Collector Spotlight: Mark Cross
1) How many years have you been collecting and what started your passion?
I’ve been collecting minerals my whole life (some of my earliest memories revolve around picking through landscape gravel to find agates while growing up in Minnesota… also spent a good amount of time digging for seafloor fossils in MN and Kentucky) but I didn’t start buying minerals until about seven years ago. My parents are road trip enthusiasts, so I spent a decent amount of time in museums and geologically interesting places across the United States while growing up. Including the Smithsonian Museum! I spent many summers in Virginia and got to visit the museum on just about every trip. I still have the little souvenir mineral collection box that they sell in the gift shop (I think the same version can still be found in that shop!) Another fun anecdote from my childhood – when I was a kid, my grandma gave me a relatively large and flawless Arkansas quartz crystal that she found on a road trip across the country when she was young. While driving along a remote county road she encountered an abandoned service station with a table sitting out front. The table was covered in massive, clear quartz crystals and an “honesty box” for dropping coins as payment for the specimen of your choosing. She chose the smallest one. It is about 14cm! Buying minerals really picked up for me about 3 years ago as I’ve tried to refine my collection and keep it more focused on higher quality specimens.
2) What's the focus of your collection and has that changed through time? Why?
My collection has absolutely evolved over time. When I started buying it was “anything natural that I find interesting or attractive” especially tourmalines, beryls, various zeolites, fluorites. I got lucky on a few that I consider to be good “forever” pieces during this phase, but I quickly outgrew most of what I bought due to the quality of the specimens. Lately I’ve been focused on collecting more aesthetic tourmalines with matrix or as clusters (especially when there’s a little lepidolite thrown in the mix!). Additionally, I’m interested in gem and pegmatite minerals from the United States – especially from Maine, California, and Colorado. I try to keep them bigger than thumbnail, but no bigger than a small cabinet. I still have a bit of the “anything natural that I find interesting” mixed in there, but I’m a bit pickier than I used to be. I’ve recently started collecting old / antique mineral-related books as well.
3) What do you like to do outside of mineral collecting? (hobbies, job, music taste, etc).
I love spending time with my wife + extended family whenever I can – this typically revolves around cooking, growing houseplants, photography, home improvement/woodworking, making new friends, and travelling whenever possible (whether it is a local camping trip or going across the country or abroad). I just finished building out a micro-camper setup for the back of my truck and I’m very excited to start using it this summer! Also into real estate investing – I’ve been doing this as an amateur on a limited basis for a few years and have had some great results. Planning to step that up a lot more over the next few years. I used to do a lot of rock climbing and mountaineering but I’ve become too risk averse lately. I drink more coffee than I probably should and love every second of it.
4) Are you a stay-at-home collector or do you collect on the field too?
99% stay-at-home collector for now, I really hope I can get that to change soon. I’m hoping to do a lot more field collecting this summer as I’ve already got a few spots scouted out. The ~1% of my collection that I found myself is a mix of childhood finds (fossils, agates), quartz/pyrite from the Cascades in Washington, a few bits of SoCal pegmatite (schorl, garnets, rose quartz, quartz, feldspar) and some amazonite fragments from Colorado.
5) Where do you see yourself as a collector in 5,10 or 20 years?
o So many things I’d like to do! Let’s break this into a few separate topics – buying, field collecting, networking, getting educated, and sharing the hobby.
o Buying: I’d like to become more disciplined about staying focused on quality when buying pieces. Within 5 years I’d like to have the $ value of my collection concentrated into a handful (10-15 pieces) that I really love. I’d continue to upgrade/swap pieces out for better ones as time goes on.
o Field collecting: I literally dream about collecting minerals in the field! I’d like to have established places that I can collect (found on my own, helping friends with their spots, etc). Over time I’d like to keep networking with others who share this passion.
o Networking: I’ve really enjoyed getting to know other collectors over the past ~3 years (mostly on Instagram). Always love meeting new friends that share this passion!
o Getting educated: I have a strong appreciation for the aesthetics of minerals, but my geoscience knowledge is limited. I’d like to step up my efforts to learn more about geology – I’ve started with “Mineralogy for Amatuers” by Sinkankas. I’d like to learn more from others in-person someday.
o Sharing the hobby: I was homeschooled and got a lot of inspiration (and some fantastic memories!) from random field collecting trips that various homeschool groups would organize. I think it would be really cool to be able to provide well-organized (either through teaching basics directly or coordination with professionals) elementary geoscience education to homeschooled kids, especially via hands-on activities or field trip coordination (museums, field collecting, etc). Hopefully help inspire the next generation of collectors.
6) If you could give any advice to someone new to the hobby, what would it be?
Learn and budget! I would have saved myself a lot of time and money if I had invested more in this part of the hobby early on. Figure out what you love (mineral/locality, etc), learn what “good” looks like for that mineral/locality, set your budget, and buy the best things (or single thing) you can afford within that budgetary constraint. In the past, I spent a lot more than I like to admit on a huge variety of specimens that I quickly lost interest in. This “trickle spending” is a very easy habit to get into if you’re not careful. Having fewer pieces of higher value also makes it a lot easier to upgrade when the time comes.
10) What’s your favorite snack in the field? And why?
Oh boy. I just got a giant camping stove called the “Camp Chef”. It is huge. I recently learned that you can buy a pizza oven attachment for it…. Let’s just say that “field collecting” this summer may just turn into “cooking in the woods”…. So I can’t say that my favorite field collecting snack is pizza quite yet, but just wait until this summer….