Disintergration

I haven't had anyone over to take a peek at the mineral collection in quite some time. The down side is that I was rather embarrassed by the mess and clutter in the surrounding area. The clutter wasn't horrible, but just not up to even my relaxed standards. Gee, when was my last attempt at tidiness? November? The up side is getting charged up with motivation to improve things.

At least as far as the collection itself, I'm fairly methodical. All in small cardboard trays that fill drawers. Inside each tray is a bit of cotton. Looking at the collection, there was a problem.

Specimen #70 was not in it's tray! It took me a moment to realize (or at least to theorize) what had happened. #70 was a piece of purple halite from the Potash Mine of Carlsbad, New Mexico. I bought it because I loved the color. The unusual color was not due to impurities, but rather from an alteration of its typical crystal lattice.

Over time, I saw a bit of the surface was affected by humidity changes over time.  Very small white areas appeared on the piece, but I considered the changes minor and let things be. Now I see tray number seventy is not truly empty, but has a small amount of white salt residue where the purple specimen once resided.

Some of the other cardboard trays and labels in that drawer are now permeated with a salty looking residue. Ugh. I'll have to tidy that all up later.

One regret is not having a good picture to remember it by. The picture I did take isn't all that great. 

I believe that I could have covered it is lacquer or used an airtight container. I'm too much of a purist to consider the lacquer, but would definitely consider an airtight container for future halite specimen storage. I will get a test specimen set up and see how that goes.