Collector Spotlight: Jonas Rantamäki
1. How many years have you been collecting and what started your passion?
I've been collecting seriously since 2015. That's when I started self-collecting. What got me into this hobby was actually a construction worker who was working on our house back in 2008, who came with his truck to our house, where I saw that he had some weird looking rocks in the back of his truck (quartz crystals) that I thought looked amazing, so I asked if I could get one. And surely I could, he gave me a nice small cluster (that I still have in my collection to this day!). I had that on my desk for 10 years, while I kept wondering who that worker was. My parents said they couldn't remember. It ended up with me finding the old invoice for the job that had been done at our house and called the company and asked if they had a clue who the mysterious man who performed the job was, and I mentioned the rocks. As soon as they heard the word "rock collector" they instantly knew who it was! They handed the phone over and on the other end of the phone was a 60 year old man, who happily talked to me on the phone and who said that he remembered the encounter when he gave me the specimen. We talked a bit on the phone and later that weekend he brought me out with him and collected some quartz!
2. What's the focus of your collection and has that changed through time? Why?
What I've focused most on in my collection is self-collected specimens. And since I've mostly collected quartz of different varieties, my focus has been quartz. But lately since I've discovered the interwebz and YMC and y'all, I've started cherishing other specimens that I am not able to collect myself.
3. What do you like to do outside of mineral collecting?
Outside of mineral collecting I'm currently taking an education as an excavator operator and a part of the learning process is to work at a quarry. Another hobby I've had for almost my whole life is competing in e-sports. I've been a professional player in the game called CS:GO, and traveled around Europe and competed at different venues. I'm also very interested in nature and I love hiking with my wife and our 2 dogs. I also like to pick berries, mushrooms and I fish a lot too!
4. Are you a stay-at-home collector or do you collect on the field too?
I collect on the field too, I often prospect for new localities and I do at least 20-30 digs per collecting season. I'd say 85% of my collection and pieces I have in my cabinets are self collected specimens. One of the best memories I have as a collector was working at a claim for some hematite included quartz and did some extraordinary discoveries.
5. Where do you see yourself as a collector in 5, 10 or 20 years?
In 20 years I see myself hopefully having acquired a respectable collection and brought lots of new people into this hobby. Just like I got brought into it by the construction worker and his enthusiasm to further share his knowledge.
6. What fuels your enthusiasm for mineral collecting?
I think it's the feeling when you open up a pocket and you don't know what's in there, or most times you know what you're likely to find but you still are not aware of the magnitude of the pocket. The largest pockets I've found have been almost the size of a few dimes when uncovered., and ended up being bigger than 10 feet!
On the other hand, when one wants to buy something that fuels my passion, you can almost design a specimen in your head and then look for it and buy it almost as you had imagined it!
7. Is there a piece/pieces in your collection you’ll never let go off, which and why?
I've got some pieces in my collection that I'll never get rid of due to the localities. One is a calcite from a quarry that has been turned into a unique outdoor venue for musicals/concerts. If you'd like to see the locality, search for "Dalhalla" on the web (https://www.dalhalla.se/en/om-dalhalla/).