Rob Smith
I first met Rob Smith about 20 years ago when he came to my house to look at a petrological microscope that I had for sale. I often bumped into him at Cape Town Gem and Minerals Club Open Days (the Club) and he was always very friendly and complimentary about the mineral specimens I had on my table for sale. However, he was mostly looking for southern African specimens and most of mine were of a more world wide origin. A few years ago, Rob invited me to his house in Plattekloof to look at and discuss our shared passion – minerals. This was a revelation…… READ FURTHER
Peter Rosewarne
Peter holds a BSc honours degree in Geology and has been a serious mineral collector since 2007, and part time mineral dealer. His Rosey Collection currently numbers some 800 specimens with some major offloads in 2015 and 2022. Favourites are garnets, pyromorphite, smithsonite, dioptase, tourmaline and fluorite. Most collecting has been of the “silver pick” variety with some minor self-collecting at Skorpion Mine in southern Namibia but his groundwater consultancy work has taken him to inter alia Jwaneng Diamond Mine in Botswana, Murowa Diamond Mine in Zimbabwe, gold and platinum mines in South Africa, Collahuasi Copper Mine in the high Andes of Chile and the Octobyar nickel mine in Siberia. Reference specimens from his collection are included on this site.
Introduction
This site was originally set-up a few years ago as a vehicle to sell minerals from my collection, The Rosey Collection. It has now been revamped to feature mineral specimens from the vaults of Rob Smith, storied mineral collector and dealer from Cape Town, South Africa. Rob has been in the business since the 1980s and has self-collected from e.g. Southern and Central African, Brazilian and USA sites and exhibited multiple times at The Tucson Show. He was responsible for discovering the iconic ajoite-included quartz at the Messina Mine in Limpopo Province, South Africa that caused a storm at the Tucson Show of 1987. Rob’s African Gems and Minerals site is still operating while this new site just showcases good to exceptional mineral specimens for the discerning collector. Specimens from The Rosey Collection will also be featured.
Your host on this site is Peter Rosewarne, who holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Geology (1974) from London University, majoring in mineralogy and petrology, and, although irrelevant to this site, an MSc in Groundwater. Peter is also based in Cape Town, South Africa and has known Rob for many years and lives just down the road from him and within walking distance of his Montagu Gardens shop. I wrote a series of articles on Rob for our local Cape Town Mineral and Gem Club newsletter, Minchat, and the first of these is reproduced on this site to provide some background for those who don’t know, or know of, Rob Smith.
The minerals on this site are featured in a Gallery, including South Africa (e.g. Kalahari Manganese Field, Messina and Other), Namibia (Tsumeb and Other), Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Worldwide (e.g. DRC, USA, China, Brazil and Mexico). There is also a “Reference” gallery of Rosey Collection specimens, which are not for sale.
Rob has been accumulating these specimens over the past 30 to 40 years and this is the first time that they have been offered for sale. Some specimens from my collection are also offered for sale. So, take a browse through the galleries, feast your eyes on the goodies on offer and add one or three to your collection before they disappear. Happy browsing and I look forward to hearing from you!
Peter “Rosey” Rosewarne BSc (Hons) Geology
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