Doug Wallace RIP

Mineral Matters #612

In my infrequent visits to Tucson, tucked away next to the Ramada, a venue of predominantly fossil dealers, was one of my favourite places to visit. Doug and Terry Wallace of Mineralsearch were set up in the Country Inn & Suites.

They always had a good selection of minerals, and at really good prices. Amongst ones that I got from them were:

• An azurite from Tsumeb, Namibia, ex Al Ordway collection, and a gift to him by Demetrius Pohl.

• A Red Cloud Mine, Arizona, wulfenite with tiny mimetite crystals.

• A Rapid Creek, Canada, augelite, again ex Al Ordway.

• A Pala Chief Mine, California, elbaite.

• An Erongo, Namibia, aquamarine (pictured).

• And a few others.

My wife, on the one and only visit with me to Tucson, also ended up with a quite large deep blue faceted tourmaline that was set into a ring by them.

I have just recently heard the sad news of Doug’s passing via a Facebook post by Jonathan Woolley:

I was very sad to learn a dear friend and one of my favorite mineral dealers, Doug Wallace, passed away last week. Doug was one of the kindest and most honest people I have had the pleasure of knowing, and had a significant influence on my collecting. I know many of my friends knew him and his late wife, Terry. As I look at my cases and flats, It's hard to find a shelf or box without something I got from Doug that I treasure. But the most meaningful will always be the pieces I have from his personal collection, just a few of which are pictured here. Doug was a passionate field collector, who made it to many classic localities as well as running a number of mining projects himself over the years, and his personal collection consisted only of specimens that he collected himself. These are the pieces I will treasure the most, along with the stories that came with them and the memories of visiting his home, looking though whatever collection he had recently purchased, and just "talking rocks". Rest in peace, Doug, you are and will be missed greatly.

Below: An Erongo, Namibia, aquamarine, purchased from Doug and Terry in Tucson in 2011.