Bristol Gem & Mineral Club

Club Meeting
2026-03-10 19:00 (America/New_York)
“We are incredibly lucky to have Professor Richard Little joining us. He is a Professor Emeritus of Geology.
· “Many of you will remember his legendary presentation on the Jurassic Armored Mud Balls—he literally ‘wrote the book’ on his discovery of that unique phenomenon in the Connecticut River Valley.”
· “His talk for us is titled ‘Dinosaurs, Dunes, and Drifting Continents.’ He isn’t just giving a canned speech; he has specifically customized this research to focus on the geological formations right here in our own backyard.”

Beals Senior/Community Center, 240 Stafford Ave., Bristol, CT

Club Meeting
2026-02-10 19:00
The next meeting will be on
Tuesday, February 11th 2025 at 7pm
in the Beals Senior/Community Center, 240 Stafford Ave., Bristol, CT
Bring your Valentine – The program will be ROCKHOUND BINGO!
Join us for….Game Nite A Mineral Prize Extravaganza!
This has become a very popular, fun evening where you can win special mineral specimens and other hobby-related items. February’s program is guaranteed to delight those of you who cannot get to the Tucson shows. You’ll have a chance to win some specially selected quality mineral specimens to enhance your collection. No fees, no tickets, and you don’t have to know much about minerals to win (other than that they’re pretty and interesting). Even if it’s freezing out, you’ll warm up fast playing “Rockhound Bingo.”

Club Meeting
2026-01-13 19:00
Ted Johnson will speak on his trip to collect minerals in Siberia.

Mineral Collecting in Siberia!
Siberia is a treasure trove of gems and minerals. This trip is an odyssey that covers thousands of miles along the borders of Russia, China and Mongolia.

*We arrive in Siberia at the city of Khabarovsk. Here we sightsee for a day while we adjust for the time difference and arrange for travel to Irkutsk a thousand miles into interior Siberia.

*Irkutsk is located on Lake Baikal, reported to be the deepest lake in the world! Our destination here are the marble quarries of Slyudyanka. We’ll spend a few days in this area exploring the old quarries searching for skarn zones that produce some wonderful minerals, like Blue Apatite, Scapolite, Sphene, Lapis Lazuli and many more.

*Next we’ll travel by the Trans-Siberian Railway and 4WD to the remote Transbaikal Mountains to the Malkany pegmatite district. Here we explore several of the pegmatite mines searching for gem minerals like Rubellite, Topaz, Morganite and more.

Food is scarce here so we take a day to go fishing in the local river. Check out the equipment and techniques that the Russians use to put some food on the table.

*We continue working our way along the Russian-Mongolian border to the important Tantalum mine at Orlovskoye. This is a huge griesen type deposit that was formed by mineral bearing solutions from a granite formation. We collect excellent examples of Zinnwaldite, Topaz , Amazonite, Golden Beryl and more.

The Orlovskoye mine is located in the autonomic state of Buryatia, a predominantly Buddhist area. The Buddhist religion is now being re-established after the fall of Communism. We’ll visit one of the local monasteries and get a rare inside tour by the monks.

*Next we travel to our last collecting destination, the famous gem mines of the Adun Chelon Mountains. This area has produced some of the best Aquamarines in the world for over 300 years! Here the mountains border on the famous steppes of Mongolia. We’ll collect Aquamarine, Smoky Quartz, Topaz at several locations including the famous Sherlovaya Gora (which translates to “Schorl Mountain”).

*Done with our collecting we travel to the city of Chita, the capitol of the regional Oblast or state of Chita. We do some sightseeing here while we wait for the signatures of officials which allow us to take our finds out of Russia.

*The odyssey comes to an end back at Irkutsk. Before we leave for home we spend a few days sight-seeing around Irkutsk and the wonderful Lake Baikal.

Club Meeting
2025-01-14 19:00
Auction
Beals Senior/Community Center, 240 Stafford Ave., Bristol, CT

Bristol Gem & Mineral Show
2023-10-14 09:30 - 2023-10-15 16:00
Mark your calendars! Come down to our 50th Annual BRISTOL GEM & MINERAL CLUB SHOW… “Connecticut Rocks”.. Located at the Beals Community Center, 240 Stafford Ave. , Bristol, Ct.

Saturday: 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

*Due to Covid 19 and the slight possibility of cancellation , please verify our show is still on by checking this FB page, or our Website : www.bristolgem.org, or email us : bristolgem@hotmail.com

Gilsum Annual Show and Rock Swap
2022-06-25 08:00 - 2022-06-26 17:00
Gilsum STEAM Academy Grounds, Route 10,
Gilsum, NH. Admission by donation if you please. June 25 – 8am to 6pm; June 26 –
8am to 4pm.

Kent Show
2022-06-11 09:00 - 16:00
sponsored by the Danbury Mineralogical Society and the Connecticut
Museum of Mining and Mineral Science, 31 Kent-Cornwall Road, Kent, CT. Admission
is free. 9am to 4pm. www.ctamachinery.com

NEMA’S 2022 Spring Tailgate Show
2022-05-28 09:00 - 16:00
sponsored by the New England Mineral
Association, Havey Tourmaline Quarry, 34 Levine Rd, Poland, Maine. Admission and
parking are free. 9am to 4 pm Vendor sign-up or to volunteer – Jeff at
jmorris7@maine.rr.com or 207.232.4973

57th Annual New England Gem & Mineral Show
2022-04-30 08:00 - 2022-05-01 17:00
sponsored by the North Shore
Rock and Mineral Club, Topsfield Mass Fairgrounds, Route 1, Topsfield, MA. April 30 –
9:30am to 5pm; May 1 – 10am to 4pm. Admission $6. www.northshore.org

Maine Mineralogical & Geological Society Show
2022-04-16 08:00 - 2022-04-17 17:00
Brick South, Thompsons Point,
Portland, Maine. April 16 – 10am to 6pm; April 17 – 10am to 4pm. Admission $5.
www.mainemineralclub.org

New Haven Mineral Club Show
2022-04-02 08:00 - 2022-04-03 17:00
Amity Middle School, 100 Ohman Avenue, Orange,
CT. Admission $6. April 2 – 9:30am to 5pm; April 3 – 10am to 4pm.
