Upcoming Programs
August 16, 2010
We will be viewing a very special DVD about one of the pre-eminent mineral collectors in the world (and his collection), who happens to live in the Bay Area and is known by several members of our club. In addition, Duncan Penman will briefly recount some recent field collecting experiences and offer thoughts on possible upcoming club excursions.
Recent Past Programs
July 10, 2010
The annual summer picnic for club members and their guests was held, in lieu of the usual general meeting. This well-attended event featured great food and an outstanding silent auction, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
June 21, 2010
A Double Feature on Doublets! Duncan Penman presented on a recent lapidary project of his, making doublets of translucent lapidary material -- specifically plume agate, the beauty of which can be better revealed when the material is thin. Preston Bingham covered a better-known application, the creation of precious opal doublets (or triplets). Doublets offer a great way to use delicate materials in jewelry, and in the case of precious opal enable the lapidary to create jewelry using a minimum of expensive material.
May 17, 2010
Larry Schemel gave a talk titled "Mountains, Mines, and Memories South of the Mother Lode -- The Unique Geology and Mining History of the Kennedy Table Mountain Area." The Kennedy Table Mountain is a geologic feature of the southern Sierra foothills, close to the San Joaquin River. Larry's presentation gave a wonderful overview of the natural and human history of the area, where his family has owned a ranch for several generations.
April 19, 2010
A previous presentation (March 2009) introduced members to the wonders of the Tucson gem and mineral shows. In case this wasn't enticing enough to draw members to Tucson for the first time or a return visit, Brian Thurston provided a virtual tour of some of the great places to take the family on a day trip to near Tucson. Specifically, Brian showed pictures of Bisbee (including the tour of the Queen Mine, and the Mining and Historical Museum), Tombstone, the Sonora Desert Museum, and Saguaro National Park.
March 15, 2010
The Bob Jones DVD presentation on Agates, obtained from the CFMS library, was shown. Bob Jones is of course extremely well known in mineral collecting circles and is a key contributor to Rock and Gem magazine. His presentation focused on the formation, and special features, of fortification-type agates. He also briefly covered his trips to the giant crystal caverns at the Naica lead-silver mine in Mexico. The presentation was followed by members displaying and discussing their own agate specimens and lapidary pieces.
February 22, 2010
Club President Carol Corden organized a general discussion and show-and-tell on the topic of Meteorites. Attendees learned about the various types of meteorites, famous collecting localities, selection and care of specimens, and the use of meteorite material in jewelry.
January 25, 2010
Brian Thurston provided an overview of recreational gold mining in California, with an emphasis on placer deposits. His presentation offered recommendations on where in the state to go, and instruction on how to find and recover gold.
December 11, 2009
This was the Holiday party for members and their guests, including installation of the Officers for 2010.
November 16, 2009
Club member Leslie Gordon, who works for the USGS, spoke on the subject "A Geologist Looks at Gemstones." She provided a great deal of information of interest to both beginners, and to those with more knowledge and experience, covering such topics as: What are rocks versus minerals, and what are gems? What are the precious versus semi-precious gems? History of people's interest in gem materials. Naming of materials. Ways in which gems may be treated and enhanced. And, how to assess the quality of gems.
October 19, 2009
The Board decided not to include a regular presentation in the meeting agenda to allow time to address an unexpected development of great importance to the club. Redwood City is faced with a substantial drop in property tax revenues which are being withheld by the state, and has to cut costs and/or boost other revenues to compensate. Whereas nonprofit entities have until now enjoyed free use of Parks & Recreation facilities, in 2010 Redwood City will require us to pay usage and custodial fees under certain circumstances. Denise Monroe, Administrative Assistant for the city, walked us through the changes and answered questions. As it turns out, our regular Board and General Meetings will not be affected. The Annual Show will be impacted though, and we will need to identify ways to offset the anticipated $1300 cost of the new fee. The membership also decided to move the 2010 Holiday Party to a Monday night, from our traditional (and 2009) timing on a Friday evening, to avoid the added cost of this fee.
September 14, 2009
There was no presenter scheduled for the September meeting, which was devoted to final preparations for the Annual Show coming up the following weekend (September 19 and 20).
August 17, 2009
The focus of the meeting was an informal "Show and Tell", an appropriate thing to do as the summer vacation and rock collecting season was winding down. Members were encouraged to bring and tell about their recent acquisitions, and recount their latest travel adventures. Preston had just returned from an Alaska cruise, and brought back some of the jade and rhodonite for which the area is famous (he can give you the details on a great rockshop in Skagway if you're interested). John Dabney brought along a recently acquired Katanga dioptase for folks to admire. Ron Renard brought a remarkable assortment of tektites, and Claude Godcharles displayed some boulder opal. Peter Adams and others recounted their experiences at various shows during the summer, including the San Francisco Show, and the San Francisco Fine Minerals Show (actually in San Rafael).
July 11, 2009
There was no regular meeting in July. Instead, the annual picnic for club members and their guests was held on Saturday July 11 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. As usual the festivities included great food, Preston's excellent ice cream, and a vigorous silent auction.
June 15, 2009
Preston Bingham provided instruction on the ins and outs of preparing display cases, whether for the pleasure of optimally showing off one's favorite specimens or lapidary creations at home, or for competing at Club and Federation shows. Preston discussed selection of materials and colors for case liners; optimum numbers of display items; placement of pieces for best effect; and other key concepts for making a display look its best. Preston demonstrated his suggestions using an actual competition-type display case.
May 18, 2009
Marc Springer, a geologist with the Bureau of Land Management, graciously agreed to travel from Sacramento to inform us about: the basics for mining claim location; how to determine what public lands are open for mineral entry and how to research land and mineral status; mining claim rights, limitations and access issues; and, surface management of mining claims, reclamation and regulatory thresholds. He entertained questions relative to Mining Law, BLM regulatory issues, mining claims rights and responsibilities. Club members are encouraged to check out informational resources on-line, including the BLM's map-based tools.
April 20, 2009
Club member Duncan Penman gave his companion talk to February's Turquoise presentation, on that other colorful collectible and lapidary phosphate mineral, Variscite. As Duncan informed us, deposits of good quality variscite have proven over time to be rarer than turquoise, with only a handful of noteworthy locations worldwide. Locations he discussed included Lucin, Fairfield, Toole, and Snowfield in Utah; Candelaria Hills and the Royston claims in Nevada; and Australia. Club members also came to the meeting prepared to 'show and tell' about their experiences and purchases at the CFMS show in Santa Clara the previous weekend. Finally, Cathy Phalen showed pictures of the Arroyo Seco area which she had taken the previous weekend, provoking consideration of another club field trip there.
March 16, 2009
Club member Leslie Gordon gave a wide-ranging overview of the compendium of gem and mineral shows between late January and mid-February which are collectively known as the Tucson Show. Although the heart and soul of the Tucson Show is the venerable Tucson Gem and Mineral Society show, there are literally dozens of other venues of interest. With some supporting illustrations from the Tucson Show Guide, as well as her own pictures taken at this year's show, Leslie gave the prospective Tucson visitors in the audience a great sense of what to see and do while there. Leslie offered tips on how to prepare for a visit, how to manage one's time, and offered her own selection of favorite shows (which included the AGTA, GTX, and Holidome wholesale-only shows, plus Tucson Electric Park, Inn Suites, the Pueblo Show at River park, and Rio Grande Catalog in Motion).
February 23, 2009
Club member Duncan Penman gave a comprehensive talk on Turquoise, a semi-precious and colorful phosphate rock prized by mineral collectors and lapidary enthusiasts alike. Duncan reviewed the various well-known turquoise localities in the southwestern US, especially in Arizona and Nevada, noting there is even one very small source in San Bernardino, CA. Duncan in particular described the Royston mine (near Tonopah, Nevada), where the public can pay a fee to go through tailings and where Duncan has had very good collecting success (under weather conditions that can admittedly be challenging at times). Duncan displayed an extensive collection of polished turquoise pieces which demonstrated the differences in colors and patterns between different source localities.
January 26, 2009
January's program focused on recent scientific studies of the 'Giant Crystal Cavern' at the Naica silver and lead mine in Mexico. This Naica cavern (the latest of several discovered over the years, including the well-known 'Cave of Swords') features immense, spectacular crystals of gypsum (selenite). Members viewed the recent National Geographic program on explorations of this remarkable cavern, and Brian Thurston provided supplementary commentary concerning the history and geology of the mine, and the formation of the caverns and their crystals.
December 12, 2008
This was the annual club holiday party for members and their guests, including the installation of 2009 officers. Turnout was excellent in spite of a nasty cold going around which prevented some from attending. As always there was great food, and plenty of music and singing. There is no regular Monday meeting in December.
November 17, 2008
Dr. Neil Marshall of Menlo College (who, we learned, is the husband of Connie Reno's granddaughter) gave a very thorough overview of volcanism in the Emperor Seamounts and the Hawaiian Ridge. Neil's talk explained how the movements of the Pacific oceanic plate over a 'hot spot' (one of about 150 hot spots world-wide) formed this extensive series of islands, the newest of which (Loihi) will emerge from the ocean in about 3000 years southeast of the 'big island' of Hawaii. Neil described the mineralogy and physical characteristics of various types of lava, the structural geology and stability of Hawaiian volcanoes including the formation of lava tubes, and the history of recent Hawaiian eruptions. After the presentation, the club conducted its elections of 2009 officers.
October 20, 2008
Brian Thurston gave a slide presentation on his summer 2008 summer vacation, which included visits to many points of geological interest in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho -- and which included field collecting of sapphires and quartz crystals in Montana, and of topaz and other minerals in the Thomas Range and at Gold Hill, both in Utah. When Brian was talking about his visit to the huge Bingham Canyon Mine near Salt Lake City, our own Preston Bingham informed us that he is the direct descendent of Erastus Bingham, whose family first settled the Canyon, and whose sons were also the first to discover the ore minerals which were to later make the canyon famous! Brian also gave a presentation on the recent annual Searles Lake Gem-O-Rama (Searles Lake Gem and Mineral Society show and field trips) in Trona, CA. Brian provided a table of hanksite crystal specimens from Searles Lake which members could choose from to take home for free.
September 8, 2008
Preston Bingham provided a colorful overview of the almost-ghost town of Silver City, in southwest Idaho (near Murphy). Preston has family connections to this old mining town, which he visits every couple years. Although collecting opportunities are limited, Preston did display some of the quartz crystals, possible silver ore, and lapidary materials he's found over the years, as well as some mining-era artifacts. Preston supplemented his presentation with pictures of the town and surrounding area. The town no longer is tied into the power grid, so visitors truly get an "old-time" experience. There is a hotel still operating in the town, so if members get the urge to visit the area they might check with Preston on how to reserve a room.
August 18, 2008
Club President John Dabney gave a show-and-tell presentation recounting his experiences visiting the Merelani Hills of Tanzania, an area renowned for its production of the beautiful gemstone Tanzanite.
July 12, 2008
The annual club picnic for members and their guests was once again held at the Binghams' home. Members enjoyed great fellowship, plentiful food (including of course the Binghams' home-made ice cream), a well-stocked silent auction to raise funds for the lapidary shop, and a grand prize drawing. Katrin also had her portable photography setup on hand to take pictures of members prized lapidary and mineral specimens for the 2009 calendar. There was no regular Monday night meeting in July.
June 16, 2008
The Renos provided commentary to accompany a Federation slide show on Crystal Cave.
May 19, 2008
Bill Atkinson dazzled the club with a presentation on his remarkable book "Within the Stone." He accompanied pictures from the book with stories about how he found and selected the materials, and he reviewed the path-breaking photographic and printing techniques he developed to be able to capture on paper the details and exact colors of those stunning mineral specimens. Bill also brought with him copies of the book, which members could purchase and have autographed. These will soon be true collectors' items as Bill's supply is running low, and he has no plans for a second printing. Bill also displayed an example of the large gallery-type prints on canvas which he is now creating.
April 21, 2008
Len Pisciotta, who is a member of the San Francisco Gem and Mineral Society and the Bay Area Mineralogists, gave a fascinating presentation on his travels and collecting activities in the mineral-rich African country of Namibia. Len's journey through the deserts of Namibia took him to such famous localities as Erongo (aquamarine etc), Brandberg (amethyst), and Kaokoveld (dioptase, plancheite, shattuckite). Len brought several examples of the minerals he bought or self-collected on his trip, for those present to look at.
March 17, 2008
Leo Lu, club member and accomplished lapidary artist (examples of his work have been seen in Rock and Gem magazine), gave a demonstration of his lapidary carving techniques, including tips on the types of equipment he prefers to use for his projects. He also displayed some of his carvings to illustrate his methods and interests.
February 25, 2008
Longtime club member Preston Bingham projected and narrated DVD video clips of selected historic Sequoia club activities from the past two decades. These included a couple early-90's Annual Shows, field trips to Anderson Reservoir (magnesite and blue chalcedony) and Capitola Beach (whale bones and other fossils), an excursion to the winter rockhound gathering at Quartzite AZ, and one of the club picnics held at his home.
January 28, 2008
Club member Brian Thurston gave a show-and-tell presentation on the subject of his 2007 field collecting activities (in particular at Peterson Mountain/Hallelujah Junction, Colorado Hill and IXL Canyon in Alpine County, and at the Benitoite Gem Mine during filming for Cash and Treasures). In addition to his PowerPoint slideshow Brian displayed specimens collected at the various localities.
December 7, 2007
The annual holiday party and installation of 2008 officers was well attended. As usual festivities began at 6:00 PM with a superb meal -- the excellent main course prepared by Carol Bingham, and various salads and desserts provided by the membership. The youngsters were given gift bags, each of which included several polished rocks accompanied by informative write-ups prepared by Katrin Reimer. John Dabney thanked the 2007 officers for their service, in particular Walt Skinner who will not continue as Vice-President in 2008. He then welcomed Carol Corden in her new role as Vice-President for 2008. Charter memberships were extended to long-time members Brooke and Betty Thrasher, Jeanne Follensby, and Lee Wakefield. The Peters family led the group in singing carols. Members also brought and distributed holiday cards, and donated gifts of money or clothing to be given a needy local family.
November 19, 2007
In a departure from our usual lapidary and mineral-collecting topics, long-time club member Frank Flores gave a video presentation on his return trip to Saipan, where he had spent time during WWII. Elections of 2008 officers were also held.
October 15, 2007
New member Katrin Reimer provided a great overview of the type of training available through the GIA. Kat is enrolled in GIA's Graduate Gemologist program, and has been taking their courses at home (although tests must be proctored, a service available at certain libraries in the area). Kat specifically gave the group an overview of GIA's training on diamond grading and diamond lore, as well as their courses involving colored stone identification and grading. Kat's talk was nicely supplemented with videos that GIA makes available to students over the internet.
September 10, 2007
At the September meeting club member Duncan Penman provided a great "show and tell" session (his talk illustrated by projected powerpoint slides as well as specimens) on recent collecting trips to several localities in Oregon (Marlston Ranch jasper, polka dot agate, lily pad jasper); Nevada (Mount Airy blue chalcedony); and California (Davis Creek Obsidian, Arroyo Seco fossils). The Oregon localities are close to the annual Madras rock show, which the Penmans also attended while in the area.
August 20, 2007
Although the key focus of the August meeting was to prepare for the upcoming Annual Show in September, attendees also enjoyed two "Show and Tell" presentations by club members. Peter Adams gave an overview of his technique for carving spheres by hand, using a trim saw and grinding wheels but without the use of a sphere machine. His presentation addressed material selection, rough shaping, and grinding and polishing issues. Molly Samietz and son Brandon displayed and talked about some of their finds from rock collecting in Wyoming this summer, including some intriguing petrified materials, gypsum from an ancient hot spring deposit, and moss agate.
July 14, 2007
There was no Monday night general meeting in July. Instead, club members and their guests attended a picnic hosted by the Binghams in their park-like backyard, on Saturday July 14. The picnic featured lots of food of course (including the Binghams homemade ice cream), a silent auction, a "live auction" of a fine cut benitoite donated by Rick Kennedy (Earths Treasures), and a presentation by Cathy Phalen on specimen collecting at the Giacomazzi (husband Jim's family) Ranch. Cathy even brought a number of sedimentary concretions from the ranch for kids to break open in a search for fossils. Of course, members also had a fun time perusing Preston's rock piles and attempting to guess species/localities. Thanks for hosting once again, Preston and Carol!
June 18, 2007
At our June meeting Wanda Baczek (Instructor of Gemology at City College of San Francisco) gave a presentation on conflict diamonds, including a display of raw diamond specimens.
May 21, 2007
Artisan Steve Finch (please check out Steve's bio) gave a detailed presentation on his techniques for creating exotic vessels in soapstone and alabaster with accents of wood and metals, using a lathe for the carving. His talk was accompanied by a showing of his excellent DVD which beautifully captures the steps in his creative process. (You can learn more about Steve and see examples of his work at his website: www.exoticvessels.com.) After Steve's talk, Preston Bingham gave a "show and tell" on mercury ores and some equipment associated with mercury processing and handling.
April 16, 2007
The April program featured a presentation on Earthquakes by Dr. William Mooney of the USGS. Dr. Mooney's excellent presentation not only addressed Bay Area fault risks, but took us to some of the foreign locations where he has recently visited, including Turkey and Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Dr. Mooney spent time training local engineers and scientists on planning and construction techniques to mitigate the risks of earthquakes on their major faults, including one which runs through Kabul. After the regular meeting concluded, Brian Thurston demonstrated the club's newly purchased digital projector, "touring" the website and then playing a DVD.
March 19, 2007
The March program featured a superb presentation on Benitoite by well-known local field collector and mineral dealer Rick Kennedy. Rick demonstrated his encyclopedic knowledge of this unusual and beautiful gemstone (the official California State Gem), found in one small occurrence in the Clear Creek Management Area, near Hollister. Rick illustrated his talk with fine self-collected specimens. Rick noted that there are informative Benitoite links on the web you may wish to check out, including John Veevaert's benitoite website, and Rick's own write-up of the proper way to etch Benitoite out of its natrolite/crossite matrix.
If you missed this meeting, you have another chance to hear Rick talk about Benitoite at the Santa Clara Valley GMS club show in April.
February 26, 2007
The February program featured member Carol Corden speaking on the topic "Fascination with Gems."
January 22, 2007
The January meeting featured members Molly and son Brandon Samietz presenting a "show and tell" on collecting in New Mexico (thundereggs), Wyoming (fossil fish and a possible dinosaur egg!), and other localities. Members Robyn and son Scotty Peters then followed with a personal history (supplemented by their own "show and tell" specimens) of their involvement in mineral collecting and lapidary, which all started with a visit to the SGMS booth at one of the annual San Mateo County Fairs.
December 8, 2006 (club members and guests only)
The annual holiday party was once again held at the community center. Festivities began at 6:00 PM with a superb meal -- the excellent main course prepared by Carol Bingham, and various salads and desserts provided by the membership. After a recap of the year's highlights by John Dabney, the Peters family led the group in singing carols. The youngsters were given gift bags, each of which included a beautiful amber piece polished by Josie Palladino, then several drawings were held for the adults. The meeting closed with thanks to the 2006 officers and installation of the 2007 officers. Members also brought and distributed holiday cards, and donated gifts of money or clothing to be given a needy local family. Check out the pictures of the party.
November 20, 2006
The November meeting featured a presentation by Dr. Jean DeMouthe, who is the Senior Collections Manager for Geology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
Jean once again provided a fascinating and well-received one hour presentation on natural materials used by people - including many forms of biological as well as mineral substances - based on the subject matter of her recently published book, Natural Materials. She also answered some questions on the Academy's plans for mineral displays following the move back to renovated quarters in Golden Gate Park. Sadly, she confirmed that the new Academy facility almost certainly will not include a permanent mineral exhibit. However, she did note that temporary displays of portions of the Academy collection are still being planned, including a major exhibit at the SFO international terminal (in an area accessible to the general public) starting in August 2007. Academy collection pieces will also continue to be displayed at the Tucson show, the SF club show, and perhaps other venues. Jean also assured us that the California Academy will not follow in the Philadelphia Academy's de-accessioning footsteps (Philadelphia recently sold its entire, very significant collection of 26,000 mineral specimens to a consortium of three dealers well-known to many of us - Leicht, Lees, and Bruce).