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The Wisdom Pocket Blog

Feb 23, 2023

Rare Earth: Crystalline Treasures

Rare Earth: Crystalline Treasures, ran through September 5th, 2022 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and featured more than 200 spectacular mineral specimens from around the world. Many of these were on loan from the renowned collector and mineral dealer, Dr. Rob Lavinsky. The exhibit was uniquely interwoven with various themes and stories that make inspirational connections between architectural design & earth materials, art+science+culture, carvings and illustrations, striking color, fanciful formations, and a few cases at the end that took a deeper dive into crystal form.

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Jan 12, 2023

Collector Profile: Dr. Erika Pohl-Stroher

Dr. Erika Pohl-Ströher collected the minerals in her collection over a period of more than 60 years. The specimens are arranged according to geographical regions. Considering that Dr. Pohl-Ströher had no intention of exhibiting her mineral collection and therefore did not make a conscious effort to ensure that she obtained specimens from all over the world, she has succeeded remarkably well in setting up an extensive, comprehensive and magnificent collection that includes minerals from every continent.

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Dec 16, 2022

Collector interview: Alex Schauss

In this interview by Tomasz Praszkier, Alex Schauss shares some of his family history, and talks about his career researching nutrition and botanical medicine, and how these disciplines relate to his passion for mineralogy.

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Sep 27, 2022

Competing with Thumbnails: Little Crystals, Big Impact

What even is a mineral competition? How do you determine a winner? What makes a mineral ‘competition worthy’? David Tibbits shares his perspective on competitive displays, specifically regarding thumbnail specimens.

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Sep 5, 2022

A New Standard In Thumbnail Storage And Display - Crystal Showcase Boxes

To further assist our customers in enhancing their collections, we're proud to announce our exclusive partnership with OPENALLDAY as the sole North American distributor of their Crystal Showcase™️ boxes, an upgraded way to show off and store your favorite thumbnail mineral specimens. View these Perky Box alternatives.

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Aug 4, 2022

Why “Collector Gems” are Enchanting

Besides their inherent beauty, gem collections are appealing for their scientific information. Collectors can learn much about a mineral’s chemical composition and geological origins from a gem’s size, color and clarity. Each of the stones in the Arkenstone auction is a true mineralogical wonder—not just in the geological sense but also as a representative of the species itself.

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Jul 15, 2022

The Art of Collecting

The team at The Arkenstone has been busy with our recent collaboration with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History on our RARE EARTH installation, bringing together specimens from the museum, Dr. Lavinsky's personal collection, UCSB's Woodhouse collection, and private collectors. With permission from museum president Luke J. Swetland, we're sharing a bit of a recent article he wrote about his father-in-law (and Arkenstone customer) David Byers.

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Jun 17, 2022

Photo Atlas of Mineral Pseudomorphism

We just received notice that Photo Atlas of Mineral Pseudomorphism will be pulled from the Elsevier publication list due to plagiarism in the main introduction of the text. Intellectual scholarship demands integrity, both of which I hold in the utmost respect. I assisted with photos for the books, and related captions for those photos, and in appreciation of this assistance, I was listed as one of the authors on the publication for this narrow scope of contribution. The portions of the text under scrutiny for plagiarism are from the main text of the book, which were outside the scope of my contribution.

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Apr 23, 2022

Rare Earth: Santa Barbara

Far more than a dazzling display of gems and minerals, Rare Earth tells the story of how we can value the natural world in a new light. Copper may be worth a few dollars per pound, but a beautiful piece in its (remarkable) natural form is worth far more than that. The question is why? We humans inherently assign value to beautiful things above and beyond their utility. It’s why we value impressive minerals like these higher than their price as a mere commodity. Whether it’s a mineral, a tree, or an ecosystem, viewing nature purely in terms of “price per pound” undervalues the resource and deep down, we know it. The minerals and crystals you see here are treasures in their own right, worthy of being displayed (and valued) like any other fine art.

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Mar 28, 2022

Rare Earth: The Art and Science of Chinese Stones

Collecting rocks and stone carvings has been popular in China for thousands of years. This tradition is rooted in the philosophical and spiritual inspiration drawn from the artistic beauty of natural stones, such as jade. Unusually-shaped stones called “Scholars rocks” or “Philosopher’s Stones” carved by natural processes have also been long valued in China. Seen as embodiments of the dynamic transformational processes of nature, these stones were also admired for their resemblance to mountains or caves, particularly the magical peaks and subterranean paradises believed to be inhabited by immortal beings.

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE - Please note that any images, photos, or text (unless otherwise stated) are property of The Arkenstone, iRocks.com, and cannot be used without our permission. Having said that, we're quite happy to work with media, educators, and other organizations to provide images. Please e-mail us at info@iRocks.com with a link where you found the image you wish to use and your intended purpose for the image.