All proceeds benefit the Museum's mineral acquisition fund. Details, www.nysm.nysed.gov/programs/minerals/

MARCH

Tuesday, March 4:

BMC Meeting

Saturday, March 29, 2014 Southeastern Massachusetts Mineral Club Annual Auction Mitchell Memorial Club, Middleboro, MA.

Sat. - Sun. March 29–30

Western Mass. Mineral, Jewelry & Fossil Show

Northampton, MA. Held by the Connecticut Valley

Mineral Club. Located at the Clarion Hotel & Confer-

ence Center, 1 Atwood Drive, Northampton. Details:

http://www.westernmassmineralshow.com/

Events Calendar 2014

APRIL

Tues., April 4

BMC Meeting

April 7-13 The Eastern Federation of Mineralogical & Lapidary Societies’ Wildacres Retreat, North Carolina. Entry and intermediate level short classes and speaker programs. Details: http://efmls-wildacres.org/index.html Sat. April 12 The Rhode Island Mineral Hunters (RIMH) will hold its annual auction at the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI). Sat.-Sun., April 24-27

41st Rochester Mineral Symposium,

Rochester, NY. Held by the Rochester Academy of

Science, Mineral Section (Radisson Hotel, Rochester

Airport. 175 Jefferson Road, Rochester NY).Details:

www.rasny.org/MineralSymp

MAY

Sat.-Sun., May 3-4 North Shore Rock & Mineral Club’s 51st Annual Gem & Mineral Show, Topsfield Fairgrounds, Coolidge Hall & Trade building, Rte. 1 North, Topsfield, MA. Details: http://www.northshorerock.org/our-show/ Tues., May 6 BMC Meeting Friday-Sunday, May 9-11, 2014 2nd Annual New England Mineral Conference Grand Summit Resort Hotel and Conference Center at Sunday River, Newry, Maine. Details: http://nemineralconference.org/nema/Welcome.html JUNE Tues. June 3: BMC Meeting

7

As most of you know, the Boston Mineral Club lost a good man and a long time active member, Edward G. Norton, of Framingham, MA on Thursday, November 28, 2013. Ed was only 64 years old when he finally suc-cumbed to the cancer that he had battled fiercely for the last four years. Ed is survived by his daughter, Jessica

Guidaboni, and granddaughter, Hannah Guidaboni, both of E. Bridgewater as well as a brother and sister and sev-eral nieces, nephews and cousins.

Ed worked as a software engineer for a number of high-tech companies, most-recently for Sun Microsystems. At one time he also ran a part time business as a mineral dealer. I remember him giving a presentation to the BMC several years ago where he gave us the inside scoop on what it was like to be a dealer.

Ed was a member of the Boston Mineral Club (BMC), the Worcester Mineral Club (WMC) and the Southeast-ern Massachusetts Mineral Club (SEMMC). He was a past president of the SEMMC served the BMC as Vice-president in 2007, and as Director until declining health forced him to step down. Ed was also an excellent field trip leader who capably organized and led numerous BMC field trips over the years. He was an easy-going, level-headed man who was easy to get to know. I am proud and grateful to have been able to count him as a friend.

Ed Norton was a superb field collector and some of my best memories of him are times that we collected togeth-er. Although Ed did a lot of collecting at New England localities he was most interested in collecting at distant localities that offered the chance to obtain some really

Remembering Ed Norton

By Nathan Martin

great specimens. Nova Scotia held a special attraction for him and his good friend, Steve Towne, recalls going there with Ed more than 20 times. I also recall presenta-tions he and Steve gave describing week-long collect-ing trips to New Mexico and Arizona, and he was able to go on one of Walt Bowser’s expeditions to collect in Mexico. These later trips included underground collect-ing experiences. He also came on three of my BMC field trips to Kentucky to collect fluorite. Whenever a special opportunity to collect great specimens appeared, Ed would be there.

Ed Norton worked hard to keep his body in shape for collecting and I think Ed’s commitment to fitness helped him to battle his cancer. On collecting trips he was adept using rope and harness to get to places others could not reach and he could climb higher and faster than anyone else I know. On our last Kentucky trip in 2008 we were mining fluorite in a pit below the level of a nearby stream and Ed worked tirelessly down in the pit (see photo) and extracted one of the finest calcite specimens ever to come from the Eureka mine.

In 2009 Ed Norton organized what would turn out to be the last BMC field trip he would lead and in so doing he passed on his legacy of Nova Scotia collecting to a new set of collectors, including me. Ed planned the en-tire trip and took us to four great localities to collect zeolite minerals. It was one of the best collecting expe-riences of my life and I am so very grateful to Ed for giving us that opportunity. The second photograph is taken from that trip. It was taken on Cape Blomodin as Ed was leaving the beach collecting area (where most of us were content to collect) to climb up to the talus slope to explore for better specimens. Somehow that image speaks to me now saying that Ed Norton has left us once again to explore new territory that we do not yet see. Go in peace, my friend. I wish you good collecting on the other side.

Photo credit Nate Martin

Ed Norton & Bret Howard working in the pit at the Eureka Mine.

Photo credit Andre Bourque

8

The Boston Mineral Club lost a good friend and a dedi-cated member on 13 December of last year when James L. Catterton died peacefully at his home in Concord, MA as the result of stomach cancer. Jim is survived by his wife of 21 years, Lois Wasoff, as well as his sister, Amy Janovsky, and his brother, Robert Catterton.

Jim was born in New York City, NY in 1952. He gradu-ated from Greenwich High School in 1970, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Botany and Human Ecology from Connecticut College in 1974, a Master of Science degree in Natural Resource Planning from the Universi-ty of Vermont in 1977, and a Master of Public Admin-istration degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Gov-ernment in 1982.

Jim operated his own business, Walden Associates, Inc., a consulting firm located in Concord, Massachusetts

which specialized in Conservation Ser-vices, Real Estate Appraisal, Land Planning and Land Management. He liked to describe himself as a land un-developer and helped many private individuals and con-servation groups set aside land for con-servation and public use.

Jim also was active in public affairs in the town of Con-cord, where he had lived since 1982. He

believed strongly in public service, and served his com-munity in a variety of posts. He was an active Town Meeting member and the long-serving President of the Concord Community Gardens and a founding member of the Concord Agriculture Committee.

As much as Jim loved minerals, he loved gardening more. He derived great pleasure from growing things and sharing them with others, from the heirloom toma-toes and other produce that he grew and sold to local gourmet restaurants to the flowers that he gave away to his friends.

Jim also loved to travel, and he and his wife developed close friendships in Italy. He was a gourmet cook and fine wine connoisseur, and enjoyed sharing meals with

friends.

When Jim was president of the Boston Mineral Club board meetings were very well attended because Jim held them in his home and cooked dinner for everyone prior to the meeting. After he stepped down from being president he would still show up at board meetings with a bottle of good wine and a basket of the sweetest cher-ry tomatoes I have ever eaten. Hospitality was a way of life for him

When I joined the Boston Mineral Club sometime in the 1980s and Jim Catterton was already a long-time mem-ber. He served the club as vice-president from 1999 through 2003, as president from 2004 through 2007, and as a director from 2008 until declining health forced him to resign in 2013. Jim gave the club steady leader-ship for over 13 years and approached every issue with a calm reasoned manner and treated everyone with re-spect.

Jim did not make a lot of BMC fieldtrips and after read-ing the list of his other involvements you can under-stand why this was the case. He had done a lot of col-lecting as a younger man and his family relates the story of a cross-country trip he once took to the west coast. During the trip he kept mailing things home and near the end of the trip his parents even received a box full of his clothes. The reason became clear when he finally arrived home with his VW filled with rocks and miner-als that he had collected along the way. Jim had a spe-cial affection for fossil wood and seemed to have an endless supply that he would give away to kids every time we collaborated with Harvard for a Mineral Mad-ness event (now called Earth Rocks).

Remembering Jim Catterton

By Nathan Martin

Jim sharing his interest in petrified wood at the 2006

Mineral Madness Festival at HMNH

Lois and Jim

9

Jim dearly loved the annual BMC auction and party and I remember him encouraging me to attend when I was a new member of the club. It was the highlight of the year for him and I think he relished the chance it provided to renew acquaintances as well as see and possibly acquire mineral specimens. I distinctly remember one year where near the end of the auction when people were tired and bidding had slowed Jim kept on bidding and accumulated a number of specimens. I could not tell if it was because he really wanted them or simply felt they deserved a good home. I think it may have been the later reason that motivated him the most.

I will miss Jim’s steady presence on the BMC Board and at regular club meetings. I also will miss his hospitality and his enthusiasm for the Boston Mineral Club, but I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to know him, to work closely with him on club matters, and to call him a friend.

This Month in BMC History Compiled by Peter Cristofono

5 years ago: 2009

Feb 3. BMC meeting (Harvard)—Dr. Anthony Mariano spoke on “Forty-Four Years of Mineral Exploration.”

15 years ago: 1999

Feb 2. BMC meeting (Harvard)—George Eh-renfried spoke on “The Gold That Bought the Diamond.”

25 years ago: 1989

No February meeting.

35 years ago: 1979

Feb 6. BMC meeting (Harvard)—Dave Cook spoke on “The Environmental Impact of the Metallic Minerals Industry.”

Feb 25. A field trip was held to the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

45 years ago: 1969

Feb 4. BMC meeting (Tufts)—Dr. Robert L. Nichols, professor of Geology at Tufts spoke on “Geology and Scenery of the Grand Canyon.”

55 years ago: 1959

Feb 3. BMC meeting (Harvard)—Dr. Cornelius S. Hurlbut, Jr. of Harvard spoke on “Rare Ele-ment Minerals.”

65 years ago: 1949

Feb 1. BMC meeting (Boston University)—Dr. Clifford Frondel of Harvard spoke on “The Pranks of Crystals and Mineral Mimics.”

75 years ago: 1939

Feb 7. BMC meeting (New England Museum of Natural History, Boston)—Arthur Montgomery of New York spoke on “Four Years of Mineral Collecting.”

Photo credit Anna Golitsyna

T h e B o s t o n M i n e r a l C l u b , I n c . 2 0 1 4 E x e c u t i v e B o a r d

President: Nathan C. Martin, 8 Elena Road, Lexington, MA 02421, 781-674-0017, rocknate@gmail.com

Vice President: Anna Golitsyna, 15 Gail Road, Newton, MA 02462, 617-527-3372, agolits@gmail.com

Treasurer: Steve Gerome, 7 Holland Street, Saugus, MA 01906, 781-953-7310, sgerome@comcast.net

Secretary: Mike Haritos, 11 Spring Road, Hyde Park, MA 02136, 857-991-2294, mharitos@comcast.net

Director: Peter Cristofono, 16 Howard Street, Salem, MA 01970, 978-741-2989, p.cristofono@gmail.com

Director: Kevin Czaja, 37 Dracut Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, 617-825-5061, kczaja@gmail.com

Newsletter Editor: Melissa Jeswald, 25 Arthur Ave. #2, S. Hamilton, MA 01982, 617-335-8284, melissa2361@gmail.com

BMC MISSION: This club is constituted to promote the study and collecting of rocks and minerals, to encourage friendly cooperation among mineralogists and collectors, to promote the study of mineralogy and related arts and scienc-es coming within the purview of earth sciences, and in the furtherance of these purposes do any and all things permissi-ble under the provision of Chapter 180 of the General Laws. SCHEDULED MEETINGS: Monthly meetings of the Bos-ton Mineral Club are usually held on the first Tuesday of the month from September through June, at 8:00 p.m. When a holiday falls on the weekend preceding the first Tuesday of the month (e.g. Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc.), the club will meet on the second Tuesday of the month. LOCATION: Meetings are held at the Harvard University Mineralogical Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA. It’s a short walk from the Harvard Square Station. Free parking is available for club meetings in the underground parking garage adjacent to the lecture hall on Oxford Street. The entrance to this lot is just opposite the intersection of Everett Street with Oxford Street. FREE ACCESS: On meeting nights, the Harvard Geological Museum specimen exhibits will be open to club members, free of charge from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. MEMBERSHIP DUES: The club’s annual membership dues are $15 for an individual and $20 for a family. Mem-bership is for the calendar year, January 1 through December 31. NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS: Deadline for submit-ting items for publication to the newsletter editor is the 15th of each month, prior to publication date. No issues in July and August. BMC WEBSITE: This issue and back issues are available to members on the club website at www.bostonmineralclub.org. BMC WEBMASTER: Joe Mulvey, bassmeister_2000@yahoo.com.

The Boston Mineral Club News c/o Melissa Jeswald, Editor 25 Arthur Avenue, #2 South Hamilton, MA 01982