I collect and deal with mineral specimens full time. I bought my first high quality mineral specimen in 1987 when I was 15 years old at a cost of AU$160 at a local gem club show in Melbourne, Victoria. I am a retired pharmacy proprietor by profession. I retired in mid 2009 to pursue my lifelong dream of being able to deal with and collect fine quality mineral specimens full time instead of slaving day in - day out in one of the two busy dispensaries of my two site pharmacy business. My achievements as a career collector including donating mineral specimens that were appraised at around AU$1000000 between 2002 and 2004 to "The South Australian Museum", Adelaide and "The School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Museum" of "The University of Wollongong", New South Wales. Over 100 mineral specimens that I either own or have owned have appeared in the printed mineral collector related literature including "The Mineralogical Record", "Lapis", "ExtraLapis", "American Mineral Treasures" published by Lithographie, "Collecting Arizona" published by Lithographie, "The Smale Collection - Beauty in Natural Crystals" published by Lithographie, "The Australian Journal of Mineralogy", "The Magnificent Mineral Collection of Joseph A Freilich" Sotheby's auction catalog for the sale of the Freilich Mineral Collection in New York City in January 2001, "Gem and Crystal Treasures" by Dr Peter Bancroft published by Western Enterprises, The "Fluorite" edition of ExtraLapis, The "Smithsonite" edition of ExtraLapis, The "Garnet" edition of ExtraLapis, "Minerals and Precious Stones of Brazil" published by Solaris Cultural Publications, "Minerals of Broken Hill" published by "Australian Mining and Smelting", "Minerals of Broken Hill" published by "The City of Broken Hill", "Namibia - Minerals and Localities" published by Olaf Medenbach, "The F John Barlow Mineral Collection" published by Sanco Publishing, "Gold for Collectors" by Scott Werschky and other publications. Since 1987, I have bought, resold, bartered and made tax deductible donations of tens of millions of dollars worth of fine mineral specimens without ever having any type of shop front operation. An album of mineral specimens that I used to own will be published on Flickr and elsewhere. As of writing this introduction on 13th August 2020, my collection consisted on 708 cataloged pieces with a wholesale value of around US$6000000. Most of the value of my collection is kept in a secure storage faciliy. While building my collection, I have travelled all over the world. My travels have taken me to the United States 17 times and I have spent 24 months of my life in America working with fine mineral specimens. While building my collection, I have also visited South Africa (9 x between 1997 and 2012), Namibia (1997, 2001 and 2005), The Democratic Republic of the Congo (twice in late 2009), Boliva (1998), Peru (1998), Chile (1998), China (5 x between 2010 and 2015), Indonesia (2004), Singapore (2005) and Mexico (5 x between 1998 and 2012). I have also travelled all over Australian while building my collection and have lived in most of Australia's state capital cities for months at a time while working with Australian collectors, dealers, curators and miners. Australian mineral localities that I have visited include Broken Hill, New South Wales; Chillagoe, Queensland; Mount Isa, Queensland; The Ranger Mine, Jabiru, Northern Territory; Dome Rock, South Australia (state); Fidlers Creek Mine, Avoca, Victoria; Huntly-Fosterville Mine, Victoria; Bendigo, Victoria and Ballarat, Victoria.

In any area of collecting, "Great connections lead to great collections". Sandor Fuss is one of America's top collectors of mineral specimens, antique glass and Chinese bronze. His public comment on advanced collecting is that to become an advanced collector, most new collectors will need to rely on a trustworthy mentor to educate them about collecting philosophy and what makes a good mineral specimen stand out from hundreds of thousands of "also ran" specimens. When one is buying mineral specimens, it is always important to be able to to compare what one is considering buying to the best of species. No new collector will have this type of knowledge unless he or she has a skilled mentor colllector who can be trusted. Trustworhiness is something that can be judged by the social network in the collecting community who the mentor collector has worked with. My contemporaries in the mineral collecting sphere include William Larson (Pala International, Fallbrook, California), Dr Brian England, Gene Schlepp (Western Minerals, Tucson), Professor Allan Pring (Flinders University, South Australia), Dennis and Marc Tanjeloff (Astro Gallery, New York City), Dr Ronnie McKenzie (WRP, Pretoria, South Africa), Ian Bruce (Crystal Classics Fine Minerals Ltd, England), Professor Stephen Smale (Fields Medal), Dr Robert Lavensky (The Arkenstone Gallery, Dallas, Texas), Robert Sielecki (Crystal Universe Pty Ltd, Ausrox Pty Ltd and Ausrox Gold Pty Ltd) and Stuart Wilensky (Wurtsboro Wholesale Antiques, Wilensky Fine Minerals). My arhieved documents include correspondence from famous identities who include Professor Tim Flannery, Dr Paul Pohwat, Dr Eugene Meieran, the late John Barlow, Martin Zinn and many others.

The pieces presented in the showcase are not for sale because they are part of my personal collection. The group would be worth around US$1,450,000 if retailed at fair market value as of late 2020.