WAYNE A. THOMPSON: A Half-Century of Collecting and Dealing in Minerals

Arizona collector/dealer Wayne Thompson is not someone you're likely to forget after meeting. Thin, energetic and wiry, with strawberry-blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail, he is bursting with enthusiasm for minerals. Wayne has been an active part of the mineral world for nearly half a century, and has endless fascinating stories to tell, once yon get him going. He is one of the most successful field collectors of all time, and as a dealer he has handled a remarkable number of the world's finest mineral specimens.

INTRODUCTION

Wayne Thompson has been one of Arizona's best-known field collector/dealers for nearly half a century. His successes collecting in abandoned mines, above and below ground, are certainly enough to rank him with the legendary Edwin Over (1905-1962), hut he has gone even further. Not content with collecting only at the usual abandoned sites, he pioneered the establishment of professional collector companies which could enter into specimen recovery contracts with mining companies at working mines otherwise off limits to mineral collecting. He is the veleran of over 100 commercial specimen-mining operations in the American West. Mexico, and around the world. Over the years he has developed into one of the mineral world's most exclusive dealers, and has handled hundreds of world-class specimens.

EARLY LIFE

Wayne Arthur Thompson was horn in Phoenix, Arizona on September 2, 1950, the son of Alice Morion and Loren Carlton Thompson, an electrician. His mother was horn in New Mexico and grew up in the mining town of Ajo, Arizona, where her father Arthur Morton (Wayne's grandfather) worked as an electrical engineer at the New Cornelia mine. Wayne began collecting in the late 1950's, joined the Arizona Mineralogical Society at the age of eight, and also joined the mineral-oriented 4-H Club with his friend Les Presmyk that same year. When he was ten he collected vanadinite underground at the Apache mine with his father and his namesake uncle. D. Wayne Thompson. He worked hard at three paper routes in order to earn money to buy specimens from local dealers such as Scott Williams. Dave New and Jimmy Mueller, and he attended his first Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in 1960 (he hasn't missed one since).

At an early age, Wayne decided to focus his collecting efforts not just on good minerals but on the very finest mineral specimens available. The pivotal incident occurred on a visit to Scott Williams' "Southwest Scientific" mineral shop in Scoltsdale, Arizona in 1962. He had spent several hours going through drawers and boxes and had picked 15 or 20 specimens, enough to fill a flat. Included was a 4-cm diaboleile from Tiger, Arizona for $15.00. His pride and sense of accomplishment were deflated, however, when an older local collector named Harry Roberson walked in and purchased a very fine neptunite and benitoite for $135. Wayne's whole flat was worth about the same as Harry's single specimen, and Wayne realized that Harry had made the better buy.

With that lesson in mind, Wayne began focusing increasingly on expensive, higher quality specimens, both as a collector and as a dealer. His interest in Tiger minerals continued unabated, however, and that same year he spent $250 (heavy money for a 12-year-old in those days!) for a collection of Tiger minerals from Bob Jones.

PROSPECTING and PROFESSIONAL COLLECTING

Graduating from Cortez High School in 1968, Wayne worked his way through college by digging and selling minerals from many of Arizona's most famous localities. He attended Arizona State University as a Geology major, but left during his senior year to take part in a major specimen-mining operation at the San Francisco mine in Sonora. Mexico-personally opening the first of the great wulfenite pockets there, a six-foot-long walk-in cavity thickly lined with spectacular lemon-yellow wulfenite crystals to 8 cm. The dramatic story is told by Moore (2004). He spent the next six months prospecting abandoned mines throughout northern Mexico, discovering many formerly unknown occurrences, and taking voluminous notes for future reference.

During the 1970's he also collected extensively at the 79, Rowley, Red Cloud, Apache, Defiance, Flux, and Grand Reef mines-and has great stories to tell about his experiences in all of them. He once spent 27 days straight collecting at the Red Cloud mine. It was during my own years in graduate school at Arizona Slate (1969-1971) that I met Wayne, and partnered with him on numerous collecting trips, especially to the 79 mine. Watching him work, I had to admire his technique, his perseverance, and his patience. He would never destroy a specimen in a rush to get it out, as many collectors used to do-even if it meant leaving the piece in place for the next collector to work on.

Over the following years Wayne and his various partners personally collected, or purchased directly from the miners, a large percentage of the great specimens he has handled as a dealer. There are particular advantages to acquiring specimens at the source, before they have passed through the hands of other dealers and collectors. Such specimens can he professionally trimmed, prepared and meticulously preserved from damage; furthermore, they have not suffered an escalation in price by being passed around.