May 5, 2003
In my last column, I finished by saying that I had ordered an amethyst specimen from a supplier in Australia. The piece of rock has now arrived, and it is indeed beautiful. Some crystals are large, some small, many of them fully formed and "pointy". Every time I look at them, I see something new.
There are several amethyst mines near Thunder Bay, and they are quite a tourist attraction. You can buy from their stores, or they will lend you a hammer to chip off your own selection at a modest price determined by weight. According to legend, the piece of land jutting into Lake Superior known as the "Sleeping Giant" is the body of Indian Chief Nanibijou, who was turned into stone by the Great Spirit as punishment for revealing the location of the mines to European explorers. Clearly, amethysts were held in great esteem by the Indians.
The reason I bought from Australia is that the company there maintains an excellent web-site with thumbnail pictures of the various items available. I book-marked them a year or so ago, and looked them up when I was able to buy something. The service was helpful and prompt, and very friendly.
The human mind needs beauty and richness, and strives to reach new pinnicles of knowledge and appreciation. And in addition, the pride of ownership can be very satisfying. Another recent purchase, this time from England, is a Georgian barrel tap dating from the period 1750 to 1800. These were screwed into barrels of beer so that the contents could be poured out as required. Then when the barrel was emptied, they could be removed and inserted into the next one. The tap is surprisingly small, but "perfect" in appearance. It’s a real thrill to have something that is a genuine link to the past. If only that tap could speak, I wonder what stories it could tell!
A lifelong hobby of mine is stamp collecting. Over the years I have acquired stamps from all over the world, and have greatly enhanced my knowledge of the world in general, and postal history in particular. Commemorative stamps recall long-forgotten events from the past, and bring history to life. Airmail stamps trace the history of aviation itself, and I particularly like the older South American stamps with their multi-coloured portraits of long-dead Generalissimos. In my opinion, the most beautiful stamps are from France and New Zealand, together with those from the Soviet Union and the Third Reich, the latter two using philately as a propaganda device to prove the superiority of their respective ideologies.
My paternal grandmother collected postcards, and I have several that she received from my grandfather when they were courting. There are cards from 1905 celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, and others that simply say "one more for your collection".
Another prized possession is a record of my father’s cycling "outings" which he kept faithfully for several decades. When World War II started in 1939 he drew a line across the page with an appropriate notation, and when the war ended, he drew another line and then continued as if nothing had happened.
All these different things give me great pleasure, but I also regard myself as the custodian of them rather than the owner; they are mine to enjoy, but should be left to posterity when I die.
For those who are interested, I purchased my amethyst specimen from Enrico Bassotti at www.mybestgem.com, and the barrel tap from Lance Chaplin at www.shaftesbury.com/coins. Chaplin has an excellent selection of coins, artifacts and fossils of all types and descriptions, and both of these sites are highly educational for parents with children of various ages. If you buy from them then you are on your own, but my experiences with both have been very satisfactory.
Jeff Goodall worked for the Metro Treasury and City Finance Departments for 25 years, and served as a member of the CUPE Local 79 Executive Board for 14 of those years.