Local speaks on world of gems, minerals

WOODSTOCK — On the second Thursday of most months, the Whitman Memorial Library, in Woodstock, invites a local resident to come in and speak on a wide variety of topics.

This month's speaker was Dennis Gross, owner of the Mineral Collector, a rock shop in Woodstock.

Gross has been collecting rocks and minerals for over 40 years. He told the audience how it started. "I was stationed in Colorado and dating my (now) wife. Our old Mustang overheated in front of a Mexican restaurant, so we stopped for lunch. Next door was a building with a sign saying 'Free Rock Museum.' We went in and I've been bit ever since."

He ended up working weekends for the owner, digging large plates of blue feldspar (also known as amazonite) and smokey quartz. The plates were up to two feet across, and were extremely valuable.

"I never saved any. I wish I had some today," he said. A large Smokey plate can be worth thousands of dollars today. Even small ones sell for a lot.

He described other missed opportunities, as well as random good luck, in many places, including Maine, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Vermont, Illinois, Arizona, Washington, and Montana, where he helped run a large commercial sapphire mine.

Gold was the favored by-product there, said Gross. It was a good place to work, "until one of the partners ran off with all the cash. A typical mining setup. I have met a lot of good people in this business, but also some I would not turn my back on."

Some of the missed opportunities derive from governmental heavy-handedness, said Gross, such as when access was shut down to a copper mine on the coast of Maine and a large asbestos mine in Vermont. Both these places are full of minerals which could be sold as specimens, but are deemed Superfund cleanup sites. Another proposed mine in Warren, the site of a vast nickel deposit, never got started due to concerns about well pollution, "even though their wells go right down through the ore body."

More missed chances come from US mining company practices, which put ore production at a premium. Gross cited an example of thousands of dollars worth of gemmy sphalerites thrown into the crusher "for two cents worth of ore." By contrast, companies in China and Brazil actively seek out specimens, which can sell for many times their ore values.

Gross said that random luck put a gorgeous amethyst crystal in his hand when he reached up to pull himself out of a hole on Deer Hill. "Three hours of digging for nothing and there it was" he said.

Gross used to have a couple of mineral leases in Maine, but gave them up when the land owners died. He has mined 50,000 carats of aquamarine and "tons of quartz" in Maine.

Mining in Maine is typically done for specimens and gem stock, minerals that can be faceted into jewelry. There are several mines being worked in Oxford County. Gem rough can be a good investment, Gross responded to a question. "A $300 tourmaline from years ago was sold for $5,800 recently."

He said that both Jim Mann, in Bethel, and Dennis Creaser, in South Paris, are very good gem cutters and have worked with much local material, including smokey quartz, amethyst, colored tourmaline and various beryls.

These and other minerals can also be tumbled or carved into cabachons, stones which have been shaped and polished rather than faceted.

The Mineral Collector is on Route 26 in Bryant Pond. It features mineral and fossil specimens, tumbled stones, mineral carvings and various other items. The phone number is 665-2759 .

The Woodstock Library has presented this series for five years. Librarian Althea Hathaway says that "So many people have many stories to tell." The next speaker, on May 12, will be Norma Salway, from Bethel. Every year all the second graders in SAD 44 visit Ms. Salway to experience life in the 19th century.