Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 4, 2007 18:38:47 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Well, just got back from the ranch. Man it was hot enough to melt the hochies off a brass monkey, Texas humid, and full of rattlesnakes , (chased one under the house and one under the woodshed and didn't catch either one. Darn!) My buddy had just killed three in his flower garden and a Yellow Bellied Racer ran under his feet while we were photographing his rocks and scared the hell out of him! *L*. Anyway, as you folks requested, I did my best to take pics of his magnificent fire opal finds this year in Virgin Valley, Nevada. Really hard to capture the fire in a steaming caldron of heat. Here's the best I could do and these pics really suck. These opals literally are ablaze with fire! Couple pics of a small limb of crystal opal. Don't know why but it looks milky in the pics and it's actually totally transparent just like a clear quartz crystal and totally full of fire in all the colors of the rainbow. OK now these two are milky in color and friggin huge. Deep blue and green fire along the edge and the milky part is full of mainly red and blue fire which doesn't show worth spit in my crumby pics. Some more various smaller hunks and by smaller, still quite large in my book and all are just full of fire in blues, oranges and reds: And finally. old Tom is even lucky at bug huntin. He went to the Utah trilobite dig and of course, found a stupendously perfect trilobite almost three inches long. Wow!
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SteveHolmes
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2009
Posts: 1,900
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Post by SteveHolmes on Sept 4, 2007 18:51:48 GMT -5
Glad to have you back Mel...and you didn't get bitten by any rattlers! That Opal is gorgeous and some nice big chunks. Man oh Man...I wished those Rainbow Ridge people would have been more friendly with us...oh well. Like that trilobite too. The place here in Utah...near Delta...is a hotspot for trilobites. There is a pay per dig site and anyone i've talked to that has gone there and dug, has been very successful. Thanks for the pics Mel. Oh yeah...you got some ID'ing to do...LOL! We're lost without you man. Steve
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firewalker45
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 929
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Post by firewalker45 on Sept 4, 2007 19:30:16 GMT -5
Wow those opals are gorgeous!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 4, 2007 20:11:16 GMT -5
Steve: That sounds just like the place where Tom hunted the trilobites. It was a claim owned by the Bug House which I think is in Delta. *LOL* It was touch and go with one of the rattlers, I was chasing him by crawling under our deck. Kept getting the stick under him but it was so hot he was just lightning fast and escaped under the house. Always keeps things interesting around there *L*....Mel
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Rockygibraltar
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,404
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Post by Rockygibraltar on Sept 4, 2007 20:13:16 GMT -5
That is such nice opal. I never see it as good as that.
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Post by snowdog on Sept 4, 2007 21:24:36 GMT -5
that is some serious "opal" !!! ---- sure wish I could go and dig ,dig ,dig, dig, ---- some of that !! ---- heard that next season is going to be the last that's open to the public !! --- how many scoops was that ? or did he get there before the "scoop" went into effect ?
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 4, 2007 21:42:13 GMT -5
snowdog: Tom bought one $400 scoop of unworked material. Had to wait in line quite awhile before he got one but it was so worth it. These pics are just a part of what he found too. I'd say he probably got about 20# of opal total. Unbelievable!!!.....Mel
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rallyrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2005
Posts: 1,507
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Post by rallyrocks on Sept 4, 2007 23:01:09 GMT -5
wow.... just...
wow!
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Post by stonesthatrock on Sept 4, 2007 23:12:27 GMT -5
pretty, pretty and pretty
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2007 0:02:41 GMT -5
Are those real? I think your friend found the mother lode! Those are just outstanding opals. Now more then ever I have to go there. Hopefully they won't close it too soon. I have heard you have to keep those in that area in water. Otherwise they dry out, is that true? Looks like you guys had a great trip, thanks for posting the photos.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 5, 2007 0:10:37 GMT -5
Tony: Those are called wet opal and supposedly will crack and lose color if not dried slowly and properly. I gotta say though that those large ones look like they'd dry out and cab real fine but who'd want to risk destroying such an incredible group of specimens. Oh, and this was my buddies trip. He's gone about three years now with great success each time. I'm an agate nut myself so haven't gone with him on these expeditions....Mel
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,789
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Post by adrian65 on Sept 5, 2007 0:30:09 GMT -5
Oh, these are awesome finds! It seems the ones in the 5th pic have some wooden structure.
Adrian
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 5, 2007 1:06:05 GMT -5
Adrian: Correct! Most all the virgin valley fire opal is more or less opalized wood or casts after wood bark, roots etc. If you look real close at the first two pics, you can see they are both fragments of the same limb cast even to the point of having a little opalized branchlet coming off one piece...Mel
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Post by MrP on Sept 5, 2007 8:47:19 GMT -5
Wow That is sure nice stuff. I am with you I would have to leave as is. Not so sure a person could improve on Mother here......MrP
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Sept 5, 2007 9:43:42 GMT -5
Beautiful stuff
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Post by Tonyterner on Sept 5, 2007 14:09:30 GMT -5
Holy guacamole!! That is some stunning stuff. Your friend is one lucky rockhound.
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Zoran
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2005
Posts: 880
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Post by Zoran on Sept 5, 2007 16:46:29 GMT -5
Awesome.
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rockinmom
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2007
Posts: 481
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Post by rockinmom on Sept 5, 2007 20:47:28 GMT -5
Oh goodness... I think I'm going to cry. Really beautiful Opal. I've never seen it like that before.
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Post by creativeminded on Sept 6, 2007 9:03:12 GMT -5
You should have put a drool alert on this post, that is georgous. Tami
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Post by beefjello on Sept 6, 2007 21:03:19 GMT -5
Holy cow those babies ARE ablaze!! Beautiful stuff there Mel!
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