Alan Bohne

Alan is from south central Michigan and lives only ten minutes north of my cottage ( I was actually near there today picking Strawberries at a Strawberry farm - nothing is sweeter than fresh Michigan Strawberries). He had been collecting since he was a kid. He did quite a bit of field collecting in Ontario, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina and Michigan. Some of his self-collected specimens are very nice and will be featured on the site. He also bought from rock shops in his travels (and at my former store). On a trip to Scotland and England, he got a number of  Blue John Fluorite specimens from his Uncle Angus. I bought his collection in  May of 2010.

Robert Gannon

Robert/Bob was from the Detroit area where he was the Treasurer for Chrysler Corporation. He later moved to Hamburg Township outside of Detroit. Bob's collection was put together from the 1950s through the 1990s. He was an avid field collector. Of note, were the very large Calcite crystals he collected from Logansport, Indiana and the large Celestine crystals from the quarry used for the construction of the Fermi I nuclear plant near Monroe, Michigan. Bob was a good customer at my shop in the mid to late 1990s. He passed away in 2011 and I purchased his collection in December of 2013.

K&J Enterprises

This was a business run by Ken and Jane Shainlein of Detroit, Michigan until his death in 1974. Ken owned a tool and die shop in Detroit. He only sold at the Detroit show - which at the time was only second to Tucson in size and importance as a show - it even had it's own satellite shows. They traveled extensively in the western US and Mexico. I bought the majority of their stock in 1997 (the top-end minerals were bought by another dealer). Their stock had been sitting in a garage since his death in 1974. I filled a Chevy cargo van twice. I still have a few specimens left from this purchase. Also, I often find specimens from them in old collections here in the Detroit area. There were a number of specimens from them in the Don Langham collection (below).

George Katzmarek

Don "Doc" Langham

Don was a mineral collecter active starting in the late 1940s until his death in 1975. He lived in Lansing and Mason Michigan. In 1964, he was the president of the Central Michigan Lapidary and Mineral Club based in Lansing, Michigan. His collection consisted mostly of minerals from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada with a concentration of minerals from Michigan. Some of the specimens from Michigan were such that I had only seen similar specimens (mineral/location combination) at the Seaman Museum in Houghton.

Reed Meyers

Reed was from East Lansing, home of Michigan State University and a suburb of Lansing the capital of Michigan. His collection was assembled from the 3arly 1950s until the mid 1990s. It consisted almost entirely of specimens from the United States with a concentration of minerals from Michigan and the Cave-In-Rock District of Illinois.

Aaron Neely

This collection was put together during the 1950s and 1960s and was intended as stock for a rock shop. The rock shop was located in South Salem, Ohio. There is little information available on the internet, but I did find a newspaper classified ad for the store from a local newspaper from 1969.

Vivian Randall

Vivian was a mineral collector active in the 1960s through 2008. Her collection included many gem crystals, facet rough and faceted stones. She also faceted her own stones. She also had a large thumbnail collection and loved Vivianite. Also included in her collection, were ivory carvings especially Netsukes, Amber in various forms including carvings, beads and necklaces, polished and unpolished Opal, Jade and African art. She was married to Dudley Randall, a famous poet in the black freedom movement of the 1960s. In 1981, he was appointed as the Poet Laureate of Detroit by then mayor Coleman Young.

Steve Pullman

Steve Pullman ran Whole Earth Minerals out of his home in Reno, Nevada. Steve often did volunteer work at the Californian Academy of Sciences.  He grow up in the San Fransisco area.  He did extensive field collecting in Nevada, California, Oregon and Utah.  His collection included many specimens from the California Academy of Sciences, John Melhase (1885-1938), Sid Williams (Globo de Plumbo) and Pad Woolgemott.  His collection included many rare species with an emphasis on minerals from the western US and rare zeolites.

Steve Sarvis

Steve is from  suburban Detroit. He had an extensively collection of very aesthetically pleasing minerals in good condition.

Kirk Valuet

Kirk is from suburban Detroit. Not only did he have an extensive collection but he is a good friend of mine. Any of you who have come to the Detroit show in the last few shows have probably met him helping me with the booth.