Thursday, May 07, 2015

Minerals on eBay not from museum collection



A pallet of minerals for sale on eBay last fall was listed by the seller "This wonderful collection of minerals is the display from the Arizona Mineral Museum from Curator Lee Hammon," who it turns out was a curator at the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum in the 1970s.

We were contacted by state investigators and connected them with museum officials around the state. No one knew anything about it at the time.  State Senator Don Shooter then called for an investigation by the Attorney General.   The AG found that the minerals were in fact just from the Hammon family personal collection and nothing was missing from any museum collections.   The Arizona Republic story describes the case in more detail.  The 1,400 pounds of specimens were reported sold to a couple in Michigan.

A list and photos of specimens are still posted online. One set of items in the batch is shown in the above photo.

Update 5-31-15: I found the photo of the collection as it was originally posted on eBay, before being removed after it was sold. [bottom]

1 comment:

  1. The two pallets of minerals on eBay may not have been from the mineral msueum, but the Arizona Historical Society is still not in compliance with state statutes. Complete details are available on the blog Mineral Museum Madness at www.minmumad.blogspot.com

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