British Micromount Society

NATIONAL REFERENCE COLLECTION

The idea of a National Micromount Reference Collection was conceived back in 1984

The collection is curated to a high standard with all specimens permanently mounted in dust tight boxes, and labelled with an accession number linked to a catalogue / database.

The collection comprises over 2400 specimens from across the United Kingdom, with a large number of species being represented.

Clicking on one of these links, Excel Doc or PDF will take you to pages listing the specimens in the collection.

Members wishing to inspect specimens for study purposes can email the curator. Contact details are in the Membership list

Below are 3 photographs which illustrate how the collection is curated:-

         The reference collection cabinets

       One drawer of the reference collection

      Example reference collection catalogue cards

These two links will give you the forms needed to send in new specimens

UK Specimens

    

Foreign Specimens

Excel Document or PDF

Excel Document or PDF.

A note from the curator:

Although I’m not actively looking to pass the reference collections on, I also realise that I’m unable to devote the time to curate them properly! My aim was to ‘fill the gaps’ of mineral suites from each location and to tidy the database by ensuring that each location is entered in the same way (some vary fractionally making searches more complicated).

So, if anyone out there is willing to take the collections on who has more time available to dedicate to them please let me know! I’m more than happy to keep it, but fear that I shan’t have an awful lot of spare time until I retire (only 30 something years to go…)

Added to this that I have numerous hobbies meaning that any spare time is quickly taken up with them!

Otherwise, I’ve had a few new contributions from the Symposium which need to be catalogued. Other than that, no news. Still only a couple of members make the most of borrowing the specimens.

If you have any questions about the collection, or about this note, you can find my contact details in the BMS Membership list or in the Society Newsletter.

Maria Justamond