Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You can buy rocks at colleges. When I was in college, I bought some rocks and minerals at a spring cleaning sale sponsored by my school's Geology Department.
You need to join a club that goes out in your area and actually looks for them where they come from. The ground, caves, cliffs, under water.
What never ceases to amaze me is how people want to go in thrifts, yard sales, or auctions and look for one thing. I do not know if that is the intent of the OP to be fair.
Look for everything. There can be anything at any one of these places. You may have to ask. Then you have to know what is a good price along with what you are willing to pay.
There are people out there with a house full of specimens, some might sell, but want to unload to much. And if you do encounter one of these folks you better have some knowledge to begin with. If you a boring to them they might just blow you off.
Again, join a club, and get to know some people in the hobby.
Although I rarely acquire anything anymore, this is the hobby I have been associated the longest with. I was in charge of the rock and mineral collection at my elementary school almost 50 years ago.
I knew of a guy back in the 80s... went to a yard sale, saw some stones. He apparently knew more than the people selling it did. He purchased it for $1.00. Sold it for $10k (don't recall what it was tho).
I used to do a lot of garage/estate sales and the only rock-mineral collection I ever saw was my own, when I decided to sell it.
It's not a real common interest. If you think you're going to find this in garage sales, you'll go to an awful lot of sales looking. Better to be more targeted. I mean, I always check out musical instruments, and have rarely ever seen a musical instrument for sale in the garage/estate sale that was worth the trouble to carry it off - and there are a lot more amateur musicians than rock-mineral collectors.
It's not a real common interest. If you think you're going to find this in garage sales, you'll go to an awful lot of sales looking. .
This is true. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Better to do an online search for this type of thing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
