Stuart & Donna Wilensky’s Fine Minerals: VOLUME 3
These books are primarily designed to illustrate, and celebrate, the mineral specimens which we have sold over the years. They are an archive of photos that can serve several purposes; to document the actual pieces, to help develop an aesthetic library for those looking to see and learn about the artistic aspect of minerals, and for myself and Donna as well to have a printed legacy from our decades of buying, selling and collecting fine mineral specimens. If these books achieve any of these goals then all the hours of work photographing, designing, researching, will be worth it.
Wilensky Fine Minerals, VOL. 3
Hardcover Edition, 85 color photos, 70 pages.
Price: $30.00 each
We accept MasterCard, Visa and PAYPAL
What is it about minerals that attract someone to collect them? This was a question I never actually asked of myself. First and foremost I enjoy collecting and I enjoy visually beautiful and aesthetic objects. You can call it “art” but I think mineral beauty goes a step beyond those boundaries. Art by definition is something created by humans. How then do we categorize minerals? I believe they are art in a larger sense of the term. Our eyes and sensibilities are attracted to them, excited by them, even unconsciously drawn to them because they stimulate our senses in several ways; form, color, transparency, sculpturally, texturally, etc. The appreciation of something beautiful is uniquely human and with that concept in mind appreciating mineral specimens is simple; it is enjoyable.
I’ve collected several things in my life but once introduced to minerals they literally took over my life. Minerals always come first. I have wondered why that is. Everything else I have collected was man made and within those parameters I always knew what was possible. The surprises are there but few. Minerals have no boundaries. As soon as you think you have seen the best, or the ultimate, something comes forth from the earth to shock and astound you. The excitement and thrill of the next wonderful specimen is never ending. If you collect coins, stamps or lunch boxes you already know what the greatest rarity is, or the most beautiful piece will be, when you start. Acquiring that item is an adventure, but imagine collecting something where the greatest hasn’t even been found yet, where the most outrageous piece has never been seen by any human! That’s the adrenaline rush that only a collector of minerals can experience. This excitement, this ongoing treasure hunt, is like no other collectible. This is the everlasting, ageless and endless, pursuit of the wondrous, beautiful and rare.
Mineral collecting separates itself from nearly all other categories of art and collectibles because each piece is truly unique. No two are identical. The most a coin or stamp collector can hope for is to have an example in better condition, or one of only a few examples known. Mineral collectors know that each and every piece they own is the only one. When I visit mineral collectors I know I am in for a treat to see pieces I have never seen before. To see a rare 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card or an 1938 Action Comics No. 1 Superman issue is admittedly fun and interesting but what comes to mind is; “Seen one, seen em all…”. This is what sets mineral collecting apart. Ten collectors can all have an Aqua from Pakistan and each one has it’s own individual beauty and features. The most I can say about the comic or the card is which one was in the best condition. I can’t imagine that holds the same level of excitement.
With our world becoming smaller, global economies and cultures melding, our collective interests are also blending. Nearly every country on earth produces mineral specimens. Minerals are a product of the earth and not any individual culture. We can appreciate a mineral from China, Pakistan, America or Brazil equally without any preconceived bias, prejudice or egocentric view. This makes for the most democratic of all collectibles. No artificial boundaries constrain the beauty and appeal of minerals. They are the worlds art and everyone can appreciate and collect them. Minerals are the universal collectible. As mineral collectors we have always called these “worldwide” minerals and the meaning goes far deeper then simply where they originated. When the minerals we collect formed there were no artificial boundaries, no separate countries or cultures. Minerals have no attachment to a place, just to the earth as in one globe with no political, religious or ethnic considerations. This universal aspect also impacts the values and future salability of mineral collections. When the world is your market, demand, and in turn value, will rise far more appreciably.
These aspects, along with the most obvious appeal of minerals, their beauty, make them the ultimate collectible.
ALL PHOTOS BY STUART WILENSKY