About Roy Hollowell

Welcome to my website. Before moving on I would like to let you know I am first and foremost a dedicated field collector. Field collecting is the reason I started dealing in minerals so I could afford to continue field collecting. I have been to many known mine sites but my passion is walking in areas looking for evidence and ultimately specimens with any luck. An example of this is the Mineral Mountains in Utah (home page photo). I have spent somewhere between 30 and 40 days walking through these rugged mountains. I must admit 70 to 80 percent of the time yielded very little to no results. But just being out there makes those days worthwhile. I have found some pockets having more than 200 specimens in them. You will find many of the specimens offered for sale were personally collected sometimes alone and some times with some very well known collectors as well as just friends and relatives with some interest.

In 1975, I returned to college to finish my degree. I took a Geology class and they brought out the mineral tray. I was very interested so the next weekend I went to the Boron area to look for minerals. At the grocery store in Boron, he asked if there were any rockhounds around. They told me to go visit Dotty and Mel Smith in North Edwards. They welcomed me and when I entered the house there were specimens everywhere. They talked me into staying overnight

because the next day the borax mine was letting rockhounds in to collect on the dumps. There I found a beautiful colemanite on orange calcite that remains in my collection today. I was hooked from that time on.

 

I started as a part-time mineral dealer in 1976, as “Hollowell Minerals” out of Fresno. I began with small local shows such as the Boron Show. I then went full-time in 1983 after graduating from college. My first Tucson Show as a dealer was in 1980; I set up at Bob’s Chevron station across the street from the Desert Inn. I then secured a two-room suite on the second floor of the Desert Inn through the 1990 show. I also did the Las Vegas show, Denver show, Tacoma Washington Mineral Symposium, and many other small shows.

I was very active in field-collecting. I have collected in San Benito County, the Kingston Range, and Placer County in California; the Mineral Mountains in Utah; and the Newberry Range, Eldorado Hills, and Garnet Hill in Nevada. I have also collected in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona and Arkansas as well as Spain, Greece, Norway, Sweden, and Mexico. I also handled many small collections. Ten of my self-collected specimens are now in major museums. I stopped doing the show circuit primarily due to theft and damage at the shows. In 1990 I moved to as Vegas, Nevada and continued to field collect on a regular basis.

I decided to use my degree in Land Surveying and Photogrammetry. I have worked for major engineering firms in Las Vegas, Sacramento, Irvine, and Hawaii. I then moved back to Las Vegas and continued field collecting. I still get out a couple of times a year for a week or so walking the hills somewhere.

My inventory/collection consists of approximately 1,000 specimens in all sizes, from thumbnail to cabinet. I will be adding specimens on a weekly basis so please check back regularly.

Thanks for visiting!

Roy