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Post by stardiamond on Aug 26, 2023 12:24:36 GMT -5
One of my bedrooms was my wife's artist studio. She stopped painting years ago and the room was used for storage including some of my rocks. I bought a 6 tier shelves on wheels at Costco so I could store things vertically. This caused me to revisit some boxes of rocks and slabs I haven't looked at for a while. The Highland Park Zoom rock sale was yesterday and there were a few Howardite slabs that went for good money. What is being sold today is not Howardite, it is something that was called Royal Flamingo or Red Howardite, but now they just call it Howardite. Howardite is also the name of some meteorites. My introduction to Howardite started with Silverhawk's cabs. My wife collected cabs and his Howardite always sold for a good price at auction. He had some kind of connection to the miner. I emailed his wife and she had rough for $5 a pound. I didn't have a saw and buying rough blind is risky. I asked about buying slabs and she said it would take a while. I was at a rock show in Reno about three months later and visited he table. She said the price of Howardite rough was now $55 a pound. I've managed to pick up some small rough and slabs over the years. A nice Howardite cab sells for over $100. What is distinctive is the rattlesnake pattern. Only some of the old Howardite has it. I have been buying new Howardite rough and slabs from John Zawicki who sells as Altmanontbeads on Etsy and on Facebook. His prices were a lot lower than HP. After seeing the HP prices, I went to his Etsy shop and the quality of his slabs was inferior from what I got in the past. After going through my boxes, I already have a good supply. The new Howardite can be a lot more silicated than the original and less likely to fracture. Top picture shows the translucence, the middle picture original Howardite. The bottom picture shows three different slabs. The one on the left is about as close in color and pattern as original,the middle is a piece that is mostly clear and the right is a very silicated transluscent piece.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Aug 26, 2023 12:55:44 GMT -5
I don't know how/where/when the "Rattlesnake" name originated. Long ago it was called "Plaid Agate" and was so plentiful thousands of pounds of it were bashed into pieces and tumbled.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 26, 2023 13:13:54 GMT -5
It looks more like the pattern of scales on a rattlesnake than any plaid material I've seen. My history only goes back about 20 years. When were there tons that were tumbled?
"The specific locality for Howardite appears to be unknown. Howardite is said to have been discovered in a small occurrence/pocket in the 1940's or 1950's, and the locality/deposit was thereafter said to be mined out, lost, or closed to entry for military purposes (depending on which account you hear). From what I have heard it was last dug in the 1970's and the discoverer could not find his way back to the deposit. Rediscovered about 2015-2016 by dominion gems. Four claims were located on the deposit in january 2018 by dominion gems, but not recorded to keep the locality "Private" and to deter poaching and highgrading; shortly thereafter the deposit was rediscovered by others."
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Aug 26, 2023 15:04:59 GMT -5
stardiamond Tumbling: The 1950s and 60s. There was a large commercial tumbling operation in Rosamond, CA (name forgotten) with monster tumblers that processed a lot of it. Yes, the story about the location being lost correlates with my recollection. The new material with many names including Rattlesnake, Flamingo etc. appeared quite recently as I recall, though it may have been around much longer before I learned of it. Most of what I've seen doesn't look at all like the original material. Re: Rattlesnake vs. Plaid. I can see how both names could apply. I'm just posting my recollection. I gave all my old LJ's away but if I had them I could show you ads for Plaid Agate. I've always liked the material and now wish I'd hoarded more from the "old days." I'm down to one loose cab and a pendant for my wife featuring it.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 26, 2023 15:21:08 GMT -5
From Mindat:
An unusual gem/lapidary material (improperly) called "Howardite" and also known as "Rattlesnake Jasper" from a "lost" locality in Nevada.
This material was said to be an opalized/agatized/jasperized tuff infused with chalcedony, in which the plaided or wood grain "appearance" was stated (1940's ?) to be created from the pulsation of iron bearing waters infiltrated through the tuff. Sinkankas (GNA, Vol.1, 1959) depicts similar material which he stated more closely resembled Chert. It has been mistaken as petrified wood in the past. I have not had any tests performed on the material, so can only go on what little I can find in the literature, which is scarce. It is a highly desirable material in the lapidary community.
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Post by Rockoonz on Aug 27, 2023 10:44:46 GMT -5
stardiamond was dominion gems the people who were attempting to sell the "claim" without claiming it? It came up on the interwebs for sale several years ago for a rather large sum, posted and reposted all over social media. They never claimed it. The posts included pics that made it fairly easy for a friend to figure out where it was, check for claim actions, and finding none put in the claim himself. That's why if you find something NEVER post pictures with surrounding landscape on social media. It can also be argued that claiming anything just provides GPS coordinates to people who will have no problem raiding it and stealing your material, best to mine all you want, store it, then file a clain to make it a commercial sellable material. (then stake it and put up game cameras and prosecute the fools who are bound to show up) I believe the claim I refer to is Johns "peacock" claim now.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 27, 2023 14:10:27 GMT -5
I am far removed from anything to do with claims. I buy rocks on the internet.
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realrockhound
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Howardite
Aug 27, 2023 15:26:42 GMT -5
via mobile
Mel likes this
Post by realrockhound on Aug 27, 2023 15:26:42 GMT -5
I’m the claim owner now!
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Post by vegasjames on Aug 27, 2023 21:08:34 GMT -5
stardiamond was dominion gems the people who were attempting to sell the "claim" without claiming it? It came up on the interwebs for sale several years ago for a rather large sum, posted and reposted all over social media. They never claimed it. The posts included pics that made it fairly easy for a friend to figure out where it was, check for claim actions, and finding none put in the claim himself. That's why if you find something NEVER post pictures with surrounding landscape on social media. It can also be argued that claiming anything just provides GPS coordinates to people who will have no problem raiding it and stealing your material, best to mine all you want, store it, then file a clain to make it a commercial sellable material. (then stake it and put up game cameras and prosecute the fools who are bound to show up) I believe the claim I refer to is Johns "peacock" claim now. Yes, a lot of people do not realize that when they take photos with their phone, and some digital cameras record the GPS coordinates of the photographs, and with the right software can be read.
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realrockhound
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Chucking leaverite at tweekers
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Post by realrockhound on Aug 27, 2023 21:20:02 GMT -5
stardiamond was dominion gems the people who were attempting to sell the "claim" without claiming it? It came up on the interwebs for sale several years ago for a rather large sum, posted and reposted all over social media. They never claimed it. The posts included pics that made it fairly easy for a friend to figure out where it was, check for claim actions, and finding none put in the claim himself. That's why if you find something NEVER post pictures with surrounding landscape on social media. It can also be argued that claiming anything just provides GPS coordinates to people who will have no problem raiding it and stealing your material, best to mine all you want, store it, then file a clain to make it a commercial sellable material. (then stake it and put up game cameras and prosecute the fools who are bound to show up) I believe the claim I refer to is Johns "peacock" claim now. Yes, a lot of people do not realize that when they take photos with their phone, and some digital cameras record the GPS coordinates of the photographs, and with the right software can be read. Bingo!! Whenever I post photos, it’s either places no one else can get to. Meta data has been scrubbed, or…. They are taken in other places that will lead people on wild goose chases if they feel inclined to track it down.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 27, 2023 21:27:19 GMT -5
I have a flip phone and take pictures with a very good digital slr. Good pictures help sell cabs.
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Post by Mel on Aug 29, 2023 19:18:02 GMT -5
stardiamond was dominion gems the people who were attempting to sell the "claim" without claiming it? It came up on the interwebs for sale several years ago for a rather large sum, posted and reposted all over social media. They never claimed it. The posts included pics that made it fairly easy for a friend to figure out where it was, check for claim actions, and finding none put in the claim himself. That's why if you find something NEVER post pictures with surrounding landscape on social media. It can also be argued that claiming anything just provides GPS coordinates to people who will have no problem raiding it and stealing your material, best to mine all you want, store it, then file a clain to make it a commercial sellable material. (then stake it and put up game cameras and prosecute the fools who are bound to show up) I believe the claim I refer to is Johns "peacock" claim now. Yes, a lot of people do not realize that when they take photos with their phone, and some digital cameras record the GPS coordinates of the photographs, and with the right software can be read. There is also an insane group of people called "geolocators" who can identify locations just by photos without any data. It is absolutely insane how they can figure out locations just from a certain tree or rock or plant in a photo.
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realrockhound
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Post by realrockhound on Aug 29, 2023 19:33:17 GMT -5
Yes, a lot of people do not realize that when they take photos with their phone, and some digital cameras record the GPS coordinates of the photographs, and with the right software can be read. There is also an insane group of people called "geolocators" who can identify locations just by photos without any data. It is absolutely insane how they can figure out locations just from a certain tree or rock or plant in a photo. I’ve been guilty of this 😂. In my defense, I’ve covered a lot of land out here. So when people post YouTube videos or photos, it’s not hard for me to dial in and figure it out. Then I tell them, Get outta muh SWAMP.
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