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The Smale Collection
Rocks and Minerals, Nov/Dec 2006
This beautifully done, coffee-table-style book is a collection of one hundred photographs of minerals in the Smale collection. The book begins with a forward by the editors, Gloria Staebler and Gunther Neumeier, that gives a brief glimpse into Steven Smale, a world-famous mathematician. This followed by an introduction by Dr. Smale that reviews his collecting history and how it dovetailed so fortuitously with his professional career. Including in the introduction is a solid discussion of his view of specimen aethetics, mineral description essentials as they relate to the brief text accompanying each photograph, and the subtleties of photographing mineral specimens. This is followed by the mineral photographs-one large photograph per page with explanatory text centered on the opposite page. Interesting, the minerals are arranged in order of acquisition, allowing the viewer insight into the growth of both the collection and the collector. This begins with a galena with siderite on quartz from Neudorf Germany, acquired in 1972 by purchase from a Swiss dealer Brian Pejovic, and ends with a fascinating copper from the Chino pit, Grant County, New Mexico, acquired in 2005 from Stuart Wilensky. The ninety-eight intervening specimens are, well delightful. Every turn of the page offers something that just cannot be bettered, yet likely will be a few pages further on. Photographs of some of these specimens have been published before, but somehow here it is like seeing them for the first time. When the final page is turned, one is clearly left wondering just what else is in this collection. The book closes with a list of general reference works that focus on photography of fine mineral specimens, an index, additional author information, acknowledgements, and photo credit.
The quality of both photography and printing (on acid-free paper) is exceptional. About seventy photographs are by Jeff Scovil and thirty by Smale. The text is concise and includes information about each specimen’s origin, size and ownership history. In some instances reference is made to earlier published photos of the piece or even to similar specimens in other collections. This is not a book to be rushed through only to be put aside forever. Its photographs can easily serve as a point of comparison for other, likely lesser specimens. A great deal can be gleamed from it in terms of just what has been out there in the marketplace, waiting for those willing to search and deal, and who some of the consistent players have been. Despite the fact that my coffee table is beginning to sag under the weight of books bursting with mineral photographs, I strongly recommend this book as one that will impress and amaze your noncollecting friends, as well as giving you one hundred things to wish for.
-Robert B. Cook
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Steve Smale is well known in international circles as a leading mathematician. In Mineral circles, he is known as a most discriminating collector of choice mineral species.
Each year at the Tucson Gem & Minerals Show, visitors are eager to see what Steve has on display. His displays are always so special that the Show Committee assigns his exhibit to one of the feature display cases.
Steve has been working with photography as a hobby for a number of years, and the results of his intense effort and attention to detail can be seen in the superb coffee table book. The Smale Collection Beauty in Natural Crystals (Lithographie, LLC, 2006) also includes the photographic work of my friend Jeff Scovil, who is well known internationally. The more than 100 color photos in this 203-page book are stunning.
Steve’s mineral interests are varied, though he tends to emphasize high value gem crystals. He prefers gems on matrix, which gives the specimens a more natural setting.
Steve has also collected some finer sulfide and precious metal species, and they add an interesting perspective to his collection and this volume.
If you want to see some of the finer minerals ever captured on film, check out this wonderful volume in which one man shares his collection through photography. For more information, visit www.lithographie.org/bookshop/ or contact Lithographie LLC, P.O. Box 263, East Hampton, CT 06424.
-Bob Jones
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Gems & Gemology vol. 23 no. 2
The author describes this book, a gallery of some of the best mineral specimens in the Steve and Clara Smale Collection, as “neither a scientific book nor art book but a coffee table book.” If so, one should serve “premium Blend” to go with this beautifully bound and illustrated volume! Although tailored from mineral collectors, gemologists should appreciate the natural forms of the gem minerals pictured throughout.
Steve Smale is a world-renowned mathematician who, with his wife, Clara, has lived in a traveled to many of the areas that have played major roles in the development of the collection. The introduction describes the collection’s history and the places and people that influenced it. Cited are works by Desautels, Halpern, Wilson, and Bartsch and their thoughts on what defines a mineral masterpiece. The author agrees with much of what these experts say but also explains his own criteria: ideal form with variations and exceptions; ideal matrix; the crucial role of the specimen’s horizon (the point where the upper ridge of the overall specimen meets the “sky”); the impact of damages; the importance of completeness; economy (which demands that every part of the specimen play a role in its presentation); judicious trimming (done by professionals); the integrity of the specimen (as it is presented), with disclosure of any defects that are not readily apparent; and related documentation.
The specimens are arranged in order of acquisition from the collection’s beginnings in 1969. The earliest of the 99 photographs were taken by the Smales, the rest by Jeff Scovil. Nearly all of the pieces are represented by full-page color photos with a caption on the opposite page that gives the name of the mineral or principal minerals, together with the locality, dimensions and a brief background of the piece and its acquisition. Smale prefers using popular or family names rather than scientific ones and follows this convention in his specimen titles. He also discusses his personal approach to photography, based on his observations of still life and the works of master photographers. The gallery is followed by a short bibliography and index.
This book offers a glorious look at a world-class mineral collection and the couple who put it together. All the specimens depicted truly belong in this visually stimulating work. There is very little to fault other than a few inconsistencies in the specimen titles and the lack of explanation for why each specimen is exceptional. “Old Masters” of the mineral world, such as the pyrargyrite from St. Andreasberg, Germany, are joined by modern-day classics, like the jeremejevite from Cape Cross, Namibia. I especially enjoyed the tourmalines and topazes but might give top honors to the rhodochrosite from Colorado’s Sweet Home mine. While I wish I had a collection of such importance, at least I can enjoy this book for many years to come.
-MICHAEL EVANS
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