Large Black, Brown and White Banded Agate Slab

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
A near-circular cross-section slab, having excellent translucency, with a crystalized center and surrounded by a border of dramatic brown, white and black banding, with complete boulder surfaces to all edges. Diameter 9 in

Rock H. Currier

Rock H. Currier (1940-2015): avid mineral collector, world traveler, colorful storyteller, practical joker, prolific writer, and limerick reciter. And yes, "Rock" was his given name.

Rock's first real world job was as a chemist in Boron, California. There he became fascinated by borate minerals and acquired the nickname "Boron Moron." This was the beginning of his lifelong fascination with minerals.

He subsequently moved to New York, began to build what would become a renowned photographic library of great mineral specimens from around the world, and expanded his personal knowledge of minerals and localities. Laid off in 1972, he made the momentous decision to become a mineral dealer. He soon found that he could make more money buying and selling minerals, than he could as a chemist in a lab.

Borrowing $1,000 from his father, he made his first trip to India that year. He began buying specimens for Jewel Tunnel Imports (JTI) – his newly founded mineral company. At the time, Indian zeolites were little known in the United States and Rock imported significant quantities of these "new" minerals. The "Poona Pimp" became Rock's new moniker.

He began traveling extensively, sometimes as much as two and a half months at a time. His round-the world buying trips took him to localities far and wide in his quest for minerals. He would continually add new countries to his itinerary in his search to find new specimens to sell. In many cases, he was the first western mineral dealer to show up at these locations. Over the decades he visited every continent except Antarctica.

Rock's knowledge of minerals, and particularly localities, was without equal among his contemporaries. As a pioneering mineral dealer, Rock went everywhere in his search. No matter how harsh or difficult the conditions, he went. Rock was instrumental in developing mineral markets in India, Tsumeb, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Russia, China, and Mali, among other places. While gathering specimens for JTI, he amassed an impressive personal mineral collection. He collected whatever caught his fancy, whether it was an agate marble, polished piece of quartz, gemstone, or world caliber mineral specimen, it all went into his collection.

When Rock displayed more than fifty cases of his collection at the 2003 Springfield Gem and Mineral Show, the depth, breadth, and scope of his mineral passion astounded many. With a collection that spanned over 60 years, Rock had diversity in profusion. He literally had tens of thousands of items catalogued and un-catalogued in the collection – at least 25,000+ specimens overall. When asked why he had so many minerals and other things in his collection (including a Babe Ruth baseball), Rock would reply with a smirk: "because I can."

His passion for all things mineral was only surpassed by his desire to share his knowledge. A prolific writer, he worked tirelessly on behalf of mindat.org, the world's largest open database of minerals, rocks, meteorites and the localities they come from. He was intent on passing on his knowledge and documenting it for posterity.

Rock looked upon his collection as a "working collection" so there is everything in it from trinket to treasure. He marveled at inclusions, strange habits, and odd crystal growths. He loved the "art" that he found in natural rock patterns, colors, and textures. To appease his mineral habit, on top of a plethora of mineral specimens, he collected everything mineral related from marbles and slabs to spheres and eggs to carvings and gemstones. The lapidary items presented here are what caught his fancy over the course of 60 years.