rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 611
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Post by rocknrob on Oct 25, 2024 10:46:51 GMT -5
Good morning! An opportunity fell into my lap and I wanted to gauge if there was enough interest for me to tell the seller I'll buy. There's someone selling her fathers estate and they happen to have a significant quantity of Holley blue to the tune of over 5 pounds of the stuff. They are in various sizes and mostly tumbled. Here's the pic she sent me. There are definitely some cabbable pieces in there. Would $85 per half pound lot random pull including Small flat rate shipping have anyone interested? - Rob
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Post by pebblesky on Oct 25, 2024 13:19:52 GMT -5
I feel the deep soft spots pits make locating areas for cabbing a bit challenging. $85 for half a pound still sounds a good price based on their rarity.
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,483
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Post by realrockhound on Oct 25, 2024 13:43:02 GMT -5
For collecting purposes, good buy. For cabbing purposes… from experience, I don’t think you’ll get much out of the lot. I’ve seen more than enough holly in my life to know it’s a difficult material to get good cabbing grade rough. I’m not sure if it’s something to do with the deposit itself or what, but it’s a very fracture prone material. They just shows up out of nowhere
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 611
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Post by rocknrob on Oct 25, 2024 14:51:24 GMT -5
For collecting purposes, good buy. For cabbing purposes… from experience, I don’t think you’ll get much out of the lot. I’ve seen more than enough holly in my life to know it’s a difficult material to get good cabbing grade rough. I’m not sure if it’s something to do with the deposit itself or what, but it’s a very fracture prone material. They just shows up out of nowhere The small tumbly pieces I currently have certainly have a lot of mini fractures in them. There are a lot of really dark purple ones in there that give me some hope, I.E. slicing it up should still keep quite a bit of that trademark purple look. Another thing that's going to make my mind up for the purchase is what the agates I've already purchased is going to look like. - Rob
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Post by amygdule on Oct 25, 2024 15:37:31 GMT -5
Considering what I've seen before
I would call that Low Grade...
Maybe worth 20 a lb
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 611
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Post by rocknrob on Oct 25, 2024 17:10:56 GMT -5
Considering what I've seen before I would call that Low Grade... Maybe worth 20 a lb Really? Do you have an example of what you would consider high grate Holley rough amygdule? I would love to see it. Compared to most of the rough or even partially tumbled stuff I see on Ebay and Etsy aside from the finished cabs this stuff pops way more colorful. Ebay is full of stupid prices though, some trying to charge $1 a gram for some bland stuff. I don't see them selling but TBH it's pretty grey. - Rob
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,483
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Post by realrockhound on Oct 25, 2024 17:33:21 GMT -5
Considering what I've seen before I would call that Low Grade... Maybe worth 20 a lb Really? Do you have an example of what you would consider high grate Holley rough amygdule? I would love to see it. Compared to most of the rough or even partially tumbled stuff I see on Ebay and Etsy aside from the finished cabs this stuff pops way more colorful. Ebay is full of stupid prices though, some trying to charge $1 a gram for some bland stuff. I don't see them selling but TBH it's pretty grey. - Rob $1 a gram for good quality is pretty standard. It’s not so much about the color as it is the consistency and use ability. If I get back over to “my guy” soon, I’ll share some pics of what would be considered good or lapidary grade. And I agree with you on the eBay prices being silly. Lots of way over priced stuff just because it has the holly name. That honestly goes with a lot of materials tbh. As just an FYI, I’m not trying to discount or discourage others from what you’re offering. Just trying to share some insight on it, with having seen a lot, and lapidary grade material in person.
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 611
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Post by rocknrob on Oct 25, 2024 18:05:00 GMT -5
Really? Do you have an example of what you would consider high grate Holley rough amygdule ? I would love to see it. Compared to most of the rough or even partially tumbled stuff I see on Ebay and Etsy aside from the finished cabs this stuff pops way more colorful. Ebay is full of stupid prices though, some trying to charge $1 a gram for some bland stuff. I don't see them selling but TBH it's pretty grey. - Rob $1 a gram for good quality is pretty standard. It’s not so much about the color as it is the consistency and use ability. If I get back over to “my guy” soon, I’ll share some pics of what would be considered good or lapidary grade. And I agree with you on the eBay prices being silly. Lots of way over priced stuff just because it has the holly name. That honestly goes with a lot of materials tbh. As just an FYI, I’m not trying to discount or discourage others from what you’re offering. Just trying to share some insight on it, with having seen a lot, and lapidary grade material in person. I would love to see some examples, most of the Holley I've seen (and TBH it's not much) has been on Etsy and Ebay. I haven't seen it in many shows. One of the attractions I have towards this material is that it's not going to be popped out of China at irritatingly low prices any time soon because it's a harder to come by material that thankfully isn't available in China. I literally saw some folks trying to offer blue calcedony from Namibia as "Holley blue" just because it was a thing. I swear this globalization stuff is 80% bullcrap which makes it harder to find that 20% that's legit. I'm not offering this yet. I'm gauging interest before I pull the trigger on their offer which is a bit high at the moment. I think I may pass on this opportunity unless they drop the price significantly.
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AzRockGeek
has rocks in the head
Member since September 2016
Posts: 703
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Post by AzRockGeek on Oct 25, 2024 18:39:58 GMT -5
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 611
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Post by rocknrob on Oct 25, 2024 18:44:26 GMT -5
Here are some from my collection I like to consider high grade, plus a very large piece I got from a friend that said it was HB. Never seen it this large of pieces. Ok, I'm seeing the difference now. Lots of pits and fractures in the box picture they sent me while yours has a pretty sizable clean area you can use to make jewelry with. I just got my first box that I ordered earlier and most of that stuff is super small, usable only for earrings or maybe a ring but definitely not large enough for a pendant without some creative cutting. Finding any HB in large usable size seems to be pretty needle in a haystack. Thank you! - Rob
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Post by pebblesky on Oct 25, 2024 18:53:44 GMT -5
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Post by pebblesky on Oct 25, 2024 19:03:58 GMT -5
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 611
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Post by rocknrob on Oct 25, 2024 19:19:25 GMT -5
Here are the ones I just received today, dry and in daylight. I think I'll pass on the offer for sure but I can probably make something, if not polished side specimens from this stuff.
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AzRockGeek
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Member since September 2016
Posts: 703
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Post by AzRockGeek on Oct 25, 2024 19:26:54 GMT -5
Wow!!!! Thank you for researching this and sharing! Just became part of my retirement plan.
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,483
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Post by realrockhound on Oct 25, 2024 19:56:21 GMT -5
Here are some from my collection I like to consider high grade, plus a very large piece I got from a friend that said it was HB. Never seen it this large of pieces. Yep. A lot of this is good cabbing grade quality. Has the nice opaque color to it as well that won’t fade when cabbed. Biggest piece of holly I’ve personally seen was approximately a 50lb piece. Damn near the size of a bowling ball.
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rocknrob
has rocks in the head
If Costco only sold slabs in bulk...
Member since May 2024
Posts: 611
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Post by rocknrob on Oct 25, 2024 20:00:55 GMT -5
Odd that neither of them include a weight measurement but at that point I think you're buying it on looks alone . Thanks for the examples, didn't know you could look up previous sales of the material on Etsy. Do you have to have a storefront in order to access that feature? - Rob
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Post by pebblesky on Oct 25, 2024 20:18:25 GMT -5
Odd that neither of them include a weight measurement but at that point I think you're buying it on looks alone . Thanks for the examples, didn't know you could look up previous sales of the material on Etsy. Do you have to have a storefront in order to access that feature? - Rob I just did some random search, and the result led me to an etsy listing (that is not sold out), and I noticed several reviews with Holley Blue pictures from the same seller, and I clicked through them. I also would like to check a store's sold items from time to time using links like this: www.etsy.com/shop/<store_name>/soldUsually if the "xxx sales" on their storefront is clickable, it is linking to the url above. Note that the link sometimes doesn't show up during a certain period of time of the day, or sometimes the seller could permanently turn off their sold history.
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