chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Mar 11, 2010 9:52:40 GMT -5
Starting to feel like all my friends found out I was digging rocks so they are all sending me stuff. Can't do anything with anything, but it sure is nice to look at...lol... here's some photos of what arrived in the mail yesterday... this one is more a hunk than a slab...lol... 3 1/2 pounds... second pic is laying on it's face showing how thick it is The one above I'm waiting for someone to guess what it is... the one below everyone can figure out... I really love amber, when I can get it, most of my pieces are tiny, especially compared to this one. I shot this with natural light filtering through the amber, so beautiful....
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Mar 11, 2010 10:19:14 GMT -5
Totally forgot this beautiful piece, was in the bottom of the box hiding...
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Mar 11, 2010 10:49:14 GMT -5
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Post by Roller on Mar 11, 2010 17:13:02 GMT -5
I was just guna say ...If you sold some of this stuff you will probably be able to afford the necessary equip to get going !!! Tell me more about that amber piece! looks exciting ..
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Mar 11, 2010 22:02:45 GMT -5
They found an amber vein in some jungle, if I understand him right. Lots and lots of bugs in it. The piece that I got is about an inch and a half across, and totally brilliant, with lots of various inclusions. Really one of the nicest specimens I've ever seen. Chris said he was selling them for $200 for the small ones and sold almost every piece in less than a week. Must be expensive stuff! lol
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firewalker45
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 929
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Post by firewalker45 on Mar 12, 2010 7:34:54 GMT -5
That Amber is outsanding! Daniel
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Post by captbob on Mar 12, 2010 18:31:24 GMT -5
I'll toss out a guess that the red sphere is dyed Howlite.
And, unfortunately, I would bet everything that I will earn this year that the "amber" with the bee in it is man-made.
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Post by rockrookie on Mar 12, 2010 18:53:08 GMT -5
nice pixs !! very interesting !! --paul
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Mar 12, 2010 19:40:57 GMT -5
I'll toss out a guess that the red sphere is dyed Howlite. And, unfortunately, I would bet everything that I will earn this year that the "amber" with the bee in it is man-made. Wow Bob! You get the door prize for both!!! Great eye there. I'm making some artificial crystals this weekend to see how well I can emulate what they did with that amber. I'm sure it's man made, that bee looks too fresh to be from any period beyond maybe 10 years ago...lol Still it is beautiful, regardless, and for free I'm not going to complain. I actually laughed out loud when his note said he found a "vein of amber"....yeah, right, I was born during the day, but it wasn't yesterday.... You can see, looking at what all he sent me, what items are truly old and which one's are 'made to look old'....
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Post by 150FromFundy on Mar 12, 2010 21:33:08 GMT -5
The presence of a leg, wing, eyeball, etc in amber typically takes it from a $10 piece to a $100 dollar piece. What you have there would probably have another zero on the end and is museum worthy. Check out the internet. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Darryl.
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Mar 12, 2010 22:01:49 GMT -5
Actually submitting photos of it to a college professor who asked me about it. He's going to have them looked at to determine if it's authentic or not. Would be really nice if it is, and if it is he said that the value would exceed what I thought it was worth...
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chromenut
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2009
Posts: 1,971
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Post by chromenut on Mar 13, 2010 9:18:54 GMT -5
I'll toss out a guess that the red sphere is dyed Howlite. Hey Bob, do you know how they go about doing this? I've seen howlite in dozens of shades and am interested in exactly what they do to make the dye stay. I've got a heart shaped stone that someone called red turquoise, but the plastic bag it came in was stained reddish so I'm sure it was dyed...
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Post by Toad on Mar 13, 2010 10:06:44 GMT -5
My first guess on the bee was man-made too. Cool conversation piece though. But if it was by chance authentic, I would guess minimum of $1,000.
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Post by captbob on Mar 13, 2010 17:01:00 GMT -5
As to the dyed Howlite, I just got this off Google... "Howlite is very easy to color. If you slab it using either water soluble oil or just water, it will not end up with areas that do not take dye. After you have shaped it up you do not polish it. Heat it up to around 200 degrees in the oven for a couple of hours to dry it out and then dip it into your choice of colors. The cooling will help draw the dye into the stone. As to colors, lets see: Tidy Bowl in a concentrated form gives you fake turquoise and Rit clothing dyes can create all sorts of unusual colors. Soak the stuff for a few days then rinse it off and after it dries a bit finish with the polishing. Just be sure that if you give any stones away the folks know its dyed howlite." Credit to: Ken Wetz There were other articles on the subject as well. Howlite is a really "soft" stone, only a 3½ on the Mohs scale, so I imagine it's super easy to dye. I had wondered how they dye agates being that is a much "harder" rock - 6½-7 on the Mohs - but heating the stone makes sense. Still willing to bet a year's salary on the amber, so I wouldn't get your hopes up too much... Regardless, it's a neat addition to a collection!
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Post by Roller on Mar 13, 2010 19:22:01 GMT -5
Yes ..." I wanted to know" more about the amber "looking piece ...Real or not ..It is very striking! ... My original guess just going on some reading that I have done and very limited amber collecting is that there was the very very strong possibility of it being a plastic piece - completely fake .. or "really young amber" . I have read "somewhere", " somehow" that amber is being sold that is only a few years old in the south like say under 150 years old and has many insect inclusions ...and is currently collected at a very high rate and sold in today"s market as AMBER ...but scientifically not even close by millions of years ..lol .....Whats exciting to me is if that piece was not plastic and was say 100 year old real tree sap ...I would probably pay 5 bucks for it or be extremely excited to find it in the wild ...Enjoy the hobby fellas ... Greg
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