imineral.net is the online shopping wing of Southeastern Mineral Specimens.

We are a small, family owned business, specializing in all things mineral collecting related. We promote two annual gem & mineral shows in Athens, GA, USA, as well as prospecting and mining new localities, specimen preparation & display, and consulting for collectors of fine minerals. We also broker and sell consigned collections to the public and dealers.

The Northeast Georgia region and Southeastern United States have a long history of producing minerals for human use. The Native Americans mined mica in North Carolina and collected gold nuggets from streams as curiosities. Of course, resources such as clay for pottery and quartz for projectile points were essential to daily life.

Later, European colonizers had a great interest in precious metals and gems, which they were largely unsuccessful in obtaining in this area, but not for lack of trying. Many Spanish and Native people lost their lives in the Conquistadors travels searching for gold. There is some irony in De Soto walking right through the future gold belt, ignorant of the wealth concealed by the thick sub-tropical vegetation.

The Dahlonega, Georgia Gold Rush of 1829 was North America’s first real mining frenzy, resulted in many millions of ounces of fine gold being recovered from streams and hillsides, and ultimately caused the Cherokee Nation to be forced off of their treaty guaranteed land and to Oklahoma via the Trail of Tears… not exactly our state’s most honorable period.

Mineral specimen collection has a long history in this area, too, with Graves Mountain being the most notable locality. Famous for its world class rutile and lazulite crystals, this odd little mountain has produced specimens for museums and collectors since at least 1859. The site continues to astonish rockhounds with a variety of minerals that can still be collected today, although not with the ease or success of the earlier miners.

The Athens (Georgia) Gem and Mineral Club was my vector of exposure to the most recent two generations of prospectors- Dr. Chester Karwoski, David Smith, Donald Brockway, Jim Maudsley, Jim Goodrich, and others are names that should be famous, and probably will be in the future, at least to rockhounds, collectors, and students of mineral history. These men and their compatriots were the force of will behind the great golden age of mineral specimen production in Northeast Georgia. From the 1980s to the present, their efforts have stocked collection cases and museum displays with world-class specimens. I am fortunate to call these people friends, and to have dug in the field with them, travelled to Colorado for rockhounding with them, and to have been able to examine their collections in detail.

I have recently been entrusted with helping to disperse these collections into the cases of new generations of collectors. I like to think of this present era as a second golden age, but instead of carving away at cliff sides with hand tools, or by using excavators, I am digging through basements and dusty shelves! It continues to be my pleasure and honor to prepare these treasures for adoption into new homes, and to kindle the joy I feel learning about these minerals, places, and people in new enthusiasts, especially the younger ones. The bi-annual gem and mineral shows in Athens are one of the best ways to connect with new collectors, and they are certainly the highlights of my year.

I am a collector, myself, of course. I occasionally show off the 750 pieces I have on display to interested parties, if you would like a tour, please feel free to contact me, or see me at one of the shows.

My longterm goal is to establish a mineral and geology museum here in Athens, Georgia. The flagship University of Georgia is here in town, yet the closest real exhibits of this type are at the Tellus Museum in Cartersville, or the Bob Campbell Museum at Clemson University, both at least 1.5 hours by car. I can think of no reason why we should not have this same quality of display right here, and preserve this unique and fragile part of our part of the world for future generations, to educate and inspire future rockhounds, collectors, and scholars.

Darklighter@bellsouth.net ——- Call Mark 706-296-9467

Established 2016 by Mark E. P. Woods & Family.