The sand collector

Tonny Brinkman with one of her many catalogues (Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira)

The Brinkman Sand Collection 1 (Hugh Grenfell and Auckland Museum via Facebook)

Sand close up 1 (Tonny Brinkman)

Map of sand samples from Denmark (Tonny Brinkman)

A page from Tonny's catalogue showing New Zealand sands with their catalogue patches and microscopic photos (Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira)

Hugh Grenfell and Tonny Brinkman with a chocolate box of sands at Tonny's home in Henderson (Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira)

The Brinkman Sand Collection 2 (Hugh Grenfell and Auckland Museum via Facebook)

Sand close up 2 (Tonny Brinkman)

Tonny with some of her mineral collection (Tonny Brinkman)

We need sand to make glass, concrete, bricks and it's essential for beach volleyball, aquaria and of course building sand castles.

Sand is a huge global business today, and as we discovered on the programme back in June, there's a massive surge in demand for sand as our built environments continue to grow and grow.

Sand isn't just yellow grainy stuff you find at the beach, either.

It comes in all sorts of colours and shapes and every grain tells a story about the place it comes from; the mix of minerals, rocks, shells and man-made materials like plastic providing a unique snapshot of a place's geology and the forces at work shaping its future.

So although we tend to take sand for granted, perhaps it's no wonder that people collect sand, too.

Tonny Brinkman is a 93-year-old sand fan who has donated her collection of thousands of different sands from all over the world to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.