Here is some information about both the collection and the people that run it. If you would like to use any of our photos on your website or in your publication, feel free to use them, no attribution needed. We only ask that you do not hot link (Embedding the photo at our website location) to the photos. You are allowed to hot-link to the photos on our server if you also put a link to our website.
About the Witkam Collection:
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This Collection of minerals was collected by Mr. William(Wim) and Mrs. Wilhelmina(Wil) Witkam – Van der Horn in Enschede, The Netherlands.
The collection was assembled between 1970 and 1990, they were around 60 when they started, and continued until they were in their eighties.
It started in that time because they decided to change their commercial sales field from a general Bookselling shop and a Publishing company to a more specialised shop, for books about nature, local history and other mostlu local activities. They then decided also to try to collect and sell minerals. First mostly from Germany, later from all over the world. Their eldest son worked in the Foreign Service of The Netherlands and lived in that capacity all over the world and they visited him in the USA, Japan, Senegal, Indonesia, and a lot of European countries too. In every country they collected new minerals and so the collection grew and grew, because collecting was a lot more important than selling.
They also had been regular visitors of many shows and conventions in the Netherlands but also in the USA. Mrs. Witkam was a librarian by profession and made a detailed catalogue of every item. We still have all the original documentation available in their own handwriting.
The total collection is over a 1000 pieces of minerals and gems. They stopped just because they were not longer able to travel but had the most important pieces in a large glass case in their living room.
They died in 2002 and 2003 and their son Michiel Witkam inherited this.
The present:
Michiel and Bri are working on getting the whole collection online so that others may continue to enjoy the collection and have an opportunity to purchase the pieces so that they go on to lead the rest of their mineral lives.
Bri is a 'Rockhound' specialising in Gem Minerals (Especially inclusions and synthetics) who also works in Gem Carving, Lapidary and many forms of art, including traditional painting, figure studies, portraits and so on.
Michiel is a very literate, semi-retired economist with a passion for classical music and always ready with a friendly smile. Michiel would never describe himself as a Rockhound. lol
We both live in the lovely, historical city of Groningen, in the Northern Netherlands.
'Er gaat niks boven Groningen' as they say.
Translated 'There is nothing about Groningen' (We are at the top of the Netherlands, after all ! :D )
All material on these pages are Copyright the Witkam Collection except as noted with the photos.