Collector Spotlight: Antoine Barthélemy
1) How many years have you been collecting and what started your passion?
I received the first specimen from my dad when I was a very young boy (and I am 33 now). It is a low-end crystallized sulfide specimen with a few quartz points, from an unknown location, that I still own. The next few pieces were purchased over the course of several years at my village's annual flea market, from someone who had a small lot of common minerals lost among other things. Then, I bought some unnoteworthy specimens from a mall when visiting my dad while he was working in Germany. Finally, I attended my first actual mineral shows in Belgium (where I live) and things started to ramp up.
2) What's the focus of your collection and has that changed through time? Why?
Today my collection focuses on three categories of minerals: secondary lead minerals, secondary copper minerals and arsenate minerals. These are targets that I have put in place in 2014, and that I have respected quite strictly ever since. Two other subsets in my collection are a dozen good specimens from my early collecting days, not belonging to the previous categories but which I cannot decide to sell, and a handful of pieces of sentimental value. Since the beginning, I have been attracted to specimens with great aesthetics and lack of damage. The increase in the quality of my collection has been a long and gradual process. It was allowed by new incomes when I started working, and it has been driven by websites like Mindat.org and my subscription to the Mineralogical Record.
3) What do you like to do outside of mineral collecting? (hobbies, job, music taste, etc).
Mineral-related activities are often the first thing on my mind when I have free time... and they occupy a lot of it! Outside of that, I try to remain in good shape by running and cycling. My holidays are currently often spent in the Alps, skiing in winter and hiking in summer.
4) Have you been to any shows? If so, what's your favorite part of them? If not, are there any particular ones you would want to experience one day?
I have been attending Belgian shows for a very long time now. I always love the smell when I enter the exhibition hall (maybe some Sulphur emanating from the specimens? I think I could recognize the scent of mineral flats with my eyes closed). Then, the frenzy of trying to find a good deal before anyone else. And, when I have found an interesting and beautiful specimen, the thrill of not discovering any damage to it, which makes it perfect for my collection.
I have attended a few major European shows as well (Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines in 2013, 2017 and 2019, and Munich in 2018). I may have experienced the peak of the mineral show experience when I spent an unforgettable week in (and around) Tucson in 2016. I can't wait to go back there one day. In the meantime, I really wish that the Munich show will take place this fall (in which case I'll see you there!).
5) Are you a stay-at-home collector or do you collect on the field too?
My field collecting is anecdotal. The opportunities have also been very rare until I started going more regularly to the Alps for holidays. Last summer, I spent some time exploring abandoned small-scale mines in the Anniviers valley, which was fun but did not result in good specimens. Then, on the last day, I found a clear quartz crystal in a granite boulder right on the path of a popular hike. You would not believe my excitement for a 1 cm crystal of one of the most common mineral species. I kept my eyes open again this summer, and I spotted the same kind of crystal in the same kind of setting, this time in a different valley. I am already excited to go back with the appropriate tools to collect this totally insignificant specimen.
6) What's your favorite locality? Why?
In addition to the main mineral categories mentioned above, I also keep track of 4 locality subsets in my collection: Tsumeb, Ojuela, Milpillas and Morocco. These are of course localities that match nicely with my preferences in terms of minerals. It is difficult to choose a favorite among them, but the Ojuela Mine probably wins my heart. It offers a wide range of colorful mineral species (more varied than the Milpillas Mine), it is a contemporary locality that continuously produces new interesting finds (in opposition to the closed Tsumeb Mine), and it has all these qualities while being a single deposit (in contrast to Morocco).
7) What fuels your enthusiasm for mineral collecting?
I still don't understand how the ugly specimen that I received from my dad triggered this burning passion for minerals. How did I sense that, next to the pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena that make up this piece, there would be scorodite, azurite and wulfenite? Today I just know that I love this hobby. Because of the combination of scientific aspects with the simple appreciation of natural beauty and perfection. Because of the thrill of finding a flawless specimen after browsing through thousands of imperfect ones. Because of the childlike joy of opening a package from an online order. Because of the pleasure of discovering yet unseen details of a crystal while trying to photograph it.
I hope that future shows will be the opportunity to meet and to share my passion with more of you, fellow YMCers!