I have been interested in Southern Illinois minerals since 1978 when a friend and I drove through the district on our way to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We stopped off at the local rock shops to see what they had for sale and were enthralled with the thousands of specimens covering every available flat surface. We had very little money to spend but about $15. allowed one to get a few nice specimens. I planned to come back to visit but had no idea at the time I would be back working full time in the area just one year later. I was hired as an exploration geologist in the Fall of 1979 by Ozark-Mahoning Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pennwalt Corporation. Cave-in-Rock was still running and a new project, the Denton Mine, was nearing completion of the first phase. I have a vivid memory of going to the mine in November, 1979 and being let down the shaft in an open kibble during a lunch break on second shift. The shaft was just below the base of the Rosiclare Sandstone and there were exposed pockets of purple fluorite with tiny gemmy calcites that had been collected by the miners. I took out my rock hammer and quickly exposed a fresh pocket in the soft limestone that was full of perfect fluorite specimens loose in the hole. I was hooked. That night marked the beginning of my interest in collecting southern Illinois minerals. Specimens from my collection will periodically be sold either on this page, at shows or perhaps by auction.