Special Auction - Specimens from the Collection Gary and Terry Butts

We are very excited to offer the worldwide collection of Gary and Terry Butts of Livermore, Colorado. Nearly all of the specimens were collected between the 1950s-1980s, and are a great representation of what was coming out at the time.  

This husband and wife collecting duo were childhood sweethearts, and have been together since they began dating as teenagers growing up in East Des Moines, Iowa in the 1950s. Both of them had an early interest in the hobby thanks to the fact that Terry's parents had a keen interest in lapidary, which sparked an interest in rocks for both of them. Gary traveled to various localities around the US as a teenager with his father, to personally collect specimens. He then attended the School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, and graduated in 1967 with a degree in extractive metallurgical engineering. We went to work for several mining companies over the years along with the Colorado School of Mines Research Institute. Gary's various jobs allowed him to travel the world and build his collection by buying a lot of specimens in person when they were coming out of the ground. Additionally, Terry's uncle was a miner in Creede, Colorado, and later owned a rock shop that supplied Gary with specimens from the area.  

The specimens in this auction represent what Gary and Terry considered the "cream of the crop" of their collection.