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Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums > Land Rights, Laws and References > Valuable References
CP
Thought everyone might find use for this info in your specimen displays/catagories.
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Here is some size information I found today at Rockhounding Arkansas

QUOTE
Thumbnail specimen
If you can't keep the big pieces, a perfect alternative is to go for the smaller sizes. A thumbnail (abbreviated T/N) specimen will fit inside a 1 1/4" cube plastic box. If it won't fit, it's not considered a thumbnail. Those little plastic boxes are called "perky boxes" and are great for keeping your pieces clean and neat looking.

Miniatures specimen
The next size up is a miniature. This size fits in a 2 1/2" cube plastic box.

Hand Specimen
The next larger size is a hand specimen. If it's too big to fit in the 2 1/2 " plastic box, but not as large as a grapefruit, then it is a hand specimen.

Cabinet specimen
Then come the BIG ONES. If it's bigger than the grapefruit and you can still pick it up and put it on a shelf, it's a cabinet specimen. Larger than that is too big to easily put in your house.

Micromount specimen
Guess what? Price has nothing to do with size if you want to get top quality specimens. A hand specimen can cost $2 to $100 or more, and the same can be said for a T/N. If you really want to collect the best crystals of any mineral, then you have to collect micromounts, abbreviated M/M. Any mineral that you must use magnification to view the crystals is a micromount, no matter what size the matrix. So a micromount might be a tiny chip smaller than your little fingernail, with good crystals, to a boulder-sized chunk with good crystals that you have to look at with magnification.
Often you may collect from boulders that contain micromount crystals to be trimmed down later to smaller sizes for viewing under a microscope. Micromount crystals are flowers of the mineral world. Due to their small size, the crystal shapes and forms are much more perfect than larger crystals. If you ever get a chance to look at minerals through a microscope, you may never collect anything but M/Ms again.


Have fun sortin' your rocks!! wink.gif cool.gif

CP
fourcornersrocks
Thanks for the info, the stuff about micromounts helps out a lot.
russau
im looking for a "back of pickup truck" sized peice of gold.:)
Denise
Great info Dan! Thanks for putting it up for us to use.
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