| From the August 2003 Rock & Gem Magazine, reprinted by permission: 
Just as mineral specimens come in all sizes and types, so,
too, do mineral clubs. Some clubs have hundreds of members, others just a
handful. Some focus on the lapidary arts, others on field trips and shows. And
some provide fun and camaraderie for casual rockhounds, while others create a
serious study environment for amateur mineralogists.
What is perhaps the nation’s more unusual mineral club has
more than 300 members scattered across 40 states and six different countries.
Unlike more conventional clubs, these members never get together for meetings,
lectures, shows, or field trips, nor do they have no plans to ever do so.
Nevertheless, they share a common mineralogical experience once each month. That’s
the day that the postman delivers a box containing a mineral specimen sent from
the Mineral of the Month Club to each of the club’s members.
These specimens that arrive by mail represent a cross section
of the Mineral Kingdom. Recent specimens, to name but a few, have included
yellow green adamite and celestial blue anhydrite from Mexico, gemmy green
tourmaline from Brazil, native copper from Michigan, agate geodes from
Argentina, variscite from Utah, axinite from Russia, and celestite from
Madagascar. Among the gemstone specimens were red beryl, Imperial topaz, and
jade. Native element specimens have included sulfur, copper, and gold, while
atacamite, creedite, dioptase, and eudialyte have been among the rarer mineral
specimens sent to Club members.
To date, the club has provided its members with quality
specimens of 85 different minerals and forms of minerals, from localities in 11
of the United States and 20 nations on six continents. Tracing these specimens
back at the rate of one mineral each month takes us to March 1996, when Richard
and Cheryl Sittinger of Cambria, California established the Mineral of the Month
Club.
For the Sittingers, the road to a successful monthly,
mail-order mineral business began in the unlikely field of high-performance
automobile engines. While the high-performance engine business proved
challenging, the long hours, employee headaches, and the need to maintain a
store eventually convinced Richard to consider a career change. He was
determined that his new career would be in a field in which he had a sincere
interest. Richard wasn’t quite sure what that field would be, but soon found
the answer when he began visiting nature stores in malls.
"Minerals really caught my eye," he remembers.
"I was intrigued by their colors, crystal shapes, lore, and origin."
Richard and Cheryl began by studying and collecting minerals.
In 1995, when the time came to get out of the high-performance engine business,
they became mineral dealers and began attending some 40 mineral shows each year
throughout California and the West. But with a son to care for, the Sittingers
really wanted to find a niche in the mineral business that would enable them to
work primarily from their home and spend less time on the show circuit. Click
here to continue to page 2:R&Gpage2.htm
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