Welcome to my web-site, I hope you find it interesting and share, what for me has been, and remains, a lifelong passion.
Mine started when I was in my early teens. My Chemistry teacher, Mr.Lightfoot, said he was giving a slide show one evening and invited anyone who wished to come. He had previously been a Geologist working for De Beers in South Africa. As I already had an interest in fossils I decided to go along.
In the centre of his large desk he had placed a mineral specimen. A single Diamond Crystal in matrix! That one moment in 1960 changed and directed the course of my life – and what an adventure it has been!

My family farmed near Burnley in Lancashire and it was expected that I leave school at 17 and go to work for my Father on his farm.
My Father was also a collector of and dealer in Arms & Armour; so as well as working on the farm I became his Secretary with responsibility for his Firearms Register.
It was a busy and interesting time but my fascination for Minerals remained and I was determined to find out more – and find like-minded people.

I discovered that the local college were running a Geology evening class – so along I went. There I met fellow student Norman Lupton who knew where there was an old lead mine. Great !
The mine turned out to be the Dowscar level at Hilton, Appleby-in-Westmoreland. We drove up there in Norman’s mini-van, equipped only with some basic tools, great excitement and my Father’s carbide acetylene lamp, which I ‘borrowed’ from his old bike.
On this – my first collecting trip – I brought out some beautiful twinned yellow fluorites and I was hooked!

Norman and I became good friends and still are, 40+ years on.
Thankfully ‘Health & Safety’ was some way off for educational establishments and we were able to take part in some really exciting field trips. Off we went to Strontian in Scotland, collecting Harmotome, Brewsterite and Strontianite.
To Penzance, Cornwall, during which we actually had a field trip underground in the then working tin mine of South Crofty - descending 650’ to a working face – fantastic.

From then for almost every weekend, for years, we visited as many mines as possible, all over the North of England and Scotland. We spent time underground if at all possible. Digging through collapsed portals, if we could.

I was always on the look-out for people who shared the same interest and when I heard of W.F. (Bill) Davidson in Penrith, I went to see him, this would be about 1965 and the beginning of another great friendship. Bill had just acquired an old mineral collection, which I purchased from him for £35. There were 50 or 60 specimens, amongst others a fine Roughton Gill Plumbogummite, and a cracking Red Gill Linarite.

After that I spent many happy days with Bill in the Caldbeck Fells collecting. He had spent most of his life collecting there and was very generous in showing me the old localities, and where in the past he had found nice specimens; also which part of the spoil heaps had potential and others not.
Bill, in his generous way, gave me an introduction to Peter Embrey at the Natural History Museum in London. So we made and appointment and Norman and I went to see him.
The Museum had just acquired Sir Arthur Russell’s collection and there were specimens all over his office. His desk, all the shelves and bookcases were full of specimens.
That day we knew that we had arrived in Paradise!

For a long time Norman and I did not meet any other collectors until one day when we were in the Caldbeck Fells in Brandy Gill. There we heard someone banging away with a hammer and chisel. This turned out to be Lindsay Greenbank and Tony (Walter) Walshaw, who were as surprised to see us, as we were to see them. Someone else picking up rocks!

Bill Davidson had told me of his days dealing in minerals, buying specimens from the miners and said some of the mines are still working in West Cumberland and Weardale. Names now so evocative of a bygone era, Florence Mine, Haile Moor Mine and the Beckermet Mine. In the Weardale area, Blackdene Mine, Grove Rake Mine, Red Burn Mine, Whiteheaps Mine and further north the Settlingstones mine.

After banging on many doors I soon found miners who were only too willing to sell specimens.
After a few months I had a huge and growing collection in my bedroom.
You will recall that my interest grew from a fossil collection I had when I was 8 or 9 years old. I used to collect these fossils in an old quarry near the farm, where we lived. My bedroom ended up with fossils everywhere.
One day after school I found my bedroom without fossils, not one! My Mother decided she didn’t like the mess- and had thrown them out of the window!
My foray into purchasing minerals had again cluttered up my bedroom, so to avoid a re-occurrence- I impressed on her that minerals are valuable. Being a sensible Northern Mother she suggested, if that was the case, maybe I should sell some!

I tried to find out more and more. One evening, reading in my room, I found in the back of an old geological text book, an advertisement for Gregory and Bottleys in Old Church Street, Chelsea, London. It sounded like a firm from a Charles Dickens’ novel – or today a Harry Potter story - and the venue itself would have fitted either.
I made an appointment and went to see them. The premises, in Victorian times, used to be an abattoir. On ringing the bell, someone let me into a very murky and worryingly dark warehouse, and he explained “Go through to the back and go up the stairs to the showroom”. 'Going through. was a dimly lit narrow winding path, through what looked like screes of rock on either side. This went up to dusty inaccessible stacks of Victorian museum specimen cabinets, piled and propped up against each other as if they had been flung there. Many had their drawers hanging out and lined the walls from floor to ceiling! At the top of the stairs was the showroom. Again lined with many fine antique specimen drawers and showcases.

The company was then owned by Mr and Mrs. Percy Bottley, and was run by three staff with their own responsibilities: Peter- minerals, John- rocks and Fred-fossils. So here was the opportunity to develop a business and placate my Mother.
It was in “Bottleys” where I met Richard Barstow in the late 1960’s. Dick and I became great friends and we spent many good times together.

During the later 1960’s I joined a group of collectors in Manchester who every month met at a members’ home.
James Knight, Michael Cooper and Richard Braithwaite were three and I soon realised how very little I really knew about minerals.
Jim Knight opened up a new world to me – that of the microscope....

In late 1970 I had a ‘phone call from someone, who Peter Embrey had suggested should make contact with me.
That someone was Charlie Key. He suggested “Why don’t you go to Tuscon next year”. After explaining what Tuscon was, I went in 1971.
Visiting Tuscon was another life changing experience and sent me along another wonderful path in my adventure of collecting mineral specimens and the many great people and friends I came know.

So with the wonders of modern technology and the internet, the way of collecting minerals continues to evolve, to include looking at specimens on your desk top, as well as crawling around in muddy old mines.
I am delighted to have this opportunity to thank those who have so enriched and influenced my life, Re-new old acquaintances and revive friendships. I also hope that to make new friends – particularly those new to collecting and young people – for it is with these people that our – and the future of collecting – lies.
I am more than happy to share my knowledge and experience with the next generation – just as Bill Davidson did with me.

I hope that you derive enjoyment from my site. It is early days so do keep looking and feel free to contact me anytime.

Kind regards

Ralph