Monday 1 December 2008

Repeat 'til fade

There is a short list of questions that I get asked time and again in the shop. Seems like a good idea to address them here. One at a time, though.

Most common, is probably - 'Where do you get all this stuff?'

Not really a short answer to this, but I want a cup of coffee, so it will be pretty brief. There are a number of fossil and mineral wholesalers in the UK, some generalist, toher with a more narrow focus. I get stock from perhaps five of these - and only one is truly generalist. The bulk of my stock comes from a couple of trips to trade fairs each year.

One, in Arizona, is the biggest of its kind in the world. Takes place in January and February, so it also makes for a welcome break from the British weather. It's expensive to go there, expensive to stay there, and not too cheap to get all the rocks home, but if I spend enough money the stock pays for all the trouble and outlay. I can get much better quality of stock, and from a far more diverse range of supliers by going there. Well worth it. I'm fussy, and I get to select the best examples myself this way, meet the original source in many cases, get the stories behind the sites and so on.

The other show is in France in the summer. Much more laid back affair, smaller in scale and set in a very pretty town in a wine-making region. More amateur collectors, a little more local generally, but still a good range of dealers from across Europe.

Other than this, there are a few friends I've made over the years that I'll phone up during the year for top-ups of regular lines.

Look at that. All about fossils. No mention of the drilling outside...

2 comments:

Christopher Walker said...

what are your best lines o stock and what's the best story you've had relating to an item?? Good blog.

Matt Dale said...

Ok - there's more than a couple of days worth of stuff in stories about items, so I'll get to some of those soon. Stock lines, I'll address today. Just for you...