Rocky Batchelor: Collecting the Earth and the art of attention

In a world where collectibles have become a form of currency, from watches and art to cars, sneakers, and digital assets, mineral collecting might just be one of the coolest hobbies there is. It’s gaining popularity not because it’s fashionable, but because it’s fundamentally different. These objects aren’t made by people; they aren’t designed, branded, or engineered for admiration. They simply exist, the result of time on a scale that’s almost impossible to comprehend. Today, the world’s finest mineral specimens are collected not only privately, but by museums and institutions globally.

Rocky Batchelor has spent over a decade as a commercial photographer in the lifestyle and magazine space, capturing more than 80 magazine covers for brands including Vanity Fair, Playboy, and Maxim.

In 2020, he co-founded 19zero3, an Australian-based luxury travel content and marketing agency, delivering projects across 28 countries for luxury hotels, hospitality groups, and airlines. His career has shaped the way he sees the world and that same instinctive way of seeing has naturally shaped his approach to building a fine mineral collection.

“As a photographer, my eye is drawn to strong composition, contrast, texture, and colour. It was inevitable that once I discovered the world of minerals, the endless possibilities for a collection, and the sheer scale of an industry I had no idea existed, I instantly found a fascination and wanted to dive deeper.”

Image by – László Kupi@finemineralphotography

What the Earth produces naturally is one of the purest forms of art imaginable. Many of these formed millions, and in some cases billions of years ago, a timeframe that’s genuinely difficult to comprehend when standing in front of a cabinet filled with them. Across the world, mineral shows attract hundreds of thousands of attendees, all drawn to the same sense of wonder. These objects have been admired for thousands of years through jewellery, decoration, and ornamentation, and now they’re being shown and collected in their purest form. With some specimens fetching values in the multiple millions, it’s no surprise that mineral collecting has become more than a hobby; much like art, it’s a storage of value.

But beyond rarity or value, what draws Rocky in most is the honesty of the material.

“To me, the fact that mineral specimens are, for the most part, completely natural is what makes them so compelling. They aren’t polished. They aren’t artificially coloured. Their geometry and aesthetics are formed entirely by nature. Most people wear jewellery featuring precious stones without ever seeing how mesmerising they are in their natural form. There’s just something incredibly powerful about appreciating an object that hasn’t been altered to suit human taste.”

To view and learn more – https://earthwonders.com/u/rockybatchelor

Attending the 2025 Munich show with Fabian Wildfang -@thewildfangcollection.museum Image by Albert Russ – @albertrussphotography

Left to right – Mark Cross – @pegmatiteobsession, Will Jessup -@wjessup_crystals, Rocky Batchelor – @rb.fineminerals, Wang and Tiffany – @Super_mineral_ visiting the Fabian Wildfang collection in Germany.