Tommy
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Member since January 2013
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Post by Tommy on Jun 17, 2013 13:03:13 GMT -5
I can’t give you a date and time but if anyone from RTH is interested in trying to in here with my help please let me know. The homeowners moved to Oregon and members of my club are helping facilitate moving out 40-years of rock collecting – we initially thought we had three months but the house sold before it even went on the market. The home owners have until the 29th of this month to clear it all out. As of yesterday prices had dropped to around $10 for an over-flowing crate. From first-hand experience it has been picked but there are still awesome rocks there including a 300+ lb boulder of pink wonderstone/rhyolite that I’ve tried twice to move with no luck. Yesterday I saw that a club member had a sweet looking 5lb+ piece of a plumey looking agate in her crate. Also yesterday I helped my brother load up a 150 lb solid blue boulder of desert lapis. There are treasures to be had if you are willing to get diggity. This weekend I focused on obsidian and collected several crates of rainbow and gold-sheen mahogany and even found a sweet piece of blue-sheen obsidian which I’m pretty excited about. As of this moment there is probably two tons of Davis Creek obsidian rough in sizes on average 1 to 5 lbs and a couple of 50+lb boulders. It’s all going to end up in a commercial rockyard this weekend or next. There’s also a LOT of petrified wood – I can’t even tell you how many pieces of red/yellow AZ wood I passed over in the times I’ve been in there. It’s in Martinez, CA and it’s the sale that I’ve been talking about in the ID forum. The piles shown in the pictures have spread out and diminished somewhat but not by much. There has only been one organized sale but my brother and I have been in there multiple times – basically if someone is at the house the sale is on. I hate to see it loaded in a dump truck and to this end I will help you coordinate it if you want to come out and take a look – PM me. forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/60078/rock-sale-haul-more-added
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Post by christopherl1234 on Jun 17, 2013 14:05:43 GMT -5
Oh how I wish this was a bit closer to Bakersfield!!!
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Tommy
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Member since January 2013
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Post by Tommy on Jun 17, 2013 15:49:21 GMT -5
Here’s a small sampling of some of the obsidian I found yesterday. Blue/silver sheen – only found one small rock of this stuff. The area of blue is REALLY beautiful and I hope it extends beyond one or two slabs. Mohagany/gold sheen An end-cap I cut off yesterday.
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Post by christopherl1234 on Jun 17, 2013 19:53:04 GMT -5
Are you trying to torture me??
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 17, 2013 21:18:25 GMT -5
29th, huh?
Conceptually, I could swing up Friday night, picking up Shotgunner, Susan, and Christopher on the way, spend Saturday picking through the rough and then come back on Sunday. To cut costs, we could all stay at my parents house in Walnut Creek ... hmmmm ... Barbara would shoot me. So would my parents ... I can just hear my parents: "PAUL, You drove all the way up here for a rock sale?"
Well, I think I go back to dreaming about winning the Lottery.
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Tommy
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Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,684
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Post by Tommy on Jun 18, 2013 0:01:06 GMT -5
Are you trying to torture me?? Bakersfield ain't that far Christopher well... 4.5 hours
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Tommy
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Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,684
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Post by Tommy on Jun 18, 2013 0:04:14 GMT -5
Conceptually, I could swing up Friday night, picking up Shotgunner, Susan, and Christopher on the way, spend Saturday picking through the rough and then come back on Sunday. To cut costs, we could all stay at my parents house in Walnut Creek ... hmmmm ... Barbara would shoot me. So would my parents ... I can just hear my parents: "PAUL, You drove all the way up here for a rock sale?" Good plan Paul! only one thing you overlooked... y'all can pitch a tent in my backyard in Pleasant Hill and just tell everyone you went camping :-) Just have to keep Scott out of my out of my little rock pile
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Post by christopherl1234 on Jun 18, 2013 0:14:33 GMT -5
Like I really need more rock!! Of course I do!!!! I am hopelessly addicted.
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deedolce
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2006
Posts: 1,828
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Post by deedolce on Jun 18, 2013 2:09:59 GMT -5
I've been trying to resist!! Hmmmm
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 18, 2013 8:40:11 GMT -5
Give in, Dee. You're only 90 minutes from Martinez.
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deedolce
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2006
Posts: 1,828
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Post by deedolce on Jun 18, 2013 12:07:03 GMT -5
It would be a no brainer if you all came up this weekend! An RTH gathering!!
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Tommy
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Post by Tommy on Jun 18, 2013 23:16:37 GMT -5
So I spoke with the club member who is in charge of the selling and he confirmed that it is on for next weekend. Probably both days - Saturday and Sunday.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 19, 2013 21:21:51 GMT -5
So I spoke with the club member who is in charge of the selling and he confirmed that it is on for next weekend. Probably both days - Saturday and Sunday. Oh, yeah ... go ahead ... rub it in ... LOL! By the way, those were awesome finds in the other thread (not sure if I mentioned it), congrats!
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deedolce
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2006
Posts: 1,828
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Post by deedolce on Jun 19, 2013 23:03:39 GMT -5
Tommy, is that this coming weekend? Would you know if he had any jadeite or Californite and such? I've been wanting to get some of that lately, but not willing to pay ebay prices!
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Tommy
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Post by Tommy on Jun 19, 2013 23:43:30 GMT -5
Yes this weekend Dee and I don't think so on the jadeite or californite. I bought a lot of the green stuff they had including some low-grade chrysoprase and some of what I was told was a type of garnet (does gossamer garnet ring a bell?) but I didn't see anything that looked like Californite. I bought a 10 lb piece of what I thought might be jadeite - greenish blue and very heavy and dense but I had someone look at it and didn't know what it was but ruled out jadeite. There's a lot more of that stuff around. There was a lot of chrysocolla in various types of matrix but it's mostly crumbly after cutting a bunch of it. There's was and probably is lots of plasma agate.
Somebody with a better eye than me might spot treasures that I wouldn't recognize but at this point I would say that obsidian, pet wood, or onyx lovers would have a good time here - others might think it's been picked over.
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deedolce
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since October 2006
Posts: 1,828
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Post by deedolce on Jun 20, 2013 0:55:48 GMT -5
I'm not too successful with obsidian, and not so much into pet wood or onyx. Dang, I wish I saw your first post about it though! Thanks for giving us a heads up, I'll probably pass on it at this point.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2013 15:26:59 GMT -5
Yes this weekend Dee and I don't think so on the jadeite or californite. I bought a lot of the green stuff they had including some low-grade chrysoprase and some of what I was told was a type of garnet (does gossamer garnet ring a bell?) but I didn't see anything that looked like Californite. I bought a 10 lb piece of what I thought might be jadeite - greenish blue and very heavy and dense but I had someone look at it and didn't know what it was but ruled out jadeite. There's a lot more of that stuff around. There was a lot of chrysocolla in various types of matrix but it's mostly crumbly after cutting a bunch of it. There's was and probably is lots of plasma agate. Somebody with a better eye than me might spot treasures that I wouldn't recognize but at this point I would say that obsidian, pet wood, or onyx lovers would have a good time here - others might think it's been picked over. grossular garnetScore me a large chunk of plasma agate. LFRB sized! lol
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Tommy
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Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,684
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Post by Tommy on Jun 20, 2013 20:02:59 GMT -5
Yes that's it thanks. I'll post a few pics soon if I get any of that stuff cut up anytime soon. So much to cut and such a little saw... :-(
If I get back up there I will keep my eye out for some plasma for you. I'm not sure it's gonna happen though because my honey-and-her-doo-list has been sorely neglected lately :-(
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Tommy
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Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,684
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Post by Tommy on Jun 23, 2013 0:08:24 GMT -5
So ... sad update on the Martinez sale. I stopped by there tonight and it's all been cleared out :-( Apparently wires got crossed with the company hired to clean it out - they came a week early and took it all even though there was supposed to be two days of sales this weekend. All that was left were the rocks that line all the borders around flower beds in the front and back yards etc. Still a lot of rocks on the borders but the massive piles are all gone.
Luckily my GF and my son and I were able to pry out a 40lb red/yellow flamey looking agate that we've had our eye on for a few weeks but couldn't get dug out hahaha. I'll try to post a picture of it tomorrow.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2013 0:16:21 GMT -5
OK, sad............... Come to the Cady's instead!
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