One reason a label is important is the effect the information on the label has on the value of the specimen. My rule of thumb is that without a label, the value of a specimen is cut by half to two-thirds of its value. As the curator of the Museum of History and Science in Louisville, KY put it:

"I can assure you that a … specimen with detailed and accurate locality data can be far more valuable scientifically (and historically) than a more costly version of the same specimen without data. This is especially true when mineral cannot be readily identifiable as coming from a specific mine or quarry..."

Imagine an art collector who buys paintings, but doesn't know who painted the work? A mineral collection is much the same. Think of it this way: without knowing the source, the piece is just a pretty rock, not a scientific specimen. Serious collectors know this, and insist on accurate labels, and won't pay good money for specimens without accurate provenance (the place of origin or earliest known history or history of ownership of a valued object). That's why we always provide a label with every Treasure Mountain Mining specimen, giving complete and accurate information about the mineral species and where it came from. Sometimes this will include some or all of the following: the mine name and occasionally an area in the mine such as a tunnel, adit, or level; the nearest town; the county; the state or province; and the country. In addition, when we know it, we include additional information like "Collected by," "From the collection of," the date it was collected, etc.

Perhaps you are thinking, "But I know where it's from - why should I bother?" Even if you know where a specimen is from, others probably won't have a clue (this becomes especially important after you're gone). Here's a cautionary story that illustrates this perfectly: When I first returned to mineral collecting as an adult, I met Will Powers, a 75 year old man who was a member of the Keene, NH Mineral Club. He had a lifelong collection of fine New England specimens, many self-collected in the 1940's and 50's. He had his finds neatly arranged on shelves in a room in his house, with no labels, and he showed them to me and my kids with great pride, telling us where each was from. Fast forward about 10 years to when he died. His daughter inherited the house and all his stuff - including the collection. She had no idea what the specimens were, and had no idea what they were worth. A couple of dealers came to see the collection, but weren't interested because there was no locality information. The collection was tossed into a couple of cardboard boxes and put in the garage. Eventually the boxes went to the dump.

The fact is, previous collectors' and/or dealers' labels add to a specimen's "pedigree," which in general increases the value and desirability of a piece. Today when I purchase specimens, I always try and obtain the exact locality from the dealers I buy from. When you buy a specimen, if the full information isn't on the label, ask. The dealer may know, and may even have some extra information about the journey the piece has taken before it ended up on his website or table. Of course, if you're serious about this, and the dealer doesn't know, you may not want to buy it at all. On the other hand, if you do know (or can find out) you may be able to get a good specimen at an affordable price.

If you think about the history of mineral collecting, you'll realize that up until the 21st century, everyone relied on whatever information the dealer gave them about the locality. In those days, if the label for a specimen was lost, there was almost no way to have it identified. Occasionally, a knowledgeable dealer or collector might come along and say, "Oh, I recognize that piece. It's Whatsitite, and it came from the Nameless Mine in Unknown, Arizona." More often, it was sold with only a mineral variety name and no locality (or sometimes just a guess as to what state or country it came from). In short, in the past it was often nearly impossible to reconstruct accurate locality information for a specimen that had been separated from its label, or had a label with only partial - or worse, inaccurate - information.

Over the last few years, this situation has been transformed - mainly thanks to the mindat.org website. Operated by Jolyon Ralph, the mastermind behind mindat.org, this website has become the online information resource for mineralogical information - and it's free! Though it relies entirely on contributions from its members and supporters for its information and photos, it has become the darling of persnickety collectors and dealers who are dedicated to "getting it right." That means that when you come across a specimen with only partial information, you can easily find the facts on the full locality with a few clicks of the mouse.

Here's an example: say you purchase a specimen of a green mineral, with a label that gives "Loudville, MA" as the locality but doesn't identify the mineral. Using your handy browser (and a search engine such as Google), you type in "mindat Loudville MA" and hit enter. The top entry is:

Manhan Mines (Loudville Mine; Southampton Lead Mine)
Mindat www.mindat.org/loc-3832.html
Manhan Mines (Loudville Mine; Southampton Lead Mine; Northampton Lead Mine), Easthampton, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts, USA : Lead-silver mines.

Click on the link above, and you are taken to the mindat page for this site. You'll find a complete list of minerals known to have come from the mine, the complete locality information, including former mine names, and, in this case, a detailed history of the mine. If you click on "Photos" (the second box in a pale blue bar near the top of the page), and select "Mineral Photos," you will see photos of many of the minerals on the list arranged in alphabetical order (they're the same ones that have a little camera next to the variety in the list of minerals). Leaf through the photos until you come to a page that shows pictures of a green mineral that looks just like the one you bought: pyromorphite. If you follow these steps for your unidentified mineral, there's a good chance you'll be able to find the mineral species and the locality for your specimen.

Mindat can help with other locality problems, too. Sometimes you know what the mineral species is, but don't know where it came from. Or, you may suspect the label gives the wrong location. This is more common than you might suspect, because dealers sometimes protect their source, so they have a monopoly. This was especially common with Chinese minerals, though the situation is improving. And sometimes dealers don't know the locality, so they guess.

Today, I use mindat to verify the locality on labels for all the specimens I buy. Here's how to track down an unknown locality. Again, mindat is very helpful. You can find the mindat page for the species by searching for "mindat (species name)," and then click on the photos button at the top of the page so you can browse through the pictures. You'll find specimens from all over the world, so keep looking until you find something that looks like a match. Admittedly, this can be tedious - especially if there are thousands of photos of the mineral in question - but it's well worth the time if you find the locality. By the way, when I use this technique and find something I'm not familiar with, I usually put a (?) after the locality, unless I get confirmation from someone with with more expertise than me.

Good luck finding your lost localities!