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Housing My Collection

Sorry for the delay in posting this........

I use various size Riker-style mounts to house my collection, ranging from
2-1/2”x3-1/2” for smaller or “sexier” specimens (e.g., SNCs, Orgueil, etc.),
up to 6”x9” for displaying groups of pallasite and/or iron slices, or up to a
dozen micromounts in one mount. The most common size I use is 4-1/2”x5-1/2”,
and since most of my chondrite slices are in the 15 to 40 gram range, I can
usually place two or three in a mount without crowding.  The 6”x9” mounts can
hold up to six smaller slices, again without looking crowded. 

Every specimen is identified with an individual 1” x 1-1/2” adhesive-backed
label, attached to the mount’s glass. The label contains; specimen name, date
of find/fall, classification, and specimen weight. Labels are created using
MS Excel and printed on a HP Laserjet.

For pieces that won’t fit in standard depth mounts (whole stones, odd-shaped
fragments, etc.), I took a 9”x15”x2” mount box and lined the base with dark
green felt mounted on 1/4” thick foam mounting board, commonly found in the
framing section of stores. I then took 1/4” x 1/4” basswood strips and built
a grid with 15 equal sized openings (or whatever sizes are needed), which
fits snugly inside the box, resting on the felt-covered bottom. The grid is
spray-painted dark green to match the felt.  Larger cut and polished irons
contrast especially well against the green felt! Non-adhesive labels are
placed into each opening with the specimen.

And finally, I have a series of 12”x22”x2” wood trays into which I arrange
the individual mounts. This allows me to “lay out” my entire collection in no
time, as opposed to handling all the individual mounts every time.
 Eventually, I hope to build a cabinet to hold the trays, but for now they
are kept on a bookshelf for easy access. 

While this may seem like a lot of work to house one’s collection, I have
displayed mine several times at my local astronomy club, and received
numerous compliments about not just the actual meteorites, but on the
attractivness of the overall display.