Loud, George (1942-

George Albert Loud, prominent long-time mineral collector in Hilton Head Island (since his retirement in 2013), South Carolina, was born in Missouri on August 16, 1942, the son of Margaret and George A. Loud, Sr. He obtained his law degree from George Washington University (J.D., cum laude) and also earned a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering (magna cum laude) from Christian Brothers University. He married Karen McDonnell in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1978.

George’s law career spanned over 50 years as a distinguished patent attorney working in the Washington, DC, and northern Virginia area. His work covered mechanical, computer, pharmaceutical and chemical fields in preparing and prosecuting U.S. and foreign patent applications. He also served as a claim drafting instructor with Patent Resources Group for over 10 years, helping students prepare for the agency examination before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

He began collecting minerals in 1955, and most recently coauthored an article for Rocks & Minerals magazine on the minerals of the northern Virginia trap rock quarries (2023). Over the years he assembled an enormous worldwide collection, then sold most of his worldwide specimens in order to concentrate primarily on minerals from the United States, especially suites from the Middle Atlantic states where he has spent most of his life. He collects all sizes from micromounts to cabinet size.

George has housed his collection in an addition to his home. It consisted of three rooms devoted entirely to mineralogy. The walls carried an assortment of personal mementoes and mining memorabilia. A hallway was lined on both sides by a mineralogy and mining history library, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a ladder system for access. The Colorado section of reference books was so extensive that it was divided by county.

The mineral collection room featured cabinetry custom-built for him by Keith Williams, starting off with a relatively small single cabinet of minerals from the Hunting Hill quarry in Montgomery County, Maryland. Then came specimens in a long row of cabinets lining the left wall, beginning with a suite from his favorite locality, the famous Centreville quarry in Fairfax County, Virginia—source of many world-class apophyllite and prehnite specimens. Other Virginia specimens came from the Whitehall mine in Spotsylvania County; Amelia County; and large turquoise crystal specimens from the Bishop copper prospect at Lynch Station.

An impressive Pennsylvania suite filled another display case. Including a fine brucite from the Woods Chrome mine in Lancaster County. George’s specimens all carry a catalog number written on a white painted square in black ink and covered with a sealer coat. Provenance is important to him, and he carefully maintained old labels with each piece. His Phoenixville anglesite specimen from the Wheatley mine, for example, has labels from eight previous owners going all the way back to the famous mining magnate and mineralogist Charles Wheatley.

A great many other topical suites form part of the Loud collection as well, including gemmy minerals from Maine; a superb suite from Bisbee, Arizona; a suite from Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey; a superb witherite specimen from the Pigeon Roost mine near Glenwood in Montgomery County, Arkansas; a suite from Magnet Cove, Arkansas (a favorite collecting spot for George); A rare prismatic garnet from Spruce Pine, North Carolina (as well as many other North Carolina minerals); an anatase pseudomorph after titanite from Tuxedo Junction in North Carolina; an entire shelf of pseudomorphs from Mount Saint Hilaire, Quebec; and a suite of minerals from Japan. And these are just a small portion of the 9,000 specimens in his collection.

The George Loud collection has recently been sold to Rob Lavinsky (The Arkenstone).