Collector Spotlight: Valentin Drouillot
๐) ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง?
Iโve been seriously collecting minerals since 2019 when I was 20, but I technically had a collection for longer than that. My passion for minerals was built through a very long time : When I was 3, My dad showed me a documentary made as a tribute for the French volcanologists Maurice and Katia Kraft, I couldnโt stop to watch it over and over again, leading to me being obsessed by volcanoes when I was a small child. When I learned to read, it started by books about volcanoes, later it was books about dinosaurs, and astronomy, oceanography etc. I was a little earth science nerd until I was 14 when I developed a passion for aviation. My poor mom had to buy tons of books because of how curious I was for earth sciences !
At the time, my grandma had a mineral collection. We loved talking about the minerals she had, looking at a mineralogy book I still have today, and even drawing some specimens! I inherited her collection when she unfortunately passed away in 2013 and decided to keep it, even If I was not into minerals or earth sciences at the time, I still felt very attached to this collection. Fast forward to 2018, even though I had a part of my life in wich earth sciences didnโt interest me, I quickly realized that it was basically everything I truly loved : I was always very good in sciences at school, so I started a geology bachelor degree with tons of petrology, mineralogy and cristallography courses.
I loved everything about these courses and the degree (well, at least everything that was related to geology), and I started to ยซdig ยป more and more into my grandmaโs collection to identify everything, since it was completely unlabeled. The collection was full of classic specimens from Ojuela, Mibladen, Madagascar etc., this was around the time I discovered Mindat which greatly helped me during the identification of the minerals and I quickly became obsessed by mineralogy. In March 2019, I went to my first show in Paris, I talked to a few sellers and I bought my first specimens that I still keep today, and Iโve been collecting ever since.
๐) ๐๐ก๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐? ๐๐ก๐ฒ?
I didnโt have any focuses when I started, I bought anything I liked and especially what suited my tight budget. This greatly changed after joining YMC and when I started to see what I really like, now I donโt have one single focus in my collection, but rather three. The first one ยซ thumbnails and miniatures from Africa ยป, with an accent to Namibia. I actually really like the diversity found in Africa, and the geological and mining history of this continent is fascinating. The Otavi mountain land, and the Erongo mountains in Namibia are among my favorite localities, just for the diversity and complexity of whatโs found there.
The second one is ยซ thumbnails and miniatures of Alpine minerals ยป, minerals from the European alps or from regions with an Alpine clefts mineralogy. I started to grow an interest for these minerals when I started to see Gwindels, Faden quartz, and Chlorite coated specimens. Theyโre just extremely cool, and the fact that the mineralogy is partially controlled by paleogeography is mind blowing for me.
Finally, the third focus of my collection is ยซ Thumbnails from the US ยป but it has a twist, since I need to get at aleast one thumbnail specimen from each state in the US. For the moment, I have one for : New York, Arizona, New Mexico, California, North Carolina, Utah, Connecticut and Arkansas. I should receive the Idaho and a couple others really soon. The thumbnail collection is a truly American style of collecting, and Iโm amazed by the diversity of minerals found in this country, so I wanted to have both of these ideas in a suite for my collection.
I noticed that the majority of the minerals Iโm getting that are out of these three focuses are from the Asiatic continent, so Iโm even considering on making a focus out of these minerals from Asia, or making an ยซ occasional suite ยป for them. In general, I only collect thumbnails and small miniatures, I find bigger specimens a bit too expensive for my taste, and the smaller ones are definitely prettier in my opinion.
๐) ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ? (๐ก๐จ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฌ, ๐ฃ๐จ๐, ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐, ๐๐ญ๐).
Iโm currently a geology student, I got a first degree in 2020, and Iโll start the second year of my master degree in metallogeny and exploration geology. All the field camps that I had to do made me love hiking in general, among all the places Iโve seen, one of my favorite was the Bourg dโOisans region (Isรจre, France). I had the luck to do multiples hikes to very famous places for their mineralogy, like ยซ le Plan du lac ยป in Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans, which is the type locality of Anatase ; but also ยซ La combe de la Selle ยป in the same city, which is famous for the incredible Prehnites produced during the 70โs to 90โs and also for being Axiniteโs type locality.
Iโm also a scuba diver, while I only have my PADI Open water certification for the moment, I plan to get a little deeper in the future, and become an advanced open water diver. Among the countries I had the luck to dive in, thereโs Turkey, Crete, Mexico, and Dominican republic.
For more casual activities, I like taking pictures of my minerals. While Iโm far from having the material for professional photography, I still really enjoy doing it, I even managed to win the first prize of my Universityโs photography competition of this year with a photograph of my Okorusu Fluorite.
And lastly, I love video games ! Iโve always been a console player, on the PlayStation, now on the fifth generation. What genre do I like the most ? Difficult to say, I love the games were you can just take it easy and explore, like No manโs sky, or Elite dangerous that are both space exploration games or even games like Red dead redemption 2 that are just the absolute best for me. Survival games are also my thing, like Ark : survival evolved, or my new favorite game : Days gone.
I also love FPSs, my favorite probably being Battlefield 4. Iโm currently highly hyped by the new BF2042 coming this year.
๐) ๐๐ก๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฌ? ๐๐ก๐ฒ?
The people that know me probably already guessed the answer : Descloizite, specifically the ones from Berg Aukas (Namibia). This mineral can be fascinating : It can get very varied shapes with big arrowheads when found in Berg Aukas, it can also form bladed crystals reminiscent of flowers. While itโs often found in a dark coloration, it can have some very nice colors, from red to yellow, with tints of brown. Itโs very lustrous, from metallic to almost adamantine (extra sparkly) ! And cherry on the cake, itโs a relatively rare mineral with a not so well constrained geology, which makes it super cool for me. This mineral deserves more love !
If I had to choose an other species for the second place, it would be Prehnite : varied shapes from tabular to acicular to botryoidal crystals, the associated minerals can also have a lot of variation depending of the host rock the prehnite formed in, which makes it a must have I think. While Iโm not a huge fan of the Mali Prehnites, Iโm addicted by the ones associated with Byssolite and Epidote from la Combe de la Selle, Isรจre, France.
๐) ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฒ-๐๐ญ-๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐จ?
Iโm mostly a stay-at-home collector, but Iโm what I call an ยซ opportunistic field collector ยป : I collect minerals on the field when I go there for the field camps and field trips with my university. Last time, I went in the south of France to determinate the origins of Ba-Cu-F deposits, and managed to get some Baryte specimens during sample collecting. I also did a bit of rockhounding when I was in vacations in the alps, and managed to find a few quartz points, but nothing major. On the other hand, it seems that I have better luck with fossils : I managed to get a great Pyrite coated Gryphaea dilatata shell during my stay in Normandy back in 2019.
Iโd love to do some more serious field collecting, but I donโt have a lot of time and I unfortunately donโt know enough French collectors to go on collecting trips.
๐) ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐๐๐/๐ฉ๐ข๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ ๐ ๐จ ๐จ๐๐, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ?
My Siderite with Quartz and Dolomite specimen from the Mรฉsage mine, Saint-Pierre-de-Mรฉsage, Isรจre, France. I directly got it from Grรฉgoire de Bodinat whoโs the owner of the mine, we talked a lot about minerals, he showed me his personal collection with an amazing display of alpine minerals and specimens of his own mine, overall a wonderful interaction. This specimen comes from a limited pocket of gem green Siderite, covered with Quartz and Dolomite crystals, the luster is amazing, the color too, and it just glows when exposed to any kind of light. The Siderite quality of this mine is on par with all the other top tier Siderite localities like Morro Velho (Brazil), and this is a really decent example. This specimen is basically a great souvenir from an awesome trip in the French alps, and I definitely canโt let it go.
๐) ๐๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ? ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐จ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ ? ๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ, ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฒ?
Iโve been to a few French shows, all of them were rather small though, I went to the ones in Paris, Nancy, Jouy-en-Josas, Issoire, and Thionville. My favorite part is probably talking to the sellers, itโs just refreshing to talk to people that have the same passion, the same enthusiasm as us, and just talk about the specimens they sell, how they got them etc.
Iโd love to go to Tucson one day, because of how glorious and huge this show must be ! Iโd like to also go to SMAM one day, I wasnโt able to get there in 2019 and we all know what happened to the 2020 and 2021 editions. The Munich show is also on my list, and I should get there this year.