Rocks cut

Jon Fleming stands next to his 500-pound amethyst among his rock collection in his home. His housekeeping chores include dusting his precious collection weekly. Courtesy photo

Employee has a head for precious rocks

By Bill Bartkus
NAVAIR Depot North Island

CORONADO, Calif. – Jon Fleming and his son Justin know their rocks!

Jon, an industrial support specialist with NAVAIR Depot North Island here is a member of the Naval Air Station North Island Gem and Mineral Society (NIGMS) and the federation director for the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies (CFMS). He’s been involved in the society for 16 years and is an avid rock collector.

He became interested in joining the club when he spotted a display case of precious rocks at North Island’s Civilian Welfare and Recreation Office. “At that time, Doc (Donald) Holliday (also employed with the Depot) was president of the club. I called him and discovered that he lived down the street from me,” said Fleming.

“Justin was 7 years old at the time, and we went to Doc’s house to see his rock collection. He told us about the camping trips to the desert, and we decided to go on one and we liked it. We’ve been hooked on rocks ever since.”

Father and son have collected a number of rocks and gems over the past 16 years. Fleming said that his son, now 23, finds more rocks than he does “because Justin is shorter and closer to the ground,” he quipped.

Jon has no idea how many pounds (perhaps tons?) of rocks he has in his house. “I recently purchased a large 500-pound amethyst that came from Brazil. It has an estimated retail value of $14,000,” he said. “I also have slabs of petrified wood that are $200 each, and I have tourmaline from the Himalayan mine near Julian that is semi-precious,” he said.

Other items in the Flemings’ collection include amethyst, quartz crystal, malachite, lapis, meteorite, agate, tiger eye, hematite, obsidian, onyx, fire agate, opal, geodes, sunstone, halite and more. “We have 100-pound pieces of obsidian from the Salton Sea, buckets of other rocks from Pala Verde (Calif.),” said Jon, who was quick to note that his collection requires weekly dusting.

The Naval Air Station North Island Civilian Welfare and Recreation Department sponsors NIGMS and the society offers a silversmith class on Thursdays. “We learn how to make pins, rings, broaches and more,” said Jon. “The society serves members who are interested in gemology, mineralogy, geology, lapidary, jewelry arts, collecting, displaying, trading, and sharing rocks and minerals.” He said that the organization is devoted to the study of earth sciences and the practice of lapidary arts and crafts and does this with concern for the preservation of public lands for rock-hounding purposes,” he said.

NAVAIR provides cost-wise readiness and dominant maritime combat power to make a great Navy and Marine Corps team better.

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