bitterbrook
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Always remember STEP NUMBER ONE!
Member since September 2006
Posts: 99
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Post by bitterbrook on Jan 29, 2007 20:00:02 GMT -5
In Furnace Creek, Nevada, at the gift shop, they were selling tumbled rocks for $1.50 apiece.
They were mostly dyed agates, running about one inch across max size.
Find a vendor out there in tourist country, tumble a few pounds of rocks and put those young'uns through college now!
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Post by BAZ on Jan 29, 2007 20:05:23 GMT -5
Yep, they do that a lot in Grand Canyon country too. Also a lot of Native American art... made in China.
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spacegold
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2006
Posts: 732
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Post by spacegold on Jan 29, 2007 23:38:20 GMT -5
Well, I am doing something like that, except that I am focused on jewelry grade product. A lot of the tourist rocks are Grade B at best. I haven't noticed myself getting rich, though. My sale last fall was not quite twice my grit order for the season. Hoping to do a little better this year with the saw running. The producers of the tourist rocks usually use huge tumblers and crank out a lot of stones. Along the Interstates many of the truck stops have the shiny agate vending machines, where the rocks are 25c each, mostly dyed.
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Post by akansan on Jan 29, 2007 23:51:39 GMT -5
I was noticing this myself last time I was walking the tourist shops around Carlsbad Caverns. I've always looked at the polished rocks no matter where I go - this time I was judging quality. None of these were dyed, but I wouldn't have been happy claiming them as my own! Many were pitted and flawed - for 50 cents each. I couldn't help thinking about the many superior rocks I've seen on this board and wonder what kind of price those would fetch!
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