Pinal Geology & Mineral Museum

05/13/2026

Thanks to our fantastic fossil presenters at our May 9 Arizona Fossil Fest!

We enjoyed a very strong turnout and were treated to fabulous fossil displays and education by the Arizona Museum of Natural History, John Christian, Fred Croxen, Ben Goode, Tom Olson, Jackie Peel, and the Southwest Paleontological Society.

Special thanks to individuals and groups that helped us promote this fun, family event! The crowd was amazing and it was wonderful to chat with the young volunteers with the AMNH and SPS as well!

Of course, thanks to Christine, Erica , and Carolyn for their dedication!

05/05/2026

Stolzite Surprise--Museum Specimen Featured in Rocks & Minerals Magazine!!

The Pinal Geology and Mineral Museum monstrous Stolzite crystal is featured in the latest (May-June 2026, Vol. 101 No. 3) issue of Rocks & Minerals magazine.

Our founder, Dr. Ray Grant (raygrantite) handed this fabulous 6.5cm (2.60 inch) and hefty stolzite crystal off to me several months ago for inclusion into the museum collection and I was utterly shocked at its size!! I figured this might be considered one of the world's largest crystals of this uncommon lead tungstate mineral. I was aware of the French crystals but was unaware of the Namibian one owned by a Phoenix collector that may be larger.

Anyway, this is an exceptional, if a little aesthetically challenged, beauty from our beloved Arizona!

Thanks Ray and Ron! And Marie Huizing at R&M who also appreciated the significance of this brute.

05/05/2026

Don't miss this special and exciting FREE public event! This Saturday, the Pinal Geology and Mineral Museum will host its 2nd Annual Arizona Fossil Fest that will feature fossil experts that will share their fossils and their stories with our guests.

Our presenters include:

John Christian--John holds a degree in Geology and has enjoyed a lifelong interest in fossils, minerals, and rocks. He is a member of the Dallas Paleontological Society, the Mineralogical Society of Arizona, and the Southwest Paleontological Society. He has discovered many new to Arizona Paleozoic fossil sponges and has likely discovered entirely new species. He kindly donated a fabulous cut and polished stromatolite fossil that is on display in our main gallery.

Fred Croxen--Fred has earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Geology from Northern Arizona University and was Professor of Geosciences at Arizona Western College for more than 45 years. He has a special interest in Pliocene-Paleocene vertebrates of Sonora, Mexico that include camels, ground sloths, giant anteaters, cheetahs, and hyenas, etc.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394015610_Geology_and_paleontology_of_the_early-middle_Pleistocene_El_Golfo_beds_Sonora_Mexico-A_field_guide

Ben Goode--Ben returns as an astute and very busy condrichthyan researcher associated with Mesa Community College and the Arizona Museum of Natural History. Condrichthyans are a class of jawed fish whose skeleton is composed primarily of cartilage. He is an avid fossil shark researcher and collector.
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.onpointfossils.com/

Tom Olson--Tom has a degree from Northern Arizona University, worked at Petrified Forest National Park and has loved fossils virtually his entire life. His rare fossil finds (including new species!) have been published in 18 scientific journals and he has had research projects with Fossil Butte National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, Museum of Northern Arizona University, New Mexico Museum of Natural History, and Northern Arizona University. He has also developed a class for kids called Arizona Geology for Kids that he's continued for very many years.
https://www.facebook.com/BensonGeo4Kidz/about

Jackie Peel--Jackie earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M and studied geology and horticulture. She has has a lifelong interrest in geology and plants. She is a Master Gardener which naturally blends into her love of fossil plants. She will have fossil plants on display from her worldwide collection. She especially enjoys collecting fossil plants across the western USA. Jackie is a member of several plant and rockhounding societies.

In addition, the Arizona Museum of Natural History and the Southwest Paleontological Society will have tables in our large gallery.
https://www.azmnh.org/
https://swpaleosociety.com/

Please note that the museum has numerous fossils on display and also is home to our popular Allosaurus and Dilophosaurus dinosaur models. We have restocked the gift shop and added new specimens to our displays. And we will have some homemade baked goodies and cold bottled water for all to enjoy at no charge.

Many thanks to Ben, Fred, Jackie, John, and Tom for participating in their passion of Natural History!

See you on Saturday!!

PLEASE NOTE! Do not confuse our Wednesday, May 20 talk by Susan Celestian on The Biology of Trilobites with the Arizona Fossil Fest this Saturday--these are totally different events. The promo for Sue's talk is pinned at the bottom.

05/04/2026

Vanadinite on Fluorite Cast!

This is an unusual and aesthetic vanadinite specimen from the Puzzler mine, Castle Dome district, Yuma Co., Arizona.

https://www.mindat.org/loc-3401.html

This particular piece was donated to the Pinal Geology and Mineral Museum by noted Arizona collector/dealer Dick Morris. He has known our founder, Dr. Raymond Grant, for a very long time and was kind enough to drop off several flats of specimens.

This shows vanadinite crystals largely lining a negative cast in the matrix once occupied by a fluorite crystal!! I have never been to the mine and had never seen such a specimen from here so I asked Ray and Dick's former business (Arizona Minerals) and collecting partner Mark Hay about this piece and they confirmed that the negative cast, though not a perfect cube, was indeed formerly occupied by a large fluorite crystal! This measures about 4cm across.

I personally love casts, epimorphs, and pseudomorphs, etc. and thought that this was a special piece. I pieced together a flat of donated Pure Potential and Puzzler mine vanadinites that Dick donated for the museum gift shop but held this beauty out.

What we have here is a piece where a fluorite crystal formed on matrix and was subsequently covered by more rock and mineralization. The fluorite crystal dissolved or was etched away at some point later which left this negative impression or cast in the matrix. Later crystallization of vanadinite occurred and left small brilliant crystals within the cavity.

I'll make a label for this and get this on display in the museum shortly. Stop by and have a look! We have new items on display and new items in our gift shop.

We have a special event this weekend--the Arizona Fossil Fest. We will have fossil experts on hand to show you what they've been collecting and studying and we encourage all to bring in their fossils for hopeful identification. Of course, it is free.

And, we'll have a special "Unearth a Story" event from 10am-Noon at the Coolidge Public Library and will have a booth full of dinosaur fossils, etc. and a FREE giveaway for kids that will include assembled wooden and plastic dinosaur models--we have a limited number so a free raffle ticket will be offered to each kid.

Check out our latest newsletter:

https://pinalgeologymuseum.org/index.php/about/newsletter-archive/211-april-2026

The May issue will be out shortly!

04/27/2026

Bumping this post! This will be a fabulous presentation by a degreed geologist and educator about one of the most popular and fascinating fossil groups. The photographs in her presentation are sure to be killer and her insights and observations about trilobites and the fakery all too common with many types of fossils a real eye-opener.

Please join us for a fabulous presentation on trilobites by Susan Celestian. Susan is an experienced collector, curator, and educator (B.S. and M.S. Geology degrees from Wittenberg University, OH and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff) with a lifelong interest in the Sciences and a love for fossil "bugs" or trilobites!

Sue will discuss fossil trilobites and will help us spot fossil fakes that are unfortunately common on the market. She and her husband Stan have a wonderful collection of exquisite and curated fossil trilobites with incredible ornamental features that many of us will be shocked to see in her program!

They have a trusted source for incredible, rare, and unusual fossil trilobites and she will share her knowledge and love of these unbelievably successful marine arthropods that existed for nearly 270 million years and are known from more than 22,000 described species!

As usual, we will have our usual free raffle prize drawing, baked goods and treats with refreshments, and a silent auction table. Our doors open at 6pm and we have many new specimens in our gift shop and have rotated more than a few new specimens to display cases.

This will be our last meeting before our summer break. We hold no meetings in June, July, and August. Please stop by and I'll share our thoughts on a possible field trip schedule beginning after our summer recess. We will remain open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10am-4pm and please call me at 602.312.9791 for questions or email me at [email protected]. Comments, questions, or suggestions, etc. are welcome!

04/24/2026

We have a great gift shop too!!

We have been busy at the museum preparing new displays and rotating new specimens into our display collection. We hosted a special Sunday event for the Arizona Mineral Minions and tidied up the museum by removing the glass fronts and moving specimens and labels back to their original position after local vehicle traffic causes these to “creep” over time. I even removed that pesky dead fly that lay atop the label of the most “pointed at” specimen in the museum—the wonderful Indian “fuzzball” mesolite!!

Guests are often surprised that we have a gift shop loaded with inexpensive and diverse specimens and new pieces are added every day that I’m on site. We have regulars that come in just to see what’s new and the photos show just a portion of recently added pieces. We’re not your average museum gift shop offering familiar Brazilian amethyst and “baked” citrine; clusters of overpriced Peruvian pyrite; or outrageously priced Arkansas quartz. Check us out!

pinalgeologymuseum.org
Open 10am-4pm Wednesday through Saturday through May and the same hours Friday and Saturday June-August. Closed May 28 for a special event.

04/20/2026

Thank you Ray and the Arizona Mineral Minions for this special museum event!!

More than two dozen members and guests of the Arizona Mineral Minions enjoyed a fascinating talk by our founder Dr. Raymond Grant about his relationship with the legendary collector and professor, Arthur Montgomery.

Ray highlighted many of Montgomery’s notable accomplishments and credited Montgomery for his own distinguished career. Ray enrolled at Lafayette College right out of high school and had no idea about Montgomery’s position at the college. Montgomery soon discovered he had a serious and enthusiastic collector in Ray and took him under his wing. The rest is history! Both Ray and Montgomery have minerals named in their honor—the exceedingly rare raygrantite was discovered at Arizona’s Evening Star mine and montgomeryite was described from phosphatic nodules at Clay Canyon, Utah.

Our guests had a couple hours before the talk to peruse the museum and enjoy some great food—cheese, chips, crackers, meats, and olives, etc. along with seven different baked goodies kindly prepared by my wife Brenda. Thank you sweetheart!❤️

We were kindly complimented on our displays and labels, etc. and even these very experienced and notable collectors were wowed by some of our specimens. Several begged me to keep them in mind should we deaccess certain specimens!

Gift shop sales were brisk and one local noticed all the vehicles in our normally vacant Sunday lot and couldn’t help but peek in to see if she could buy some more bracelets🤣 She did!

Thank you Arizona Mineral Minions for coming to the museum for Ray’s talk. It was great to see old friends and share a few hours of fellowship.

04/20/2026

Thank you Steve Scott! Members and guests of the Pinal Geology and Mineral Society enjoyed a fabulous talk by Steve Scott about his many hundreds of dives over the years off Venice Beach, Florida in search of classic Megalodon shark teeth and mammoth bones and teeth!

Steve has been underwater on more than 400 days and oftentimes went through 3 tanks of air (at about 1.5 hours each) per day! His reward has been the collection of more than 1000 fabulous fossil teeth.

In addition, he has found mammoth bones and teeth, fossil whale vertebrae and ear bones, fossil alligator, fossil bison teeth, fossil deer antler, and fossil dugong (related to manatees) bones among other odds and ends!

He talked about how Florida’s coastline has changed drastically over time due to climate change and about how he has targeted very particular areas offshore to best collect tremendous fossils. He has kindly donated fossils to the museum (our meg tooth and mammoth bone and teeth displays are always a hit!) and handed off a fossil alligator jaw section, two fossil bison teeth, a fossil dugong bone, and an enormous fossil whale ear bone! Thank you Steve!

He even passed around a bag of fossil meg teeth for our guests to pick their very own specimen!!

Steve constructed and collected many of the specimens in our fluorescent display—one that he used to demonstrate at libraries throughout Clark County, Nevada. He presented to schools all over the county about all matters geological. We were lucky that he agreed to drive all the way down from Prescott Valley to present and made it despite suffering a flat tire en route!

Thanks again Steve!

04/15/2026

Please note!! We will be closed Thursday, April 16. We apologize for the inconvenience and will resume regular hours at 10am on Friday. Thank you!

04/15/2026

Check out our latest newsletter!
https://pinalgeologymuseum.org/index.php/about/newsletter-archive/211-april-2026

And please check out our website!
pinalgeologymuseum.org

Copyright © 2026 Pinal Geology Museum. All Rights Reserved. * Website created In loving memory of Cullen Robert Connolly

03/30/2026

What a great field trip!!

On Sunday, March 22 sixteen members of the Pinal Geology and Mineral Society met in Tonto Basin, AZ for a field trip to collect satin spar gypsum and hopefully some porphyritic basalt (aka Chinese Writing Stone). The weather was perfect (look at those skies!) and the collecting gods were generous as everyone took home classic satin spar and some found the more elusive Chinese Writing Stone samples. A wonderful large conglomerate was also collected! Most importantly, we were able to carpool into the wash and collect without incident—no injuries or accidents, etc.

Gypsum is an evaporite mineral and satin spar crystallizes quickly in fractures so that hair-like and tightly compacted crystals grow together to produce an opaque satin-like gypsum that looks like fiber optic material in cross-section. It really is beautiful and chunks were found in the wash and others chose to dig it out where it outcropped in veins in the sides of the wash. It was a fun and well-attended trip! Thanks to everyone who made the trip memorable! And special thanks to April Holcombe-Karnes for sharing some of her photos! You’re hired as PGMS trip photographer!👍🤣