Epidote

Three Rivers

Tulare County

California

Dimensions: 3 cm (width) x 1 cm (height) x 6.5 cm (thick)

Specimen Weight: 37.8 g

From the Bryant Harris collection with photocopied information from his catalog.

When Bryant W. Harris passed away in 2016, he left behind a remarkable collection of American mineral classics. The collection, which is heavy in San Diego County, Butte, and Arizona, reflects values of a generation of collectors who loved the mining and field-collecting aspects of the hobby as much as the minerals themselves.

In the decades following World War II, Bryant owned a custom machine and welding shop in Fallbrook, California, which fortuitously placed him in the midst of one of the most unforgettable eras of specimen mining in US history. Already interested in the lapidary arts, Bryant solidified his place in the southern California collecting community when, at the behest of the legendary Josie Scripps, he took a mineral study class from the indomitable John Sinkankas.

When in the early 1970s, Pala Properties was working the Tourmaline Queen Mine, Bryant was there, preparing specimens and doing whatever was needed. And later in the 1970s, when Pala Properties set their sights on the Himalaya Mine, Bryant oversaw operations and built the steel door that was essential to keeping high-graders out of the mine. Well into his 80s, the reticent Bryant was still regaling friends and fellow collectors with stories of the halcyon days in the county – of Bill Larson as a boy, of the imposing Josie Scripps, of tourmaline fresh from the mine, of opening mind-blowing pockets at the Little Three Mine, of a life well-lived.

In the late 1970s, Bryant and second wife Joan resettled in Missoula, Montana, where Bryant began building impressive suites of minerals from the American West, particularly Colorado, Idaho, Arizona, and Montana but especially from Butte. Bryant and Joan also took up winter residence in Tucson and became part of the active Tucson collecting community and built a fine collection of Arizona classics, both self-collected and purchased. The move helped to cement friendships with Rukin and Carrie Jelks, Bill and Irene Williams, Gene Wright, Barb Muntyan, Richard Graeme, Gene Schlepp, Mike and Mary Jaworski, and so many others. They ultimately brought the collection to Tucson where, when both were in their 80s, they became year-round residents.

Joan passed away in 2012 and Bryant in 2016. In the years that followed his passing, both the Mineral Enthusiasts of Tucson (META) and the Fallbrook Gem & Mineral Society entered display cases at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, paying tribute to member, friend, and mentor Bryant Harris.