Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 21, 2012 14:52:58 GMT -5
Howdy folks, This morning I drove from the ranch over to Fredericksburg to the gem show. One of my favorite dealers was missing but a couple of new ones showed up instead so I found a few things. Here are a few pics: Tigertail Jasper rough; This stuff is almost impossible to find without a lot of voids and soft manganese spots. When it's nice though, it's pretty stuff. Went through a whole crate of rough and found five pounds I liked. Think this is about as good as it gets.  Some very nice ladies had some stuff in buckets at super nice prices. Found me an excellent highly agatized hunk of palm:  And, a couple of the brightest red Rio Grande Moss agates I've ever seen $2 each.  Got a couple of real nice Kabamba Jasper slices, one for the type collection and one to cab:  And finally, I was amazed at the quality and size of the one dollar dino bone slabs this year. Went through the whole tub and got all these and most all will make large cabs, even larger than 30 X 40's.      |
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 21, 2012 15:13:44 GMT -5
Nice finds. Sounds like a nice show. Too bad it is in January.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 21, 2012 16:04:55 GMT -5
John, it's a nice show and very well attended ( so crowded it's hard to navigate) our old Ventura club would have had trouble with the fire marshall if we had aisles that narrow and confined. Unfortunately, like many shows, less and less rough and slabs is showing up and more and more finished jewelry, wirewraps, and assorted gimcracks and geegaws. The San Antonio show is the real worldbeater around here and is fantastic while the Austin show is friggin miserable, crowded, expensive and to my way of thinking, not worth the drive and traffic.....Mel
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Post by Toad on Jan 21, 2012 16:09:23 GMT -5
Looks like fantastic finds. Thanks for the pix.
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Post by Bikerrandy on Jan 22, 2012 12:38:56 GMT -5
Wow, that's a steal on the dino bone, those are sweet!! I'll bet the Rio Grande is beautiful inside as well, cool stuff!!  |
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Post by roy on Jan 22, 2012 12:49:15 GMT -5
mel what is tigertail ? the dino bone was a steal
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 22, 2012 19:57:01 GMT -5
Roy: I don't know much about tiger tail except what I've observed. This is only the second bunch of this rough I've ever seen and the other was out at Terlingua, Texas about 30 years ago. It's a vein material out of northern Mexico and may be a jasper that formed when silica was added to rhyolite. The veins are rarely over two inches thick with the best material being in the thinner veins. The thicker pieces are usually full of voids and soft spots. The material I've had before this was orbicular in nature with poorly defined yellow orbs on an orange background. Very difficult to work due to a large number of soft manganese inclusions. The best material has tiger stripes like the top two on the left in this pic. This material also lacks the soft manganese pockets and is very silicified. Have high hopes I'll finally get me a good cab from this for my type collection......Mel
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Jan 22, 2012 21:40:31 GMT -5
Type collection? You're such a rock geek Mel. ;D Now I don't mean that in a bad way, either.  Awesome finds. Thanks for postin' Nate |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 22, 2012 22:24:44 GMT -5
Nate, *L* Now I would never limit my geekdom to just rocks! I see myself as a geek for all seasons or maybe a universal nerd *L*.....Mel
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 23, 2012 8:29:53 GMT -5
Mel, you are a walking, talking lapidary encyclopedia to us mortals. I have to agree about the Austin show. We are dropping both Austin and San Antonio due to high travel costs, high show fees and health issues. Really going to miss San Antone.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jan 23, 2012 9:42:16 GMT -5
Mr. Universe (  ) - Great finds, especially the dinosaur bones. Looks like a great show! Paul |
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dbrealityrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2010
Posts: 1,084
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Post by dbrealityrocks on Jan 23, 2012 15:41:54 GMT -5
great looking stuff, can't wait to see the tigertail cabbed
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Post by drocknut on Jan 24, 2012 15:08:17 GMT -5
Definitely great finds. Looks like you have some cabbing ahead of you. Hope that tigertail turns out good.
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Post by beefjello on Jan 29, 2012 11:30:35 GMT -5
Right on Mel, you really scored with the dino slabs!! The green ones look killer ;D Great looking chunk of palm too, looking forward to seeing slabs from that one.
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