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Antique Questions Forum / Rock Collection (Dr. A. E. Foote)
« on: July 03, 2011, 11:43:50 pm »
Hi there. Recently when I was cleaning out my Grandpa's garage I found this strange wooden box and had no idea what it was. I opened it up to find a wonderful rock collection. Each rock is labeled and numbered. I've only been able to attach 4 pictures, but will be happy to send more to anybody who thinks they can help me. There are 3 shelves of rocks with a label under each rock. Some specimens are just rocks setting in the tray, while some are in small round boxes, while others yet are in small glass tubes. The labels are all the same:
At the top left corner there is the following: Dana (#) The number varies.
Next in large bold letters is the name of the specimen. To the right of that is the periodic table abbreviation for it.
Next is what I believe is the geometric shape of the specimen. (Isometric, Tetryhedral, Rhomohedral, Orthorombic, Monoclinic, etc.)
Next is what I believe to be where the specimen was found. For example, "Knowlton Mine, Greenland Township, Ontonagon Co., Michigan" OR "Cianciana, Sicily" OR "Kimberly Mines, South Africa"
Next is a small line, "________"
Finally is the following, "Dr. A. E. Foote, Philadelphia."
I looked up Dr. A. E. Foote and found out that he lived from 1846-1895 and was one of America's most famous early mineral dealers. He was born in Hamilton, Madison County, New York.
Now I just really want to know what a collection like this is worth. Obviously the box is not in great shape as there is a large crack across the top. On the first shelf there appears to have been a very acidic rock that ate away the walls of it's small space and damaged 5-7 other slots. While only 2 rocks were lost, 10 labels were lost and the shelf is now damaged. Nonetheless I feel like this collection has to hold some kind of value as I know it is very old and I've never seen anything else like it anywhere. My grandpa hadn't touched it since he was a kid and even then it was old according to him. I would love to know if this holds any value and also who would be interested in an item like this. I just don't know where to even take it!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.
At the top left corner there is the following: Dana (#) The number varies.
Next in large bold letters is the name of the specimen. To the right of that is the periodic table abbreviation for it.
Next is what I believe is the geometric shape of the specimen. (Isometric, Tetryhedral, Rhomohedral, Orthorombic, Monoclinic, etc.)
Next is what I believe to be where the specimen was found. For example, "Knowlton Mine, Greenland Township, Ontonagon Co., Michigan" OR "Cianciana, Sicily" OR "Kimberly Mines, South Africa"
Next is a small line, "________"
Finally is the following, "Dr. A. E. Foote, Philadelphia."
I looked up Dr. A. E. Foote and found out that he lived from 1846-1895 and was one of America's most famous early mineral dealers. He was born in Hamilton, Madison County, New York.
Now I just really want to know what a collection like this is worth. Obviously the box is not in great shape as there is a large crack across the top. On the first shelf there appears to have been a very acidic rock that ate away the walls of it's small space and damaged 5-7 other slots. While only 2 rocks were lost, 10 labels were lost and the shelf is now damaged. Nonetheless I feel like this collection has to hold some kind of value as I know it is very old and I've never seen anything else like it anywhere. My grandpa hadn't touched it since he was a kid and even then it was old according to him. I would love to know if this holds any value and also who would be interested in an item like this. I just don't know where to even take it!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.
