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Post by superioragates on Jun 19, 2009 11:18:39 GMT -5
Just so everyone knows a person can sell agates on blujay.com for free also. It's just like ebay, but doesn't cost you anything at all to have an on-line store, and sell your products. I have a few of my own on there as well. go to www.blujay.com, and check it out!!! |
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Post by Bikerrandy on Jun 19, 2009 11:59:03 GMT -5
Who are you?
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Post by superioragates on Jun 19, 2009 15:37:47 GMT -5
My name is Marie and I am new to the rock hunting biz. I lost my job about 6 weeks ago, and to keep from going crazy, I needed someting to do. You may not be interested in how this started for me, but it is a neat story. I had a garage sale....for something to do. There is a large rock quarry behind our house, and this guy asked me if I thought it would be okay for him to go agate picking down there...hence the question: what's that? So he bends over, and shows me the ever so small chip of one. The next day I decided...for something to do...that I would just see what I could find down there....I'm hooked! I love it, and I go down to the pit every single day looking....it's awesome. I have found a LOT of really nice agates....up to 7 ounces, and I have a lot more ground to cover. I have some of my agates on Blujay, as I was looking for some way to show them off for free, then found out I might be able to sell some too as well as tumbling the smaller ones for myself.
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Post by Bikerrandy on Jun 19, 2009 21:40:45 GMT -5
Cool, that's great that you can find agates right behind your house. Do you have a tumbler yet? Thumlers and Lortone makes the best tumblers for the money. There's alot more to this hobby though, hang around a while. I've learned more here than I ever would have imagined.
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huffstuff
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2007
Posts: 1,222
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Post by huffstuff on Jun 19, 2009 21:45:42 GMT -5
Hi Marie,
Did you know your ID on blujay is supioragates? Also, your link up above didn't work for me, somehow the comma became part of the link.
Welcome!
Amy
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Post by superioragates on Jun 19, 2009 22:01:32 GMT -5
sorry the link did not work, if you type it in to your browser it should find it for you. Just remember that its spelled blu instead of blue.
The rock quarry behind my house is awesome, about 1/2 mile long or more, and I couldn't tell you how wide it is, but I know I have not covered even 1/2 of it.
I bought a thumlers 3lb. tumbler to begin with, I figure it will do me until I get better at it. I don't have a rock saw, so am limited to using a dremel with diamond blade to cut smaller ones.
Also, anyone know about a rock I found? It looks like moss agate, multiple colors almost smeared together in it, yellows, browns, reds, greens. Has some evidence of being an agate, small pitting etc....just wondering.
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Thunder69
Cave Dweller 
Thunder 2000-2015
Member since January 2009
Posts: 3,105
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Post by Thunder69 on Jun 19, 2009 22:07:10 GMT -5
Welcome ...If you can post pics on here of what you need id'd it would help...there is alot of knowledge here ..so just tap in.....John
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Post by superioragates on Jun 19, 2009 22:12:26 GMT -5
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Post by Michael John on Jun 19, 2009 23:24:32 GMT -5
You need to put the weight of the stones in your ads, to give buyers a better idea of what they're looking at.
I hate to say this, but your prices are very high. If you do a "superior agate" ebay search, you'll find nicer agates for much less money. Unfortunately, the world-wide influence of eBay pretty much sets the pricing standards. Yes, you will find web sites that have much higher prices, but a lot of them are hoping to find suckers who don't know better. With your current pricies, I don't think you'll have much luck on auction sites.
You'll find that, although free auctions are enticing to join, they get very little traffic. Sellers are often reduced to joining and spamming forums in order to attempt to lure people to their auctions, but that's not usually well received. You said you're new to all of this, and this is a nice group of folks here, so people didn't come down on you for it, but normally when people join and start advertising right off the bat, they aren't welcomed with open arms. The same holds true with a lot of forums. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be mean, I'm only trying to help you to understand since you're new at all of this.
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Post by NatureNut on Jun 20, 2009 8:13:01 GMT -5
MJ speaks the truth Superior. You might consider researching your prices further and setting them more realistically. Any kind of sustainable rock selling is built not by flash-in-the-pan advertising, but by cultivating long lasting relationships with potential customers. There are alot of nice folks on here, stick around and share your hobby and let us get to know you. Welcome.
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Post by superioragates on Jun 20, 2009 10:33:55 GMT -5
I apologize for giving the wrong impression here. I did not tell you about blujay to advertise at all, I thought you al might like to know that there are places out there that you can go to do this for free. As for the pricing, it's purely experimental, if they sell, they sell, if they don't they don't, I'll keep them, just cuz I love them....and because I'd love to polish a few big ones to see what else lies inside.....curiosity killed the cat and all. If someone made me an offer...I'd probably take it, just to say I sold one....lol. Again I apologize for giving the wrong impression. I'll try to take photos of the rock I found today and post it.
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Post by superioragates on Jun 20, 2009 10:41:00 GMT -5
I am also excited today because I went to 3 garage sales, and spent 51.00 on 3 rock tumblers......too cool. huh? I spent 150.00 on the first one I bought, so saved a bunch of money on these little ones....they are only like 3 lb. ones...but I figure eventually I'll have new pretties every week all done. Also went to a flea market here in town this morning, and there was a guy there that had a 1.5 pound beautiful laker for 125.00. I could not believe how pretty it was!!!! One of the garage sale people took me to the basement and showed me their stuff too....OH MY GOSH !! I could not believe the stuff they had!! A LOT of uncut/unpolished rough agates...just HUGE!!
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Post by deb193redux on Jun 20, 2009 10:46:02 GMT -5
Look for the lake superior agates that have tight rew & white banding. These have more value. The ones with redish orange shell around macro-crystal quartz are not so valuable. The ones on your site look lower quality. This is why folks have commented on the out of line pricing. Some $3 to $6 agates are listed for $30 to $45. Also, Botswana agate need to come from Botswana - not just have some dark banding. There are several books on Lake Superior Agate. These will help you identify the true collector pieces. You can get them from places like www.thegemshop.com, or other online sources. Enjoy the hobby |
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Post by superioragates on Jun 20, 2009 22:13:11 GMT -5
okay, I took the photos of this rock I needed to identify, but I don't see how to post it so you can see it. Also...pulled my first batch out of the tumbler today...sold 6 small pieces right away to the first person I showed them to...not too shabby! If someone can tell me how to post the pictures that would be great
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dsmith14469
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2009
Posts: 82
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Post by dsmith14469 on Jun 20, 2009 23:21:01 GMT -5
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Post by Bikerrandy on Jun 21, 2009 8:01:02 GMT -5
You mentioned that you don't have anything to cut with, if there's a Home Depot nearby, go to the flooring section and you can get a Workforce wet saw with a 7 inch diamond blade for less than $100. I think they still run $88. These are the best investment for the money, I've been using mine for three years! This will open another door to this hobby.  |
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Post by superioragates on Jun 21, 2009 8:51:18 GMT -5
www.myspace.com/superioragatesThis is where I have my pictures of the unknown rock, and of my my first batch of tumblers that came out yesterday. If anyone knows what this rock is or might be, please let me know. Thanks for the advice on the saw, I'll look in to it as soon as I can The nearest anything store to where I live is about 50 miles. Went to the lake yesterday....picked up a full coffee can full of nice ones...not big, but nice tumblers. We only live about 1.5 miles away from one of Minnesotas biggest lakes, so not too far for me to go.
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NorthShore-Rocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2008
Posts: 1,004
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Post by NorthShore-Rocks on Jun 21, 2009 9:47:38 GMT -5
Hi Marie!
I live in Duluth and collect Lake Superior Agates also. You must live near Mille Lacs? Your rock in question looks like it has some agate characteristics. There's an awful lot of different kind of agates in our region besides the fortification agates. Moss, plume, stromatolite, some of the jaspers borderline on agate, and you even occasionally find an agatized fossil, and rocks that fall somewhere in-between with many different traits. It's all fun! You're are gonna find there are many many different kinds of rock to tumble near you.
Steve
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Post by superioragates on Jun 21, 2009 9:59:04 GMT -5
Yes I live near Mille Lacs lake! Awesome! I eventually want to get up to your neck of the woods and look, but as I am not working money is tight, so hard for me to get there.....eventually.
Thanks for looking at the pics, I have been telling my son I think it's agate, but he wasn't sure, so I just kept it anyways, and kept argueing with him about it. I have another on that is about the same size, but looks like agate as well.
I have found some really nice sized agates - did you see the red and white banders? To others they may be 2nd grade, but I think they are just way too pretty. I am also finding HUGE chunks of red jasper/agate, some are too big for me to even think about carrying back to the house. Some of them are just solid red, no other colorings, no markings, swirling, or anything, just this bright reddish/purple color. We are finding yellow agate, green agate, reds, pinks, a little bit of everything...way to exciting! There is also a red,green, and black jasper down here in the quarry, and I am finding what looks like black agate/sardonix, but bot sure, I pick up the smaller pieces, just to see what they will look like tumbled. Thanks for looking again!!!!
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Post by Michael John on Jun 21, 2009 11:37:19 GMT -5
Once you get a photobucket account set-up and learn how to use it to post pics on the web (very easy), we'd all love to see pics of the stones you've described. Sounds like like you have many unusual, pretty stones nearby!
FYI, Steve DROVE from Minnesota a few months ago to come out here and rockhound with me. He really knows his stuff, and he's one heck of a nice guy who I'm proud to call my friend. He's been finding all sorts of great stuff up there in the UP. Apparently, most hounds up by you folks are obsessed with hunting Lakers, and pretty much consider everything else to be "Leaverites", so there's a LOT of great stuff up there for the taking. Steve's also big on hitting the quarries right after it rains.
As Randy mentioned, the WorkForce saw from Home Depot is definately one of the main tools that every rockhound should add to their tool arsenal. When you can afford it, seriously consider getting your hands on one. Over 100 people on this forum have bought them (probably over 150 by now), and everyone loves them.
It's great to hear your excitement as a "noobie" to all of this! I can definately understand that these first stones that you've found have some sentimental value, so you're not willing to part with them unless "the price is right". However, you're going to find that you'll become more and more addicted to this "hobby", and you'll be spending an increasing amount of time hounding. Before you know it, your house and yard will start to be over-run by your collected goodies. You probably can't visualize that yet, but trust me, it IS going to happen. You'll also quickly realize that there are expenses involved, and you'll see that selling a bit of your rock is the best and easiest way to fund "the addiction". At that point, you'll realize the wisdom of selling at low prices rather than high.
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