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THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTE
NEWSLETTER OF THE HOUSTON GEM & MINERAL SOCIETY
HGMS
HOUSTON GEM &
HGMS
HOUSTON GEM &
MINERAL SOCIETY MINERAL SOCIETY
HGMS
HOUSTON GEM &
HGMS
HOUSTON GEM &
MINERAL SOCIETY MINERAL SOCIETY
FEATURED MEMBER:
HGMS
HOUSTON GEM &
HGMS
BEVERLY MACE
HOUSTON GEM & SEE MORE ON PAGE 8
MINERAL SOCIETY MINERAL SOCIETY
VOLUME LXX
JANUARY 2021 HGMS HOUSTON GEM &
MINERAL SOCIETY JANUARY 2021 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
President’s Message 3
Vice President's Message 3
Section Reports - Archaeology 4
Section Reports - Mineral 5
Section Reports - Beading 5
Fluorite from Mexico 5
Featured Member: Beverly Mace — A Pillar of the Club 8
Christmas Party 11
Bench Tips by Brad Smith 12
Inhibiting Corrosion on Metallic Stones and Artwork 13
Heliocoprion, Buzz Saw Shark, in Texas 14
Carpet Capers 17
Purpose of HGMS / Membership Details 18
Board of Director Meeting Minutes – current month 18
General Meeting Minutes 22
Officers List 26
Calendar 27
Permission to use material originating in this newsletter is given freely providing that
credit is given to the author and the source. Every article published in the BBG is edited
for grammar and content. No flaming is allowed.
BACKBENDER’S GAZETTE SUBMISSION DEADLINES
Articles are due on the 15th day of the month before the date on the BBG issue.
Copy is due for the next issue by the 15th of this month. Email content to editor@hgms.org
2 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTE
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
by Sigrid Stewart
Faint stirrings of hope are beginning to make themselves felt at last. Even though the
pandemic is still hitting hard, first responders are being vaccinated and a contentious
election is (almost) behind us. I’m sure that the year 2020 will long be remembered: for
the pandemic lockdown, economic meltdown and collapse of the oil industry, political
division, riots and protests, fires and hurricanes. But now is the time to begin asking
ourselves what will 2021 be remembered for and what we should be working towards.
It’s really hard to keep an organization going when we can’t interact like we did before the
pandemic. We hoped that staging a virtual show would help keep our Society’s name and
mission in the public eye, but of course it wasn’t the same. Going to the club and hanging
out and working in the shop was a big part of our lives. Now everyone is ready to forget
Zoom meetings, get together with friends and get on with their lives. Hopefully it won’t
be too long before we can do that. Perhaps by summertime we will be able to reopen the
clubhouse.
We face many challenges. Membership has dropped, people’s lives have changed, and
we will have to revitalize our sections, rebuild our classes and make our organization
relevant once more.
VICE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
by Michele Marsel
So, exactly what is a Thunderegg? If
you’ve ever wondered about this, you
need to join the January 26, 2021
General Meeting via Zoom. Neal Immega
will present a program on Thundereggs
from New Mexico via Port Neches.
For 2021, President Sigrid Stewart is
bringing back monthly auctions. We
will have 5-6 items for auction at each
General Meeting. We will send out a
preview of auction items in the Sunday
E-Blast right before each General
Meeting. And Door Prizes are back too!
Hope you can join us.
Thunder Egg
JANUARY 2021 3
And now for the bad news...
CASES STOLEN
For years we have stored our display cases and the frame for our Fluorescent Display in
trailers which were stored at a CubeSmart in Humble. Recently Clyde McMeans received
a call that one of the trailers had been broken into. Upon going to the CubeSmart location
he discovered that not only had one trailer been broken into, the other trailer was GONE.
Apparently, a truck was able to get in and hitch up the trailer containing our custom-built
display cases and haul it away in the middle of the night. The loss has been reported to
police and to our insurance company. We will have to begin planning to replace at least
some of the cases.
There are a few other display cases in the attic, reports Neal Immega. They will need to
have locks added.
SECTION REPORTS
ARCHAEOLOGY SECTION
by Nancy Engelhardt-Moore
December 3, 2020: The Section hosted a virtual Zoom program since the HGMS
Clubhouse is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At 7:35 PM, Bob Moore, Section
Chair, called the meeting to order. In attendance—virtually—was another large audience
of 34 people. Bob announced the planned January talk (see below). Next, Michael
Clennan, Friends of Archaeology, announced that Dr. Charles Stewart would give a virtual
lecture entitled “How Archaeology of the Past is Pointing to Architecture of the Future”
on December 13 at 5:00 PM. He said this lecture would be recorded for later viewing.
Bob Moore then introduced our guest speaker, Bob Dodge, Executive Director of Artemis
Gallery.
Bob Dodge first showed a “Pawn Stars” video “BIG MONEY for RARE “ONE-IN-MILLION
HELMET” to start the program. He is one of the experts who drops in to authenticate
and value artifacts brought into the store. In this example, Bob used a hand-held X-Ray
Diffraction (XRF) gun to determine the elemental composition of a Medieval Anglo-Saxon
iron helmet. The owner wanted at least $750. Bob was amazed to see the helmet, since
iron that old is seldom found that well preserved. Under normal conditions, it would turn
to powder in a short time unless it was found
in a low-oxygen environment. His analysis
showed the helmet was made of 99.766% iron
with traces of other metals typical of a carbon-
steel artifact. To everyone’s amazement, Bob
said it was real, about 1500 years old, and
worth $15,000!
He then continued with his presentation “Is
It Ancient or Not? How Science Can Tell.”
Bob talked about the history of his company
and the Artemis Testing Lab. He showed
real examples of using XRF and Thermal Photo from “Pawn Stars”
Medieval Anglo-Saxon Helmet
4 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTE
Luminescence (TL) technologies to authenticate and date objects. After Q&A, the meeting
adjourned at 8:50 PM.
A big thank you to Loretta Pisegna for assisting with the minutes!
UPCOMING PROGRAM
January 7, 2021: Dr. Dirk Van Tuerenhout, HMNS Curator of Anthropology, will present
"A War of Words: the story of the Code Talkers". He will speak about the role played by
Native Americans who acted as Code Talkers in both World War I and World War II, and
he will give an update on the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Hall of Americas
renovation. So, please join us for this informative program!
February 4, 2021: No program planned.
To learn more about the FRIENDS OF ARCHAEOLOGY, view free videos, and learn about
their upcoming events, go to http://www.friendsofarchaeology.com.
MINERAL SECTION
The Mineral Section will hold a virtual meeting on January 20, 2021. All mineral lovers are
welcome! Please see Upcoming Programs section on the HGMS website to learn more.
BEADING SECTION
The Beading Group will be meeting on Saturday, January 16th at 1:30 PM via Zoom. We
will be creating a spiral chain. All interested persons are welcome to join the call.
Materials needed:
• Seed beads in 2-colors of the same size. You can use size 11 or 8 seed beads
(round shape)
• Beading thread like Fireline, or Nylon Beading thread
• Beading needle -size 10 or 11
• Scissors and pliers
RSVP: Maggiem2@windstream.net and I will send you the Zoom link and project photos.
FLUORITE FROM MEXICO
by Steve Blyskal, HGMS Mineral Section Chair
Mexico is the third largest worldwide producer of fluorite for the steel making and chem-
ical industry. However, the largest deposit, in San Luis Potosi, has produced few speci-
mens for the collecting market because the fluorite is generally fine grained and dissem-
inated in the host rock. The second largest deposit of fluorite also produces the majority
of specimens. This is the Musquiz Mining District in the state of Coahuila. Purple cubic
zoned fluorite crystals with distinct stepped faces are common and can resemble fluorite
from Southern Illinois. The distinctive identifying characteristic is a strong rotten egg odor
when scratched or broken, caused by numerous fluid inclusions containing petroleum.
JANUARY 2021 5
Fluorite occurs in many other localities in Mexico, commonly as a gangue miner- al (worthless minerals in ore deposits) in primary sulfide ore bodies or in the oxidation zones of mines. Despite its widespread occurrence throughout Mexican mines, col- lector grade specimens usually come from a relatively small number of mines. This article is designed to make collectors aware of the different localities they might encounter in looking through dealer stocks, and how to use Mindat.org to check on the accuracy of dealer labels. Many Mexican fluorite speci- mens show distinctive fluorescence, and this will be discussed also. Collector fluorite specimens primarily come from the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas and Coahuila. In Chihuahua the largest number of specimens come from the Naica Mine, a primary sulfide deposit where Fluorite Naica Chihuahua, Mexico fluorite is a common gangue mineral. Crystals from this locality can be cubic, cubes modified by the octahedron and dodecahedron, octahedrons and octahedrons modified by the cube. Other more complex crystal forms are known but are less common. Spinel law twins are the rarest form of fluorite and command high prices when found. Many crystals are “stepped” like stairs due to the conflict between the cubic and octahedral forms as the crystal was forming. Color ranges from colorless to white to various shades of green, including an emerald green. Octahedral specimens are often a light purple. Associated minerals are anhydrite, chalcopyrite, calcite, sphalerite, bournonite, pyrrhotite and quartz. The stepped octahedrons modified by the cube commonly contain small sus- pended crystals of chalcopyrite. Fluorescence in Naica fluorite is usually a weak purple. An exception is the bright emerald green modified octahedrons found in the 2000s. These fluoresce a strong blue/purple under long and midwave UV light. Santa Eulalia is a major mining district in Chihuahua, with a group of mines that are still producing. Fluorite is common in this district and can be seen in attractive combination specimens. The San Antonio Mine on the east side of the district is known for producing purple cubes up to 12 cm on a side. Late fine-grained crystalline purple fluorite can form crusts on quartz and calcite and even forms epimorphs after calcite. On the west side of the district the Potosi Mine has produced distinctive specimens where water-clear micro-crystals are found in association with rhodochrosite. Many crystal habits are seen in fluorite from this mine, ranging from simple cubes and octahedrons to complex forms resembling an insect eye. The state of Durango provides the collector market with several unusual fluorite localities. The Navidad Mine produces attractive plates of pink to purple octahedral crystals that are etched out of quartz with hydrofluoric acid. These specimens show a strong blue fluorescence under long and midwave UV lights. The Ojuela Mine occasionally produces purple cubic crystals to 1.5 cm on a limonite gossan (oxides that cap an ore deposit) ma- trix. These crystals are strongly desired in the collector market for their rarity and a strong red fluorescence under long and midwave UV light. Nearby the El Filo Vein and the Santa 6 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTE
Gertrudis Vein are
part of a group of
small veins that host
small mining oper-
ations. Specimens
from these mines
are sometimes
labeled as coming
from the Ojuela Mine
but have a distinc-
tive spiral growth
habit and siliceous
matrix. They also
fluoresce a strong
blue color under
long and midwave
UV light.
Fluorite from Ojuela Mine, Durango, Mexico (natural & long-wave UV light)
The state of Coahuila has a major producer
of fluorite specimens in the El Tule and other
mines in the Musquiz Mining District. These
crystals are always cubic with stepped faces.
The most famous fluorite specimens from this
locality are light purple cubes to 3 cm perched
on colorless to white and light blue elongated
twinned Celestine crystals to 20 cm.
In the state of Zacatecas, the San Martin Dis-
trict exploits a skarn system that is one of the
largest in the world. Skarns are metamorphic
rocks altered by heat and chemically active
fluids from nearby magma bodies. Sometimes
fluorite formed at the same time as the ore
minerals, and the best specimens are those
with inclusions of jamesonite, chalcopyrite,
bournonite, galena, pyrite, arsenopyrite and
scheelite. Color ranges from purple over
green, blue-yellow, brown, colorless and even Fluorite on Celestine, Tule Mine, Coahuila Mexico
pink. The most common crystals are cubic, followed by octahedral and dodecahedral.
Many are “stepped” with octahedral crystals showing cube faces modified by the do-
decahedron. Fluorite formed at several stages during the ore deposition and thus can be
found in a wide range of associations.
A selection of specimen photos from my collection are available for viewing on flickr.com:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/singingstone48/albums/72157717636749797
If you go to www.mindat.org and search for fluorite from the Mexican states listed above
you will be able to see the localities and photos associated with each.
In the BBG Extras, you may view additional photos by Steve of fluorite as well as Paul
Bordovsky’s photos of fluorescent red fluorites from the Ojuela Mine.
JANUARY 2021 7
FEATURED MEMBER: BEVERLY MACE—A PILLAR OF THE CLUB
by Sigrid Stewart, HGMS President
Beverly was born in Winona, Mississippi, but she grew up in Arcadia, Louisiana, where
she went to Arcadia High School. It was a small school, and she had the same classes
and the same principal that her father had had when he and his 11 siblings attended
the same school. She is a third generation American. Her great-grandfather was born in
England; he was a Royal Bodyguard for Queen Victoria, and he taught swordsmanship to
the royal princes.
Beverly went on to college and received a degree in Social Welfare at what was then
known as Louisiana Polytechnic Institute—Louisiana Tech. It is now a university. She then
worked for the state of Louisiana as a social worker for seven years. In 1971, she married
Eddie Mace, and continued working until Eddie got out of the Navy. They moved to Tulsa,
Oklahoma, where Eddie worked for Amoco. Her son Scott was born in 1976 in their first
house in Tulsa. In 1979 Amoco transferred them to Houston.
On the way back from a family trip to the Grand Canyon, they stopped in Van Horn. They
looked around at the rocks on the side of the road—and found some fossils. That fall
she noticed an ad in the Houston Chronicle for the Houston Gem & Mineral Society’s
Annual Show. They attended the show, and they met Bill and Lois Patillo in the parking
garage at the old Albert Thomas Convention Center downtown. The Patillos were wearing
interesting vests full of little pins identifying them as rockhounds, so the Maces struck up
a conversation with them. Bill and Lois told them, “Just follow us to the show!”
8 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTE
That first show was an eye opener. The ad had mentioned “free identification of rocks
and fossils,” so they headed to the Paleo table where they talked to Irene Offeman and
Bobbie Emerson. These ladies assured them that they had indeed found fossils. They
came to the clubhouse and met Lexy Bieniek, who was getting ready to leave on a field
trip to Damon Mound. Young Scott had so much fun on that field trip that they decided
to join. Beverly and Scott became members of the club in November 1985; Scott was in
Pebble Pups, and Lexy Bieniek was in charge. Lexy was very good with Earth Science,
and she kept the kids interested.
The first big field trip with the Youth Section was to Miller Mountain in Arkansas in
1986, for quartz hunting. Lexy was in charge of the trip, and they also met Ron Carman
(now with the Austin club) and his son, and Janelle Walker who worked with the Youth
Section. They camped in Lake Ouachita State Park. At 2:00 AM, an intense storm hit, and
everyone had to run for their cars. In the morning, everything had to be hung up to dry,
so they all wore trash bags for raincoats. But the quartz hunting was great—the rain had
washed everything off and softened the ground. They loved it.
On a trip to the Tessman ranch several members, including Dianne Sisson, Richard Good,
Ed Clay, and David Tieman, camped out. They visited with Mrs. Tessman when they
checked in at the ranch. Later Mr. Tessman came to visit with them; he brought them
petrified wood from another ranch and presented each a piece. That night it was very
windy, and once again, everyone ended up sleeping in their cars. Talking with everyone,
Beverly found out that David Tieman worked for Murphy Oil, and Beverly’s uncle Alvin
Simpson was his boss!
Lexy was returning to school to get her Master’s Degree, so Janelle Walker, a retired
teacher with special education groups, took over the Youth Section—and Beverly became
her assistant. In 1988, Janelle was the one who started them on creating the Rock
Village. That display is exhibited every year in the Youth Section area during the annual
show. The kids decorated the houses, and Scott built a two-part base for the Village.
One of the Youth Section’s moms volunteered to take it to Shreveport and enter it into a
Federation Show contest. The Rock Village won First Place for an educational display,
and it was written up in the Lapidary Journal. When Scott was loading both parts onto a
truck for the show, he realized that
the Rock Village needed a case—
both for travelling and for storage.
After Janelle became ill, Beverly took
over the Youth Section, which she
still supervises. Libby Guynn assists
her now, working with kids in the
shop to teach them how to make
cabochons. Over the years, the
Youth Section sponsored many field
trips—multiple trips to Arkansas for
quartz, to Colorado and New Mexico
for minerals, to Alpine for agates, to
Sam Rayburn Lake for Jasper , to
the College Station area for petrified
wood. They also went fossil hunting
in the Austin area.
Petrified Wood, Brilliant, Alabama (mindat.org)
JANUARY 2021 9
Later on, Beverly began to be very interested in geodes. From watching Dalton Prince crack geodes at the show, she learned how to pick out her own geodes. She helped him with geodes at several shows in the area, and he would offer to let her pick one out. After picking one out, he then would say, “No, not that one,” and give her a better one. From that beginning, she has built a truly impressive collection of geodes. After they began going on field trips to the Toledo Bend round- up in Louisiana, she began to enjoy collecting petrified wood— especially Alabama wood from Brilliant, Alabama, with many crystals decorating it. That is now her favorite rock. The house that Beverly and Eddie built in Magnolia incorporated petrified wood and fossils into the fireplace surround. She is still finding antique display cases for her collection. Sadly, this year has not been a good one for exploring antique shops. In 1993 Beverly became Second Vice-President of Membership, Petrified Wood, Brilliant, Alabama (mindat.org) a position she has held ever since. At first, Beverly brought a hand-written list to Charlie Fredregill’s Print Shop, and Carol Fredregill typed it for her. They printed it and examined the list for errors, and made corrections. Shortly thereafter, Eddie and Scott gave her a computer, and they helped her move the membership list to a spreadsheet, which she now maintains. Her husband Eddie is her technical support person. The membership list was used to print out mailing labels for the HGMS Backbender’s Gazette newsletter, and it was mailed to members. Bob Evans used to sort them out and rubber-band groups of 25—no more—for each zip code for mailing. Eventually the Post Office required more paperwork for bulk mailing, leading to additional labeling and sorting. Beverly still puts labels on the BBGs before mailing them to members. Janelle Walker worked with schools to allow schoolchildren to attend the show. Beverly assisted with outreach, which resulted in around 300 children attending. Janelle and Beverly contacted libraries, and they put up displays advertising the Show. When Scott Singleton created School Daze for the Show, she began managing the mailing list for that, too. Lexy had received a list from all the schools in the area, and later they added homeschoolers to the list as well. One year they created a list of names from Grand Prize slips entered at the show, beginning yet another list. That has grown into the mailing list that we now use to send out show postcards. It is hard to go wrong working from a list of interested customers—and from that list, we have developed many loyal repeat customers! Dealers have their own lists, and they request show postcards to send to their customers. HGMS hosted a South Central Federation show in 1995, and Beverly took over assigning 10 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTE
Display Cases from Bobbie and John Emerson. She has been handling that task ever
since. Members set up the cases at the show. Initially, Gary Anderson set up the lighting
in every case, but Neal Immega later took that over.
Beverly is also famous for her cookies that she brings to the show every year. Hard-
working volunteers know where they can go for a cookie fix! She started by bringing
snacks for field trips, and then for the Youth Section and their volunteers—and then it
mushroomed.
Beverly hasn’t missed a show since she became a member—other than the show
in 2005, which was cancelled due to Hurricane Rita. In fact, every year she works at
the Show’s Youth Section area, helps set up display cases, and helps load the truck.
Originally, she was worried about how the Youth Section equipment would be loaded
onto the truck headed for the show, so eventually she became the straw boss for the
whole loading process. It began with the display cases, which had to be deployed into
the right positions in the Astro Arena when they held a 4-day Federation Show there.
Bobbie Emerson had warned her that George Wolf would show up, just assuming that
he already had enough cases for his fossil displays. Due to the Federation show that
year, almost all the cases were already assigned, and George could only get one. He
was not happy about it, but after that experience, he and others were always careful to
notify Beverly of their display case needs in the future. For later shows in the George R.
Brown and the Humble Civic Center, she developed the color-coding system to tag all the
material in the Section partitions upstairs, and she arranged to have it all staged into the
open area downstairs ready for loading.
At the George R. Brown Center, Ann Koster of the Mineral Section began organizing a
contest for kids. They set up displays of their minerals, labeled them properly, and one
kid received a trophy. The first year, Scott Mace exhibited the Colorado and Arkansas
minerals he collected on family trips, and he won first place. Another early participant was
Lauren Blyskal.
This year during the Virtual Show, Beverly was feeling a little let down by nothing needing
to be done, so she spent a week cleaning her office. She kept two shredders busy the
entire time. She fervently hopes that next year we will be able to stage a great show just
like all the others we have held in the past.
Beverly says that becoming a member of HGMS introduced her to a hobby she had never
considered. She had enjoyed drawing and taught herself Tole painting, which led to doing
craft shows in the 1980s. But after joining the club, meeting all the people, and learning
about the beauty of rocks, minerals, and fossils, she became addicted (that’s the only
word for it) to rockhounding.
CHRISTMAS PARTY
We held our annual Christmas party as a Zoom meeting this year, of course! Club
members received awards for contests, door prizes and bid on Silent Auction items.
Pick-up of those items was at the clubhouse.
JANUARY 2021 11BENCH TIPS BY BRAD SMITH
Amazon.com/author/bradfordsmith
from Pick and Shovel 12/2020
TEMPLATES
Whenever I have to make more
than 2–3 exact copies of a sheet
metal component, I think of
making a template. Templates
let me easily draw the shape of
an item to cut out.
Art stores or online sources like
cooltools.us/ and kingsleynorth.
com/ sell templates for common
shapes like circles, ovals,
hearts, etc., but for nonstandard
shapes, I make my own out of a scrap of sheet plastic or sheet metal. My preference is
brass. I carefully lay out the shape using a steel ruler, a set of dividers, a scribe, and a fine
center punch.
One example is the brass template in the pic above that lets me quickly trace the design
of ginko leaf earrings onto silver sheet. Another is the nickel template that makes it easy
to drill a pattern of holes for pin inlay into wooden handles.
OCHRE APPLICATOR
Yellow ochre is used when you want to be sure
the solder will not flow on an area of your piece
while you’re soldering another area. The only
problem with ochre is coming up with a good
way to store and apply it.
I use recycled nail polish bottles. They seal
well and have a built-in brush applicator. Just
clean them out with a little acetone or nail polish
remover, and they are ready to go.
Learn New Jewelry Tricks and Tequniques with
Brad’s Jewelry-Making “How To” Books
https://Amazon.com/author/bradfordsmith
12 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTEINHIBITING CORROSION ON METALLIC STONES AND ARTWORK
by Noel H. Runyan
Dec. 16, 2020, from 2021-01 Breccia Newsletter
Many artists and rock hounds have tried to inhibit corrosion or the tarnishing of
specimens by coating them with lacquer or acrylic paints. Unfortunately, most of these
coatings may discolor with exposure, and their glossy appearance may be undesirable.
PREVENTING CORROSION WITH BENZOTRIAZOLE (BTA)
As an alternative, BTA coatings are invisible, clear, do not discolor, and do not peal or
flake off. According to the literature, BTA has been successfully used to inhibit corrosion
on copper, copper alloys, zinc, nickel, and iron.
I have had very good results using BTA on copper. A few years ago, after cleaning copper
parts with Brasso, I was disappointed to find that they were significantly tarnished only
six months later. So, I once again cleaned the pieces with steel wool, washed them with
ammonia, followed by vinegar, followed by a baking powder solution to neutralize and
finally a cleaning with isopropyl or ethyl alcohol solvents.
When dry, I dipped the copper parts in a solution of 1 gram of BTA dissolved in a half
gallon of distilled water. After a few minutes, I gently wiped the surfaces dry with a soft
cloth. The BTA has kept the copper completely tarnish free for a year and a half so far.
The BTA forms an extremely thin and clear, molecule-thick coating on the metal surface.
For metal surfaces that will be subject to mechanical rubbing or wear, I have additionally
coated some of the BTA-treated surfaces with an overcoat of Ever-brite ProtectaClear.
Another alternative clear coating recommended by some artists is Incralac, a lacquer for
copper and brass that has some Benzotriazole already mixed in to discourage tarnish
under the lacquer.
PROTECTING METEORITES
I found an interesting corrosion prevention treatment reported in an article, "Galvanic
Cleaning of Meteorites" by Ray Pickard, of the Bathurst Observatory, Australia, in August
2005 (http://www.meteoritemarket.com/Galvanic.pdf). This interesting approach is similar
to cleaning silverware by loosely wrapping a specimen in aluminum foil and immersing it
in a solution of sodium carbonate (but not baking soda). This galvanic cleaning approach
appears to work well on iron specimens that are exhibiting green weeping from ferric
chloride.
AMMONIA TREATMENT OF IRON STONES
According to reports from some rock hounds, stones with green-weeping ferric chloride
problems may have the ferric chloride deposits converted into iron oxide by treating the
stones with ammonium hydroxide. This can work for some iron meteorites. It would be
safest to try exposing the iron specimens to ammonia fumes first, before trying to soak
them directly in liquid ammonium hydroxide.
JANUARY 2021 13SEALING THE SURFACE OF SPECIMENS
Some folks report successfully limiting meteorite corrosion by "sealing" the surface with
oils or plastic coatings. I would encourage folks to consider using water glass (either
sodium or potassium silicate) to seal or passivate meteorites, metallic stones, or metal
artworks. Water glass will not discolor with age or exposure to sunlight.
Normally, when water glass is dip or brush coated on rocks or metal objects, it will seal
the surface after it dries. However, the silicate coating results in a form that is still fairly
water soluble and is vulnerable to exposure to moisture.
If you have ever used water glass to glue stones together or onto dop sticks, you know
that the glue can be soaked in water to soften it and break the bonding. To avoid this
softening, you can force the water glass to dry in a polymerized form that stays hard and
does not soften or dissolve when exposed to water.
To make the water glass dry in this more desirable polymerized form, you can add a mild
acid catalyst such as a little citric acid. A variety of other household acids can be used
as an alternative catalytic additive. You can mix a little acid into the water glass before
coating the specimen, or paint the acid over the still-wet surface of a specimen that has
already been coated in unadulterated water glass.
STABILIZING STONES WITH WATER GLASS
I’m also now doing some research and some experiments on the use of water glass
to stabilize soft, porous, or cracked stones. My literature searches show that some
folks have found that water glass can be infused and polymerized in certain stones
successfully...
HELIOCOPRION, BUZZ SAW SHARK, IN TEXAS
by Neal Immega
Occasionally, I do really well
by doing good. An email came
from one of Nancy English's
friends who wanted some
fossils identified. Okay, that
is a common event for me. I
get some emails, and I see
the usual hopeless "rusty
stain on a rock" photo. The
collector had a few things
like crinoid stems, cross-
sections of ammonites, and a
nice brachiopod with spines.
Nothing special, until the
collector mentioned that she
Note that this shark has its teeth in a single helix.
had a Heliocoprion. Look at
the photo (above right) to see a reconstruction.
14 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTEEven better, it is from just north
of Marathon, TX in the Permian
age rocks. These are REALLY
not common from Texas. She
mentioned that she found it on a
field trip from the family cabin in
Hess Canyon.
You need to see some pictures of
this thing. This is face view. Note
that the teeth are in a whorl and the
fingers for scale.
Hess Canyon is truly in the middle of nowhere.
Let's look at some
reconstructions of the
jaw. This shark is most
commonly found in the
phosphate mines in the
Phosphoria formation
in Idaho: The University
of Idaho has the largest
collection in the world.
The university prepared
a number of specimens
for display, but they did
not bother with #4. A
pair of paleontologists
who were working on
this critter noted that #4
contains PART OF THE
SKULL CARTILAGE.
They took the specimen
to UT Austin for a micro
CAT scan and found
wonderful things. They
answered the question
of how many tooth
whorls were in the jaw -
The side view shows the whorl as a spiral. Note that the impressions the amazingly, just ONE.
teeth made in the brown rock are substantial.
Apparently there is just one tooth root which grows teeth as the spiral moves. This
process is quite similar to the usual conveyor belt progression of teeth in modern sharks
where there is a row of tooth roots in the jaw that produce a succession of teeth. Overly-
zealous cleaning probably destroyed other specimen soft part impressions. You can see
the details in
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0057
JANUARY 2021 15The catalyst for this project is the artist and fish fanatic, Ray Troll. He put the correct
people in touch to do the research, found the money for the CAT scan, and popularized
the results. See his shark work at
https://www.trollart.com/art/sharks/
So how did the jaw work in life? This is the 3-D reconstruction.
The tooth whorl gets bigger as teeth are added. They do not appear to be shed.
I am delighted to show you the Texas Heliocoprion, and I want you to get out there and
look for more. People have been trying to reconstruct the critter behind these strange
fossils for a long time. It is odd that in this case, the simplest solution did not turn out to
be the correct one.
Weirdness rules!
A complete reference is
Resurrecting the Shark: A Scientific Obsession and the Mavericks Who Solved the
Mystery of a 270-Million-Year-Old Fossil by Susan Ewing | Apr 4, 2017
https://www.amazon.com/Resurrecting-Shark-Scientific-Obsession-270-Million-Year-Old/
dp/1681773430/
16 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTECARPET CAPERS
by Michele Marsel
Through many Club meetings and parties, our carpet has seen more than its fair share of
spills resulting in some nasty stains. Layers of dirt and dust obscured the true color. Well
not anymore! Thanks to Clyde McMeans and Michele Marsel, we can all see the true
color again. Photos don’t do the color justice. We hope everyone can come enjoy the
clubhouse again soon.
Thanks to Edward Clarke and Neal Immega for their help to move all chairs, tables, boxes
and assorted other stuff off the carpeted areas for the clean-up. Michele vacuumed and
pre-treated all the stains, and Clyde manned the carpet cleaning machine.
Check out the before and after pictures.
BEFORE
AFTER
JANUARY 2021 17PURPOSE OF HGMS
The objectives of this Society are to promote the advancement of the knowledge and
practice of the arts and sciences associated with the collecting of rocks, minerals, fossils,
artifacts, and their identification and classification; the general lapidary art; the collecting
and identification of gemstones; the designing and execution of jewelry or metalcraft;
and to provide the opportunity to obtain, exchange, and exhibit specimens and rough or
finished materials.
Membership dues are $40 for an adult membership, $60 for a couple, $75 for a family
(including all children aged 5-18). $25 for a youth membership (ages 5-18), and $500 for an
adult life membership.
Advertising rates: $70 for 2 months, 1/4 page; $150 for 6 months, 1/4 page.
MEMBER: American Federation of Mineralogical Societies and South Central Federation of
Mineral Societies.
All meetings are held at the Clubhouse which is located at 10805 Brooklet near the
intersection of Highway 59 (Southwest Freeway) and Sam Houston Parkway (Beltway 8).
See the calendar inside the back page for when the different Sections meet.
The General Meeting is the fourth Tuesday of each month (except December) at 7:30PM.
The HGMS web site address is https://hgms.org
HGMS BOARD OF DIRECTOR MEETING MINUTES
DECEMBER 1, 2020
by Nancy English
President Sigrid Stewart called the December 1, 2020 Board of Directors’ Zoom meeting
to order at 7:33 p.m. A quorum was present. Michele Marsel, 2021 First Vice President
Elect, was the only non-voting member in attendance.
PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS
The shop is available for use if a Shop Foreman and a helper are available to operate the
machines. If you need to use the shop, contact Neal Immega at
nealimmega@gmail.com. He will schedule an appointment. Beyond that, the HGMS
18 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTEclubhouse remains closed for member use in order to minimize the danger of Coronavirus
spread. The Board of Directors will determine when it is safe to reopen. Some Sections
are scheduling virtual meetings. December 2020 Virtual Holiday Party and January 2021
General Meeting programs can be experienced virtually. Classes will not be scheduled
until the Club reopens.
Approval of Minutes:
Nancy Engelhardt-Moore moved to approve the November 3, 2020 Board of Directors’
meeting minutes as corrected. Beverly Mace seconded the motion and it passed.
Treasurer Report: Because of the extra work for the Annual Show purchases, and
because the Board meeting fell on the first day of the month, Treasurer Tatyana Kuhne
sent the Treasurer’s Report to Board members on December 2, 2020.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
BBG Editor: Beverly Mace will notify members when the online version of the December
BBG is available on the HGMS Web site. It will be mailed as soon as the printers are
finished with it. Update: The link to the HGMS Web site for the December 2020 BBG was
emailed to members on December 7, 2020. The BBG was mailed on December 8, 2020.
Donations: The Donation Committee has expanded. The members plan to meet
December 16, 2020 and again after the first of the year. “Thank you” to Michele Marsel,
Neal Immega, Libby Guynn, Tatyana Kuhne, Randy Carlson, and Fred Brueckner.
Education Committee: Members can find links to online projects in the Sunday E-blasts
sent by Jim Kendall. Joy Lester presented an excellent basic wire wrapping class for
the Virtual Show. It is still available on the Web site, HGMS.org. Sigrid Stewart has been
moving links from the E-blasts to the appropriate Section areas on the HGMS Web site.
Show Committee: President Stewart reported on the Virtual 67th Annual HGMS Gem,
Mineral, Jewelry, and Fossil Show held on November 14, 2020. Our current Web provider
Host Gator provides shared hosting services to HGMS. The extent of the resources
allotted to HGMS is unclear, but it was not enough on November 14 to accommodate
the thousands of hits HGMS received. The Committee is looking for a new provider
to host HGMS live events. The silent auction and door prize winners liked the results.
The auction may have made more money if the Web access had been better. The live
Facebook interface worked well. The dealers prospered, and now those businesses
are accessible on the HGMS Web site and also on the HGMS Facebook Channel. The
Web site still holds archaeology, fossil, and Mad Science presentations which are good
for educational events, plus a down-loadable scavenger hunt. Steve Blyskal predicted
that the 2021 show will host new dealers. Two of our largest dealers are retiring from the
show circuit. Angela Fowler, renowned for her exquisite wire-art jewelry, and Ron Talhelm,
known for his designer cabochons and statement pieces, are now selling their creations
on Facebook. Angel’s Rocks and Fossils is opening a store on Grant Road where they will
sell to decorators and the general public.
Shop News: As posted in the Sunday, November 29, 2020 E-blast, “David Hawkins
will have the shop open the first 3 weekends in December from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
December 5, 12, 19. Note - Masks suggested but not enforced.” After a brief discussion
by the Board members, Nancy English moved to require masks for anyone in the HGMS
JANUARY 2021 19building. If people are unwilling to wear a mask, they cannot enter the building. Signs
will be posted on both entrance doors: “Masks Required to Enter Building.” Nancy
Engelhardt-Moore seconded the motion and it passed.
Web Site Committee: Now the Committee is working on the December Holiday On-line
Party and Auction. The Committee continues to produce the BBG.
SECTION REPORTS
All in-person Section Meetings are canceled until further notice.
Some Sections conduct virtual meetings.
Archaeology Section: First Thursday, 7:30 p.m., December 3, 2020. Special guest Bob
Dodge, Founder and Executive Director of Artemis Gallery, did a virtual presentation
through Zoom entitled “Is It Ancient or Not? How Science Can Tell.” He showed how
X-Ray Diffraction (XRF) technology helps to authenticate if artifacts made of gold, silver
and gemstones are truly ancient. During Bob’s lecture, he demonstrated using actual
artifacts and showed the results of the analysis.
The November meeting hosted 34 viewers.
Dirk Van Tuerenhout Ph.D., HMNS Curator of Anthropology, will present “A War of Words:
The Story of the Code Talkers” on January 7, 2021. He will speak about the role played
by Native Americans who acted as Code Talkers in both WWI and WWII. Dirk plans to talk
about who served, when, and where—since this topic will be covered in sections of the
revitalized Hall of Americas. Also, he will give an update on the current preparation of this
particular display.
Bob Moore and Nancy Engelhardt-Moore were invited to the Fort Bend Archeological
Society to do a live program on November 17. In appreciation of their program, the
Society donated $25.00 to HGMS.
Beading Section: third Saturday, 1:30 p.m., December 19, 2020. Maggie Manley
produced a Zoom meeting for the November 21 meeting. Only one person joined.
Day Light Section: first Wednesday, 1:00 p.m., December 2, 2020. No program planned.
Gemstones and Faceting Section: second Wednesday, 6:30, p.m., December 9, 2020. No
December meeting was scheduled. Randy Carlson sold the 10” saw donated by Colleen
Costelloe. Nine people joined the November virtual meeting using Cisco Webex. Randy
knows two sapphire miners in Montana. He shared a presentation on Montana sapphires
and on Maine tourmalines. For the January 13, 2021 meeting, the Section will discuss
California tourmalines.
Lapidary and Silversmithing Section: third Monday, 7:30 p.m., December 21, 2020. No
program planned.
Mineral Section: third Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., December 16, 2020. No program planned.
No December meeting planned. The Section met virtually in November to “show-n-tell”
new finds and catch up with each other. They expect to meet virtually again on January
20, 2021.
20 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTEPaleo Section: third Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., December 15, 2020. No program planned.
Youth Section: first and third Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to Noon., December 5 and 19, 2020.
No programs planned.
OLD BUSINESS
HVAC: Lee Thompson HVAC installed a new air conditioner for the Shop areas on the
south end of the building on November 19, 2020.
2021 HGMS BOD officers: Congratulations to the Officers for 2021. President Stewart
agreed to continue as President for one more year. Welcome to the Board Michele
Marsel. Mike Sommers agreed to continue to chair the Scholarship Committee.
President: Sigrid Stewart
1st Vice-President: Michele Marsel
2nd Vice-President: Beverly Mace
Secretary: Nancy English
Treasurer: Tatyana Kuhne
Show Committee Chairman: Scott Singleton
NEW BUSINESS
2020 Holiday Party: President Stewart proposed a Christmas Party for our members via
Zoom this year on December 12, the second Saturday, as usual.
The web site team says we can have a presentation with some live auction action
(bidding via chat on Zoom) and possibly silent auctions on the website. Pick-up of prizes
and purchases would be on Sunday December 13 at the club.
We will also have some door prizes, and maybe contests, like "Ugliest Christmas
Sweater", "Coolest Lapidary Project", "Weirdest Fossil", and "Most Magnificent
Mineral".
The next Board of Directors meeting will be the first Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. on January 5,
2020.
The next General Meeting is Saturday December 12, along with Zoom Holiday Party and
Auctions.
The following General Meeting will be fourth Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. on January 26, 2020.
Program to be announced.
2020 Accomplishments
In spite of the Covid-19 setbacks, HGMS has done a lot this year.
1. The roof was resealed.
2. Until Covid-19 shut down the economy, Beginning Wire Wrapping classes and
Silversmithing classes were full of eager jewelers.
3. HGMS Volunteers manned our table at the Clear Lake Gem and Mineral Show
on February 22 and 23, 2020.
JANUARY 2021 214. Tony Lucci upgraded the Silversmithing Shop, repaired saws, fixed interior
ceiling leaks, and purchased new chairs for the workstations.
5. Neal Immega spent months cleaning and repairing saws, reworking the library
book inventory, as well as accepting, sorting, and cataloging multiple donations. He also
answered the many phone call questions which Nancy English forwards to him.
6. Sections continued to have live meetings through March. The Archaeology
Section postponed all meetings starting in April. After their annual summer hiatus, they
resumed in September as virtual Zoom programs through December. Both the Mineral
Section and Gemstone and Faceting Section met virtually from summer until December.
7. In April, the BOD began having virtual meetings. In-person General Meetings
were cancelled in March, April, and May. In June, the General Meetings resumed on
Zoom.
8. The Scholarship Committee Chairman, Mike Sommers, successfully
campaigned for an additional annual scholarship of $1,000.00. He presented three
qualified candidates to the Board and distributed three scholarships: $2,500, $1,000,
and $500. In November, a generous member raised their former donation to the HGMS
scholarship fund from $500.00 to $750.00 for 2021.
9. The 67th Annual HGMS Gem, Mineral, Fossil, and Jewelry Show was held
virtually on November 14, 2020, complete with silent auctions, dealers with rocks to
sell, video presentations, door prizes, and demonstrations. The Show Committee/Web
Site Committee did an admirable job of creating this event from scratch. The work and
significant financial investment in this virtual event will make future virtual auctions and
sales easier to produce.
10. The Shop area air conditioner was replaced in November.
11. In December, Michele Marsel, Clyde McMeans, Edward Clarke, and Neal
Immega teamed up to clear all the chairs, tables, and boxes to shampoo the carpet in the
main hall, libraries, and office. What an improvement!!
2021 Plans
Reopen the Club: Get everyone vaccinated and reopen the Club House, libraries, and
workshops.
Budget: The 2021 Budget Committee was formed: Tatyana Kuhne, Nancy English,
Michele Marsel, and Sigrid Stewart will prepare a draft budget for Board review. The
budget will be finalized and approved by the March 2021 Board meeting.
Adjourn: Tatyana Kuhne moved to adjourn. Nancy English seconded the motion
and it passed. The meeting adjourned at 9:14 p.m.
HGMS GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
NOVEMBER 24, 2020
by Nancy English
President Sigrid Stewart called the November 24, 2020 Zoom General Meeting to order at
7:43 p.m. She welcomed fifteen attendees.
22 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTEPRESIDENT’S COMMENTS
The Virtual 67th Annual Gem, Mineral, Jewelry, and Fossil Show was a qualified
success or failure depending on your point of view. Thank you to the Virtual Event
Committee and Website Committee (which were mostly one and same) for their
dedicated commitment to the Virtual Show. They are Scott Singleton, Sigrid Stewart,
Steve Blyskal, Sarah Metsa, Libby Guynn, Michele Marsel, Lauren Blyskal.
Twelve half-hour live performances offered entertainment for the six hours of the Show:
Natural Selection Crystals, Alan’s Quality Minerals, OMNI Manufacturing Services, ULTRA
TEC, Joy Lester’s demonstration of Basic Wire Wrap, Mad Science of Houston, Truscon
Minerals, Dean Lagerwall Minerals, OUROS Gems, The Katy Rock Shop, Nature’s
Reflection, and Seaside Stones.
Fourteen dealers provided online sales. The Silent Auctions provided 2,171 bidding hits
to win more rock delights for those persistent enough to fight the Web Site overloads.
Thanks to Michele Marsel, Libby Guynn, Sarah Metsa, Fred Brueckner, Mike Knight,
and Debbie Knight for sorting through hundreds of donated rocks, fossils, and pieces of
jewelry for the Silent Auction. Thanks to Steve Blyskal, Debbie Knight, and Michael Knight
for photographing the items chosen for the Silent Auction and hourly Door Prizes. Michele
Marsel coordinated the pick-up of Door Prizes and Silent Auction winnings on Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday November 20, 21, and 22, 2020. Nancy English, Libby Guynn, and
Sarah Metsa assisted her.
Grand Prizes were donated by two of the Show’s dealers. Sueann Weiser won the
Fossil Ammonite Perisphinctes Pair from Madagascar, donated by Nature’s Reflection.
Truscon Minerals donated a Celestine Geode from Sakoany Mine, Mahajunga Province,
Madagascar, which was awarded to Stephanie Gallagher. Photos of the happy winners
are posted on the HGMS Web site.
Thank you to the people who recorded videos or other presentations: Neal Immega,
Nancy Engelhardt-Moore, Nathan Gandara, Richard Good, Randy Carlson, Steve Blyskal,
Joy Lester, and Lavonne Atchley. And a special thanks to Joy Lester for her live demo of
wire-wrapping!
Sigrid Stewart gave one more special thanks unrelated to the show, “I would like to
recognize Jim Kendall for his valiant struggle to find new and interesting links and for all
his hard work putting out the e-Blast. Everyone should help out by sending new links
regarding earth science, jewelry, and lapidary arts to Jim!”
Approval of Minutes: Phyllis George moved to approve the minutes of the September
22, 2020 General Meeting as posted in the November 22, 2020 E-blast. Paul Brandes
seconded the motion and it passed. The September General Meeting minutes were
printed in the November 2020 BBG.
SECTION/COMMITTEE REPORTS
In the interest of time, President Stewart asked members to look for reports of future
Section meetings and presentations in the BBG, on the Web site https://hgms.org, or
by reading the weekly e-blast from Jim Kendall. If you are a member and not on Jim
JANUARY 2021 23Kendall’s e mail list, please contact him at kendallja@att.net to be added. President Stewart invited other Section Chairs and Standing Committee Chairs to make any additional announcements. Archaeology Section: First Thursday, 7:30 p.m., December 3, 2020. Special guest Bob Dodge, Founder and Executive Director of Artemis Gallery, will do a virtual presentation through Zoom and show amazing artifacts. Sign-in details were posted in the November 22 E-blast. Mineral Section: The Section held a Zoom meeting on November 18, 2020. It was well attended, and a lot of people showed interesting specimens. Shop News: Tony Lucci is fixing a multilevel saw to sell for the Club. Neal received more donations which he is sorting through for future auctions and sales. Show Committee: Scott Singleton, Show Committee Chairman, reported on the Virtual 67th Annual HGMS Annual Gem, Mineral, Jewelry, and Fossil Show in the November 15, 2020, weekly E-blast. Here are some of the highlights. For those of you who participated in our first ever Virtual Event, your Virtual Event Committee and Website Committee thank you for your support of this vital club function. It has been quite a journey to create this event from scratch. Not something we would want to undertake each year, but now that we have it done, our thought is that we need to build on this so that we can continue generating revenue for the club while at the same time working to fix some of the issues we found while actually conducting this event. So, first the positives: On our website, specifically the Virtual Event page, we generated a whopping 8845 page views on Saturday. Many of these, of course, were duplicate page views by a group of dedicated users, thus unique page views were half that number (4463), and these were created by 851 unique users (many of whom repeatedly accessed various pages). The silent action itself generated 2171 of these views due to people bidding on various items. Also, good news to our dealers who paid to be in our virtual event-- each of their pages had between 91 and 263 views. Speaking of the live Facebook event, it received 1478 responses during the day on Saturday. But the half-hour live events were viewed between 86 and 306 times (there were 12 such events, every half hour during the live event). I would venture to suggest that this indicates we had a pretty successful event. There were many positive comments about the Facebook Live event. Revenue was significant as well. We generated $2000 in dealer fees. Our silent auction and info booth sales exceeded $2000. On the negative side: the main issue that bedeviled us on Saturday was our web hosting company “throttling us back” because we had too many users trying to access the site. We have a shared server contract with our host provider which apparently cannot handle a high load. This caused all our customers lots of frustration in trying to do business with us, and I can assure you it created similar headaches for those of us trying to run things during the event. I received numerous messages complaining about access difficulties, including from many club members. To solve this, the web committee has decided to move to a new host that can handle 24 THE BACKBENDER’S GAZETTE
e-commerce. This should solve our access problems and allow us to host virtual events
in the future without issues. More details will be forthcoming soon.
OLD BUSINESS
President Stewart asked members to look for the progress of Old Business items written
in the BOD Meeting Minutes published in the latest BBG.
Building Issues: On November 19, 2020, The Lee Thompson Company replaced the
air conditioner which HGMS needed to cool the Shop areas. The first HVAC unit was
installed in 2019 for the main hall area.
2021 New Officers: Mary Ann Mitscherling moved to install the 2021 slate of officers as
proposed by the nominating committee. Jim Paras seconded the motion and it passed.
All of HGMS is grateful for those willing to serve on the Board of Directors to direct the
future of our Club. Sigrid Stewart agreed to continue President for one more year.
President: Sigrid Stewart
1st Vice-President: Michele Marsel
2nd Vice-President: Beverly Mace
Secretary: Nancy English
Treasurer: Tatyana Kuhne
Show Chairman: Scott Singleton
NEW BUSINESS
The next Board of Directors meeting will be Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. December 1, 2020.
The December General Meeting will be replaced by a Christmas Party/Zoom meeting
with auction and door prizes, if the Board is willing. The Web Site Committee envisions
door prizes, live auctions, and contests for the Zoom party. A suggestion was made to
include silent auctions in future General Meetings.
Show-n-Tell
Steve Blyskal showed a prehnite specimen from Gila County, Arizona, and calcite from
Terlingua, Brewster County, Texas.
Nancy Fischer hunts rocks in the Green River Basin in Wyoming. She showed us
serpentine, jasper with napper chips, and petrified wood. She plans to look for jade in the
spring at Sweet Water River.
Adjourn: Nancy English moved to adjourn. Jim Paras seconded it, and the motion
passed. President Stewart adjourned the meeting at 8:18 p.m.
Vice President Sommers introduced the Program: Neal Immega presented a program
from the University of Freiburg, Germany’s Albert Ludwig Freiburg museum. Inda Immega
found the museum’s exhibit in a Power Point on the Web and knew HGMS would enjoy
it. The exhibit compares patterns on insect bodies to similar patterns on minerals. Farrar
Stockton added detailed information about the insects.
JANUARY 2021 252020 HGMS OFFICERS
President Sigrid Stewart President @HGMS.org
First Vice President Michele Marsel Programs@HGMS.org
Second Vice President Beverly Mace Membership@HGMS.org
Secretary Nancy English Secretary@HGMS.org
Treasurer (Vacant) Treasurer@HGMS.org
Archaeology Section Board Member Nancy Engelhardt-Moore Archaeology@HGMS.org
Beading Section Board Member Maggie Manley Beading@HGMS.org
Daylight Section Board Member Fred Brueckner
Faceting Section Board Member Randy Carlson Faceting@HGMS.org
Lapidary Section Board Member Phyllis George
Mineral Section Board Member Steve Blyskal Mineral@HGMS.org
Paleo Section Board Member Mike Dawkins Field_trips@HGMS.org
HGMS SECTION CHAIRS
Archaeology Section Chair Robert Moore Archaeology@HGMS.org
Beading Section Chair Kim Fuselier Beading@HGMS.org
Day Light Section Chair Nancy Searle Daylight@HGMS.org
Gemstone & Faceting Section Chair Randy Carlson Faceting@HGMS.org
Lapidary & Silversmith Section Chair Anthony Lucci Lapidary@HGMS.org
Mineral Section Chair Stephen Blyskal Mineral@HGMS.org
Paleo Section Chair Neal Immega Paleo@HGMS.org
Youth Section Chair Beverly Mace Youth@HGMS.org
HGMS APPOINTED POSITIONS
Assistant Show Chair Clyde McMeans
Assistant Show Chair Sigrid Stewart
Backbender’s Gazette Editor Sigrid Stewart Editor@HGMS.org
Clubhouse Chair Neal Immega ClubhouseChair@HGMS.org
Day Light Contact Person Nancy Searle Daylight@HGMS.org
Donations Neal Immega Donations@HGMS.org
HGMS Education Chair Maggie Manley Classes@HGMS.org
Lapidary Templates Mary Ann Mitscherling Templates@HGMS.org
Librarian for Main Library Neal Immega Librarian@HGMS.org
Publicity Chair Sarah Metsa Publicity@HGMS.org
Scholarships Mike Sommers Scholarship@HGMS.org
Show Chair Scott Singleton ShowChair@HGMS.org
Trade Show Scott Singleton Tradeshow@HGMS.org
Trade Show Sigrid Stewart Tradeshow@HGMS.org
Volunteer Coordinator Nancy English VolunteerCoordinator@HGMS.org
Webmaster Lauren Blyskal Webmaster@HGMS.org
Youth Section Assistant Elizabeth Guynn Youth2@HGMS.org
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