Although the book is focused on present-day mineral collectors and their collections, the first chapter is an abbreviated history of mineralogy and mineral collecting in Brazil. He notes not just minerals but also fossils, lithic objects, meteorites, and gemstones are included in the book. Cornejo's comments can be summed up by his statement (p. 6) that the book is "A paper museum showcasing the foremost pieces of Brazilian mineral collections.". [Extracted from the article]
LETTERS to the editor, CURIOSITIES & wonders, MINERAL collecting, MINES & mineral resources, GEMS & precious stones, CONFERENCES & conventions
Abstract
Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles including "Mineral Oddities" by Robert Cook in the January/February 2009 issue and "Spessartine from Navegadora Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil" by John White in the January/February 2009 issue, and one which calls for papers for the Gem and Mineral Show on February 13, 2010.
The article focuses on history of kunzite, a variety of spodumene that can be recognize for its pink and lilac to bluish-purple color. It states Fred M. Sickler is credited as the discovery of spodumene gem because he is the first to present an example of the mineral to George F. Kunz. It also mentions that kunzite was discovered at Simmons mine, Pala Chief Mine, and Vanderberg mine. It also mention that there were kunzite finds in California, Brazil, and Madagascar.
HISTORY of cartography, GEMS & precious stones, SIXTEENTH century
Abstract
In the final years of the 1590s, the Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius (1552-1622) had represented not only South America but also the ocean to the west of it, known now as the Pacific, as I America Peruana i and I Oceanus Peruvianus i respectively, metonymically claiming the entire continent for the Vice-Royalty of Peru, an interesting hint followed by Doré to understand the expectations created by the Europeans about the continent. In I Cartografia da Promessa: Potosi e o Brasil em um continente chamado Peruana i (Cartography of Promise: Potosi and Brazil in a Continent called Peruana), the historian Andréa Doré (Universidade Federal do Paraná) makes an important study of South American cartography during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Doré's approach is to track the expectations and to analyse the accounts of those who had experienced the space and narrated what they saw to show us how these narratives were portrayed on the maps. [Extracted from the article]