How to Get Your Own Element Collection Home



From time to time, people ask me how to put together an element collection, or how much it would cost if they wanted me to make another table for them. To the latter question my answer is that I'm in the software business, not the furniture business, but hey, start writing zeros on the napkin and I'll tell you when to stop.



To the former question, I have several answers. One nice thing about collecting elements is that there isn't a company constantly manufacturing more of them for you to collect, like there is with Beany Babies and the like. You can actually finish at some point, if you stop at elements with a halflife of at least a year.



Many people who collect elements concentrate on natural mineral samples containing them, and others concentrate on ultra-pure samples. An example of the former is Jim Marshall from the University of North Texas, who actually takes his element collection on tour sponsored by the American Chemical Society. He has a wonderful book and CD about it and he plans to publish a new one that will include the GPS coordinates of where each of the elements was originally discovered, so you can go visit there yourself. An example of a pure-element collector is David Franco who has sent me many very nice and very pure elements for my collection.



Another option is to collect interesting things that have some element in them, even if it's not especially pure or natural. That's the way I've decided to go. For example, I have spark plugs that contain yttrium not because they are a good representative sample of yttrium but rather because I think it's bizarre and interesting that anyone would make a spark plug containing yttrium. In fact, I have a whole sub-collection of spark plug elements.



Depending on your interests, here are some different ways of putting together an element collection:





2. Buy My Poster

I publish a photographic periodic table poster with pictures taken from my collection. Sometimes pictures are frankly more interesting than real samples, which can be too small to see well in person. And posters don't have any health and safety issues: You can put one up anywhere, even in places where radioactive elements would raise eyebrows. Here's what it looks like (click to go to a page where you can see larger versions or order your own copy):





You can buy a copy right now!



3. Buy Elements from a Chemical Supplier

There are several full-line chemical supply houses that sell virtually every element in any number of different forms (ingots, powders, sheets, rods, you name it). They generally offer a range of purities from 95% to 99.99999+%, at a range of prices. This is a pretty expensive way to get elements: You're paying a premium for guaranteed purity and careful packaging. And they are generaly not interested in selling to individuals, preferring to deal with companies and research institutions. Chemical companies of this nature used to be the only way to get some of the more exotic elements, but these days eBay is surprisingly comprehensive.

4. Scrounge around on eBay, at Walmart, Hardware stores, etc.

If you look through the list of sources and contributors of the elements in my collection, you'll see that I got a large number of them from one of two sources: Walmart and eBay. In fact, I have a special list of all the elements you can get at Walmart specifically. If you want to follow this path, you can use my list of sources as a starting point: Many of the eBay sellers are repeat sellers who probably have an element or two on offer right now.



I've gotten so involved in element collecting that I now, in partnership with Max Whitby of the RGB Company, offer a line of museum-quality element samples on eBay. Our samples are high-end: Not the cheapest but definitely the best. Many are sealed in argon-purged glass ampoules, for example.



Another good seller is David Franco, who also has a non eBay web page: http://elements.daemon.net and an email address of .



You'll want to use eBay's search feature to find new sellers and new kinds of objects. Some elements are easy to search for because no one uses their name unless they're selling that element. Other elements, like vanadium, are a pain because there are hundreds and hundreds of listings for things made of chrome-vanadium steel, for example. You have to throw in terms like "pure", or "chemical" to limit the search. You could search just in the appropriate categories of lab supplies, scientific collectibles, etc. But then you'd miss the most interesting objects, like this antique Foo Lion incense burner made of antimony.



There are certain objects, like this one, for which there did not exist a mechanism by which one could possibly find one, before the invention of eBay. Think about it: Where on earth would you go if you wanted an antimony Foo Lion incense burner, if not eBay?



The harder ones, scandium, promethium, most of the rare earths, are usually not available this way, except from a small number of sellers like David Franco (see above).



In my case, I also got an incredible amount of support from people who thought my web site was fun and offered to trade or donate elements. I think I tapped into a rich vein of people who had had an element or two around the house for a decade or three and were actually kind of relieved to find someone who would give it a good home. If you can't find people like that, you may be forced to use method #1 or #2 to complete your collection. As long as you keep the number of elements you buy from a chemical supplier to a minimum, the cost won't be too outrageous. Or you could buy one of the complete sets after you give up on the rare ones.