Fire Obsidian and Phoenix/Tucson 2016 trip - PIC HEAVY
Feb 16, 2016 19:38:03 GMT -5
captbob, rockpickerforever, and 5 more like this
Post by micellular on Feb 16, 2016 19:38:03 GMT -5
Just got back from a week in Phoenix and Tucson. I was visiting with my friend Lily and her family, who live in Phoenix. Her dad is a retired geologist, knapper, and fire obsidian aficionado. Her birth announcement was hanging on the wall at their house, and it's a hoot (names changed for privacy).
We checked out what's left of Quartzsite and I stopped by Idaho Rock Shop to pick out a few slabs. Shame I missed meeting Tony, though.
On the way back from Quartzsite, we nosed around the Brenda agate deposit but didn't find much. We probably didn't go far enough afield.The next couple days were spent checking out the home shop, his fire obsidian, getting a lesson in knapping, and cutting my first few obsidian cabs. Gotta say, having a Genie AND Titan to play around on was mighty nice.
Then I went to Tucson to visit my friend who is a grad student studying asteroids and meteorites. I got to see some meteorites in the Marvin Collection at Osiris-Rex and sneezily enjoy the company of her cat, Bob the Blob.
Lily and her dad caught up a day later, and we checked out the main show on Friday (kids day!). We browsed a half-dozen or so other shows, but spent the most time at the 22nd St and Rapa River shows.
I didn't get too many slabs during this visit, mainly a few harder-to-find nice ones. Instead, I got a really nice start to a collection of thumbnail specimens, polished agates, and finished gems.
Onto the pictures! Warning: there are 83.
-----------------------------------------------
Once upon a time in the 80s, Lily's dad spent a few weeks mining fire agate. Most of his collection has been high-graded and sold, but he did let me leave with a good half-pound or so of moderate-quality specimens.
My take
His real passion is for obsidian - it's what he exclusively works with nowadays.
Old stock Mexican Rainbow
Electric blue obsidian
Interestingly layered silver sheen
"Nebula"
His absolute love is fire obsidian. The following are some of his best specimens. Photos don't do them justice, since the color is highly directional.
I got to work on and take home these guys. All cabs were freehand.
Mexican rainbow
Silver sheen
Gold sheen mahogany. There's a barely discernible bit of fire in the dark corner.
Fire obsidian specimen! Couldn't get the top layer off because it's too close to the fire layer.
Saguaros are epic
Bob the Blob. He's a fat ole sixteen-pounder.
My favorite Fukang
Nice butterfly
Onto the shows! As DirtCleaner mentioned, the theme was Shades of Blue.
But first, a fish.
A quilted replica of stone art. Quite appropriate because Lily's mom is a huge quilter, and was actually at a quilt show while we were at a rock show.
I really liked this micromount exhibit.
My favorite, benitoite.
Got a chuckle out of me
Didn't realize that halite could be blue!
This ridiculously huge star sapphire ring wanted $15k. Think it could have fit across three of my fingers.
To be chromatographically contrary, an AZ wulfenite exhibit.
Some other cool things.
Dendritic montana
Crazy malachite on a base of malachite/sugilite/lapis intarsia
Cute whimsical inlay
Fun with gold sheen obsidian. The back was as fine as the front.
Someone had a good deal going for them.
Haul highlights!
Pyritized ammonite
Thumbnail selenite
Thumbnail copper in selenite
Thumbnail copper
Thumbnail Bisbee azurite and malachite
Thumbnail topaz with bixbyite
Thumbnail spessartite (China)
Thumbnail wulfenite on fluorite
Slabs!
From catmandewe. Highlight is the $5 very thin endcut of Bruneau that shows really nice orbs
Gem Owyhee - gonna keep this as a specimen
Noreena
Polish flint
Gem Silica or Shattuckite, not sure
Spectrolite
Woodward Ranch polished slab
Specimens
Marcasite in quartz
Montana UFO scene
Dendritic agate from Kazakhstan
Heat treated Brazilian polished slice
Brenda agate - to show me what ~could~ have come from our collecting trip
Thick OJ slab
Janos thunderegg that looks like a phoenix
Laguna (?) with shadow
Laguna (?)
Wave Hill, Australia
Laguna or Agua Nueva, can't remember
Dunno
Laguna - Pricy slice
Coyamito
Shadow agate from Madagascar
Gems n rough
Baby rough Montana sapphires
Mexican yellow apatite. Fished these out of a tray of mixed grade.
Vietnamese aquamarine. Birthstone and my parents' country, so I splurged.
Mexican fire opal rough for practice
Canadian ammolite
Lightning ridge opal with rolling flash. Discounted because of the black potch vein that looks like a fracture.
Cheapo little Mexican triplet
Rutile in quartz
Faceted andalusite, 0.5 ct
Suite of tourmalines, ~0.6 ct each
Color change garnet, 0.65 ct. Goes from light rosy salmon to champagne.
Color change sapphire, 0.8 ct each, one with a huge inclusion that I didn't see in the lighting. Goes from dichroic gray/dark teal to violet-purple.
My favorite finds - I was looking through someone's huge tray of tumbled montana cabs when I got the hunch that a couple might be iris. Bought them, took them out into the sunlight, and...I was right!
Thanks for sticking through that giant post!
One-of-a-kind Gem Discovered in Arizona
Worth Her Weight in Gold!
Dad and Mom strike it rich beyond their wildest dreams!
Dad did the initial drilling and Mom worked the claim for nine months...They hit paydirt on Birthday and named the new gem Lily. Dad disclosed that the excavation was somewhat tedious as explosives were ruled out from the start. Mom agreed that the use of hand tools would guarantee a flawless specimen. It's believed that the gem was formed as a result of hydrothermal injection and still displays outgassing on a regular basis. The two miners have recently staked out a large claim, but are trying to find room for the noxious tailings.
Worth Her Weight in Gold!
Dad and Mom strike it rich beyond their wildest dreams!
Dad did the initial drilling and Mom worked the claim for nine months...They hit paydirt on Birthday and named the new gem Lily. Dad disclosed that the excavation was somewhat tedious as explosives were ruled out from the start. Mom agreed that the use of hand tools would guarantee a flawless specimen. It's believed that the gem was formed as a result of hydrothermal injection and still displays outgassing on a regular basis. The two miners have recently staked out a large claim, but are trying to find room for the noxious tailings.
We checked out what's left of Quartzsite and I stopped by Idaho Rock Shop to pick out a few slabs. Shame I missed meeting Tony, though.
On the way back from Quartzsite, we nosed around the Brenda agate deposit but didn't find much. We probably didn't go far enough afield.The next couple days were spent checking out the home shop, his fire obsidian, getting a lesson in knapping, and cutting my first few obsidian cabs. Gotta say, having a Genie AND Titan to play around on was mighty nice.
Then I went to Tucson to visit my friend who is a grad student studying asteroids and meteorites. I got to see some meteorites in the Marvin Collection at Osiris-Rex and sneezily enjoy the company of her cat, Bob the Blob.
Lily and her dad caught up a day later, and we checked out the main show on Friday (kids day!). We browsed a half-dozen or so other shows, but spent the most time at the 22nd St and Rapa River shows.
I didn't get too many slabs during this visit, mainly a few harder-to-find nice ones. Instead, I got a really nice start to a collection of thumbnail specimens, polished agates, and finished gems.
Onto the pictures! Warning: there are 83.
-----------------------------------------------
Once upon a time in the 80s, Lily's dad spent a few weeks mining fire agate. Most of his collection has been high-graded and sold, but he did let me leave with a good half-pound or so of moderate-quality specimens.
My take
His real passion is for obsidian - it's what he exclusively works with nowadays.
Old stock Mexican Rainbow
Electric blue obsidian
Interestingly layered silver sheen
"Nebula"
His absolute love is fire obsidian. The following are some of his best specimens. Photos don't do them justice, since the color is highly directional.
I got to work on and take home these guys. All cabs were freehand.
Mexican rainbow
Silver sheen
Gold sheen mahogany. There's a barely discernible bit of fire in the dark corner.
Fire obsidian specimen! Couldn't get the top layer off because it's too close to the fire layer.
Saguaros are epic
Bob the Blob. He's a fat ole sixteen-pounder.
My favorite Fukang
Nice butterfly
Onto the shows! As DirtCleaner mentioned, the theme was Shades of Blue.
But first, a fish.
A quilted replica of stone art. Quite appropriate because Lily's mom is a huge quilter, and was actually at a quilt show while we were at a rock show.
I really liked this micromount exhibit.
My favorite, benitoite.
Got a chuckle out of me
Didn't realize that halite could be blue!
This ridiculously huge star sapphire ring wanted $15k. Think it could have fit across three of my fingers.
To be chromatographically contrary, an AZ wulfenite exhibit.
Some other cool things.
Dendritic montana
Crazy malachite on a base of malachite/sugilite/lapis intarsia
Cute whimsical inlay
Fun with gold sheen obsidian. The back was as fine as the front.
Someone had a good deal going for them.
Haul highlights!
Pyritized ammonite
Thumbnail selenite
Thumbnail copper in selenite
Thumbnail copper
Thumbnail Bisbee azurite and malachite
Thumbnail topaz with bixbyite
Thumbnail spessartite (China)
Thumbnail wulfenite on fluorite
Slabs!
From catmandewe. Highlight is the $5 very thin endcut of Bruneau that shows really nice orbs
Gem Owyhee - gonna keep this as a specimen
Noreena
Polish flint
Gem Silica or Shattuckite, not sure
Spectrolite
Woodward Ranch polished slab
Specimens
Marcasite in quartz
Montana UFO scene
Dendritic agate from Kazakhstan
Heat treated Brazilian polished slice
Brenda agate - to show me what ~could~ have come from our collecting trip
Thick OJ slab
Janos thunderegg that looks like a phoenix
Laguna (?) with shadow
Laguna (?)
Wave Hill, Australia
Laguna or Agua Nueva, can't remember
Dunno
Laguna - Pricy slice
Coyamito
Shadow agate from Madagascar
Gems n rough
Baby rough Montana sapphires
Mexican yellow apatite. Fished these out of a tray of mixed grade.
Vietnamese aquamarine. Birthstone and my parents' country, so I splurged.
Mexican fire opal rough for practice
Canadian ammolite
Lightning ridge opal with rolling flash. Discounted because of the black potch vein that looks like a fracture.
Cheapo little Mexican triplet
Rutile in quartz
Faceted andalusite, 0.5 ct
Suite of tourmalines, ~0.6 ct each
Color change garnet, 0.65 ct. Goes from light rosy salmon to champagne.
Color change sapphire, 0.8 ct each, one with a huge inclusion that I didn't see in the lighting. Goes from dichroic gray/dark teal to violet-purple.
My favorite finds - I was looking through someone's huge tray of tumbled montana cabs when I got the hunch that a couple might be iris. Bought them, took them out into the sunlight, and...I was right!
Thanks for sticking through that giant post!