The case Alpine resident Karen Farrington entered in the San Diego County Fair’s Gems, Minerals, and Jewelry exhibition won the Gregory Anderson Award for the best educational display and the Anne Schafer Award for showmanship.
Farrington entered a case she called “Pyrite Suns —Unique Mineral Treasure of Illinois”. The case included pieces of pyrite, coal from southern Illinois, the belt buckle of a miner, descriptions of pyrite and coal mines, a map of the vicinity, and a graph noting the depth of materials present in the mine.
An educational case is eligible for special awards, and educational cases are also scored with 100 being a perfect score and a case which scores at least 85 points receiving an Award of Merit. Farrington’s case was given an Award of Merit. Educational cases are not judged on a head-to-head basis, although Farrington added several place awards as did Joseph Farrington and Dulzura’s Yvonne Purdy- Luxton.
Joseph Farrington took first place in the One Vertebrate Fossil, Worldwide category. He entered a fossil of an aquatic reptile from the Triassic period (195- 220 million years ago) which was found in China’s Hunan province.
Joseph Farrington also took second place in the Trace Fossil, Worldwide class. The dinosaur tracks are from the Jurassic period (135-190 million years ago) and were found in Amherst, Massachusetts. Karen Farrington placed third in that class for trilobite tracks from the Ordovician period (425-500 million years ago) which were discovered in Erfoud, Morocco.
The judges gave Karen Farrington second place in the One Mineral from Outside of San Diego County, Beginner category. The cubic pyrite with striated crystals was found in Peru.
Karen Farrington took home four additional third-place ribbons. The Rough and Cut Mineral – Crystal and Matching Stone entry was a blue topaz crystal with a matching round cut stone which was mined in Brazil; the crystal is 2.75 carats and the stone is nine millimeters. The One Meteorite award was for a three-pound Canyon Diablo meteorite from the Bar¬ringer Meteor Crater in Coconino, Arizona. This year’s Fossil of the Year category was for ammonite, and Farrington provided an ammonite cluster from eastern Montana. Farrington’s Three Fossils from One Country submission utilized American sea creatures: a megalodon shark tooth with attached oyster shell from Charleston, South Carolina, a whale ear bone with attached oyster shell from Charleston, and a whale rib bone with attached oyster shell from Culvert Cliffs, Maryland.
Purdy-Luxton was given second place in the Fluorescent Minerals, Full Case class and third place in the Mineral of the Year: Birthstone Minerals – Five Specimens category. She chose pyrite, which is the alternate birthstone for the astrological month of Leo, and had pieces from Texas, Illinois, China, Peru, and Bulgaria. Purdy-Luxton also entered an educational case called Family Fun Rockhounding which utilized minerals from Southern California along with accessories winning an Award of Merit.
