Post by rocklicker on Feb 20, 2006 16:32:06 GMT -5
Yesterday my wife and I went to a rock shop in Hopland, CA that I have heard about. Being that there are no rock shops nearby I was giggling with anticipation about this trip. Here's the beautiful shop that greeted us (my wife's first words were "oh no...") Notice the tables of rocks in the front.
I like my rocks shops crusty and this sure was. It looked like the guy was trying to turn the whole shop into a big fossil, and it was halfway there!. Rocks were in piles all over the place. Many were in unmarked boxes. I found some great tiger eye under two boxes of grit. It was dusty, a little stange smelling and there were cobwebs in places. I was in hog heaven. My wife found some nice rose quartz she liked as I rooted around on the tables outside. I got a few rocks. Just as I was about to say this is a nice place and leave with a couple pieces of wood and a hunk of jasper, the guy said I should check out the rock yard out back. My eyebrows perked as he showed me about 15 tons (he says) of rough rock in boxes/barrels/piles, etc. all over the place. He told me to keep out of a few crates that were his. He said everything was about 1 to 3 bucks a pound and showed me some nice botz and montana moss agate.
Thing is, this rock yard was even closer to a fossil than the other part of the shop. I had to clear away branches and twigs just to get to the rocks. There was a hose and that helped. Also, there were some rockhoundng cats nearby that thought they would start making some corprolite for later. I tried to watch my step but was transfixed by the rocks. Good thing there was a hose, but I should have brought another pair of shoes (yuck)!
There was lots of red and yellow jasper, botz agate and wood galore. A lot of it was very loosely organized so it was like a treasure hunt. I even found two pieces of morgan hill jasper in a box. I kept digging in it hoping for more but gave up with thoughts of weird insects in there. He had a lot of nice stuff if you were willing to look and brave the pre-corprolite presents from the rockhounding cats. I'm not good at discerning between good rocks and junk, but I was impressed with what I found. I think it to be nice stuff all around. BTW, at this point my wife was in the car reading a book. She's so great and understanding. I think this was my birthday present. All in all, there were some good deals and some regular deals, but I got out of there for less than $100. It depends on what you were looking for. Overall, prices and quality was good- great for rough in the back. The guy was nice and showed me some neat fire agates (thanks for the tip Stoner).
When it was all said and done, we left with about 35 pounds of rock, a strange odor and a big smile. Dinner was in the pleasant town of hopland then the 45 minute trip home to scrub off the rocks and oggle at them. Here's the haul (warning- lots of pictures!):
Some rose quartz and amethyst my wife picked out
Jaspers galore
Montana moss agate. This stuff is new to me
Botzwana agate (I think),
Something green, some poppy jasper and ?? That little red and white guy is a mystery
Some rutilated quartz and lots of stuff I don't know. If anyone knows what any of this is, please let me know!
?? Any ideas?
Some wood!
Tiger eye, ??, and a carnelian dude
Fire agate. I only got a little because I'm new at grinding and it looks difficult.
Here's that carnilean in the sun.
Any help with ID is helpful. I am not sure what lots of this stuff is. Now I'm back home and eager to start in on this stuff. My wife and I had a great time. Hope you like the pics!
Steve
I like my rocks shops crusty and this sure was. It looked like the guy was trying to turn the whole shop into a big fossil, and it was halfway there!. Rocks were in piles all over the place. Many were in unmarked boxes. I found some great tiger eye under two boxes of grit. It was dusty, a little stange smelling and there were cobwebs in places. I was in hog heaven. My wife found some nice rose quartz she liked as I rooted around on the tables outside. I got a few rocks. Just as I was about to say this is a nice place and leave with a couple pieces of wood and a hunk of jasper, the guy said I should check out the rock yard out back. My eyebrows perked as he showed me about 15 tons (he says) of rough rock in boxes/barrels/piles, etc. all over the place. He told me to keep out of a few crates that were his. He said everything was about 1 to 3 bucks a pound and showed me some nice botz and montana moss agate.
Thing is, this rock yard was even closer to a fossil than the other part of the shop. I had to clear away branches and twigs just to get to the rocks. There was a hose and that helped. Also, there were some rockhoundng cats nearby that thought they would start making some corprolite for later. I tried to watch my step but was transfixed by the rocks. Good thing there was a hose, but I should have brought another pair of shoes (yuck)!
There was lots of red and yellow jasper, botz agate and wood galore. A lot of it was very loosely organized so it was like a treasure hunt. I even found two pieces of morgan hill jasper in a box. I kept digging in it hoping for more but gave up with thoughts of weird insects in there. He had a lot of nice stuff if you were willing to look and brave the pre-corprolite presents from the rockhounding cats. I'm not good at discerning between good rocks and junk, but I was impressed with what I found. I think it to be nice stuff all around. BTW, at this point my wife was in the car reading a book. She's so great and understanding. I think this was my birthday present. All in all, there were some good deals and some regular deals, but I got out of there for less than $100. It depends on what you were looking for. Overall, prices and quality was good- great for rough in the back. The guy was nice and showed me some neat fire agates (thanks for the tip Stoner).
When it was all said and done, we left with about 35 pounds of rock, a strange odor and a big smile. Dinner was in the pleasant town of hopland then the 45 minute trip home to scrub off the rocks and oggle at them. Here's the haul (warning- lots of pictures!):
Some rose quartz and amethyst my wife picked out
Jaspers galore
Montana moss agate. This stuff is new to me
Botzwana agate (I think),
Something green, some poppy jasper and ?? That little red and white guy is a mystery
Some rutilated quartz and lots of stuff I don't know. If anyone knows what any of this is, please let me know!
?? Any ideas?
Some wood!
Tiger eye, ??, and a carnelian dude
Fire agate. I only got a little because I'm new at grinding and it looks difficult.
Here's that carnilean in the sun.
Any help with ID is helpful. I am not sure what lots of this stuff is. Now I'm back home and eager to start in on this stuff. My wife and I had a great time. Hope you like the pics!
Steve