It is really important to keep labels when you add new specimens to your collection. They serve many important functions:
Provenance—they provide the history of ownership.
Chronology—they help establish the time of discovery of the mineral.
Source—they provide details of which dealer or mine originally supplied the mineral.
Add Value—they increase the value of specimens, particularly if the specimen was once in a famous collection.
However, it never surprises us how many specimens we see without any labels or documentation. Their lack immediately reduces the monetary and scientific value of any mineral.
But why do some collectors get rid of their labels? One reason we are told is that specimens sitting on labels do not look attractive on shelves in collections. Another is that labels cut out the light in display cases, or they just get in the way.
Often in such situations, the labels are removed and jumbled up so that it's difficult to match them to a specimen, or worse, they are thrown away altogether.
So, what's the answer?
If you really don't want to keep specimens and labels together, we recommend using small adhesive paper dots, which are numbered and fixed to each specimen. A different number for each specimen.
Other dots with the same number are then stuck to the back of the labels associated with that particular specimen. These can be stored separately and safely and can later be accurately reunited with the specimen.
The Assay House—Mineral Dealers of quality Mineral Specimens