The Mineralogical Society of Southern California

The story of the Jones Collection starts in the late 1940’s in Connecticut when Bob Jones began to get serious about collecting minerals. Like many collections, it underwent a few transformations over the years and changes of focus in the ensuing decades. By the late 1980’s Bob’s son Evan assumed curation, ultimately transforming it into an all-Arizona locality collection. In this presentation, Evan shares the stories behind some of his favorite pieces, plus a few recent additions to the collection. 

 

Longtime mineral collector and dealer Evan Jones, son of well-known author Bob Jones, started collecting minerals at age 9 and with his father visited museums, attended mineral shows, went on collecting trips and visited mineral dealers from an early age. A graduate of the geology program at ASU in Tempe, Arizona, Evan has been a full time mineral dealer since 1986 and is currently co-owner of the fine mineral dealership Unique Minerals, Inc. Evan has attended every Tucson Gem & Mineral Show since 1981 and won several awards including Walt Lidstrom, Miguel Romero and Dick Bideaux trophies. He has written articles for Mineralogical Record, Rocks & Minerals, LAPIS, Mineralien-Welt magazines and given talks around the country on the subject of Arizona and Mexican minerals, mines and history and recently was awarded the Best Article of 2021 in Mineralogical Record magazine by Friends of Mineralogy for his article on the Milpillas Mine in Mexico. His collection of Arizona minerals is considered one of the finest in the world.