sophia13
spending too much on rocks
RIP Jason Strickland, AKA sophia13
Member since March 2018
Posts: 327
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Post by sophia13 on Nov 18, 2018 21:41:17 GMT -5
Cabbed a couple pieces of Tiffany Stone and just love it. It has lovely colors and polished easily. I want to offer a few unique and higher end (for me ) stones for sale in inventory and have already gotten compliments and requests. Which colors are most desirable for sale and what range should I expect to pay per lb for quality material? Thanks all
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stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
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Post by stonemon on Nov 18, 2018 21:55:38 GMT -5
It is not cheap. Also be aware that it is toxic. It is wise to use breathing protection as it is not good to inhale the beryllium that is integral to the stone. I have good luck selling Tiffany but have only ever gotten it through larger estate purchases so do not have a good handle on what it sells for on its own... Maybe check solds on e-bay to get an idea. Bill
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Nov 18, 2018 22:39:15 GMT -5
I am of the opinion that the good tiffany stone rough is pretty much all gone. Everything I've seen in the last several years is mediocre at best and usually extremely fractured. The best you can hope for today is a solid piece of purple.
The most desirable was the brecciated lightning bolt stuff with purple, reds, and yellow. My friend bought a slab from a collector several years ago of such quality for $800.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 19, 2018 1:23:12 GMT -5
To start with here is a post I put on my Facebook site for Southwest stones: "It is a common myth that Tiffany stone is only found in one mine in Utah. Actually it has been found in several mines in Utah and at least two locations in Nevada. Other misconceptions is what Tiffany stone is. Some people claim it is bertrandite. Bertrandite is actually a beryllium mineral that may or may not be found in Tiffany stone and is found in mines around the world. Others claim it is opalized fluorite, which again is incorrect. Not all Tiffany stone even has fluorite to begin with and fluorite does not opalize. They can be found together but that is not the same as opalization such as what we see sometimes with items like shells and bones. So what is Tiffany stone? Tiffany stone is a name given to a stone composed with up to 16 different minerals. There is no specific chemical make up as with most minerals. I have posted this before and people seem to always want to argue claiming the Tiffany stone only comes from the one mine in Utah. Same with red beryl, which is claimed to only come from Utah although it has also been found in New Mexico. When I posted this several years ago the debate was finally settled when someone posted an old mining journal article talking about Nevada's Tiffany stone. And I don't give out locations so don't ask. I posted this on another board a few months back for a short time because when I CLEARLY stated I don't give out the location people too it upon themselves to guess and one person posted the location. Stating I am not stating the location is to protect the site from being over run and cleaned out. It is not an invitation to guess or act like a complete a** and give out the location publicly. That would be like my giving out that guy's complete credit card information on Facebook that he wishes to keep private. Again there is a good reason I do not give out locations on deposits. As far as the stone goes I have some of the Utah Tiffany stone as well. The only differences I can find between the two are that the Nevada Tiffany stone tends to be more stable and it often also has honey calcite present that I have not seen in the Utah Tiffany stone." That being said the price of Tiffany stone has dropped drastically over the years. When I first heard of it and started looking in to it Tiffany stone was running $500/lb retail. The latest I have seen it is running around $25/lb. I think a large part of the price drop is the reputation it has for often being so friable. Here is an example of some of the Nevada Tiffany stone: DSC_0503 by James Sloane, on Flickr DSC_0463 by James Sloane, on Flickr DSC_0462 by James Sloane, on Flickr 20160520_172525-1 by James Sloane, on Flickr 20160507_134259 by James Sloane, on Flickr 20160507_114254 by James Sloane, on Flickr 20160919_132818-1 by James Sloane, on Flickr 20160919_132750-1 by James Sloane, on Flickr
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stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
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Post by stonemon on Nov 19, 2018 10:17:00 GMT -5
Here is a piece I cut from stock that was said to be from Utah... It is pretty stuff
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 19, 2018 10:25:33 GMT -5
Cabbed a couple pieces of Tiffany Stone and just love it. It has lovely colors and polished easily. I want to offer a few unique and higher end (for me ) stones for sale in inventory and have already gotten compliments and requests. Which colors are most desirable for sale and what range should I expect to pay per lb for quality material? Thanks all If you are asking just about tiffany stone then the classic black, purple and white and maybe yellow is good. But, if you can find some pink that would be uber sweet. If you are asking about high end colors period- then any stone with a nice bright color or combo of colors will get more attention. I like a lot of stones that are just pure color with no pattern because I am attracted to the color. Pattern is a bonus. Some things can still be had inexpensively, you gotta keep both eyes open. I have bought some stellar, old school Tiffany very cheaply which cabbed nicely. But, I spend a lot of time looking.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 19, 2018 16:23:29 GMT -5
Here is a piece I cut from stock that was said to be from Utah... It is pretty stuff Yes, it is pretty stuff and easy to work with if solid enough.
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Nov 19, 2018 16:42:32 GMT -5
Cabbed a couple pieces of Tiffany Stone and just love it. It has lovely colors and polished easily. I want to offer a few unique and higher end (for me ) stones for sale in inventory and have already gotten compliments and requests. Which colors are most desirable for sale and what range should I expect to pay per lb for quality material? Thanks all Colors most desirable for sale? Purple. Stones with a nice mix of purple, white, yellow and pink/red are the high end of this material, but everyone wants purple at least in their tiffany. Tiffany rough is getting hard to come by. I've paid $80-100/lb in the past for purple and have seen it go for much more. If the rough is mostly white and black, the price is usually less. Slabs of Tiffany with color ranged from $0.80 - $2.00 per gram at the last rock show I went to in November. This matches what I see for sale online on facebook. And by Tiffany stone, I'm referring to the stuff that came out of the Brush-Wellman beryllium mine in Utah during the 60s and 70s. I have no idea what Nevada stuff goes for, the only person I've ever seen even talking about it is VegasJames here at RTH. I've never seen it for sale online or at shows. Sounds like an opportunity for someone to claim it and bring it to the market. Hope this helps.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 19, 2018 16:52:20 GMT -5
Cabbed a couple pieces of Tiffany Stone and just love it. It has lovely colors and polished easily. I want to offer a few unique and higher end (for me ) stones for sale in inventory and have already gotten compliments and requests. Which colors are most desirable for sale and what range should I expect to pay per lb for quality material? Thanks all Colors most desirable for sale? Purple. Stones with a nice mix of purple, white, yellow and pink/red are the high end of this material, but everyone wants purple at least in their tiffany. Tiffany rough is getting hard to come by. I've paid $80-100/lb in the past for purple and have seen it go for much more. If the rough is mostly white and black, the price is usually less. Slabs of Tiffany with color ranged from $0.80 - $2.00 per gram at the last rock show I went to in November. This matches what I see for sale online on facebook. And by Tiffany stone, I'm referring to the stuff that came out of the Brush-Wellman beryllium mine in Utah during the 60s and 70s. I have no idea what Nevada stuff goes for, the only person I've ever seen even talking about it is VegasJames here at RTH. I've never seen it for sale online or at shows. Sounds like an opportunity for someone to claim it and bring it to the market. Hope this helps. It would be worthwhile if there was enough there in Nevada to make it profitable. There is very limited material at the mine I go to. And if claimed the reclamation fees would be astronomical as BLM said you can be held responsible for reclamation of past work on mines.
As for Utah the Brush-Wellman mine IS NOT the only location Tiffany stone has been found. There are 3 or 4 other locations that have been reported in Utah where Tiffany stone has been found. I think a lot of the single source myth is perpetuated to keep the illusion of being rarer than it really is and thus allowing inflation of the price.
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Nov 19, 2018 16:59:04 GMT -5
Colors most desirable for sale? Purple. Stones with a nice mix of purple, white, yellow and pink/red are the high end of this material, but everyone wants purple at least in their tiffany. Tiffany rough is getting hard to come by. I've paid $80-100/lb in the past for purple and have seen it go for much more. If the rough is mostly white and black, the price is usually less. Slabs of Tiffany with color ranged from $0.80 - $2.00 per gram at the last rock show I went to in November. This matches what I see for sale online on facebook. And by Tiffany stone, I'm referring to the stuff that came out of the Brush-Wellman beryllium mine in Utah during the 60s and 70s. I have no idea what Nevada stuff goes for, the only person I've ever seen even talking about it is VegasJames here at RTH. I've never seen it for sale online or at shows. Sounds like an opportunity for someone to claim it and bring it to the market. Hope this helps. It would be worthwhile if there was enough there in Nevada to make it profitable. There is very limited material at the mine I go to. And if claimed the reclamation fees would be astronomical as BLM said you can be held responsible for reclamation of past work on mines. As for Utah the Brush-Wellman mine IS NOT the only location Tiffany stone has been found. There are 3 or 4 other locations that have been reported in Utah where Tiffany stone has been found. I think a lot of the single source myth is perpetuated to keep the illusion of being rarer than it really is and thus allowing inflation of the price.
Where are these 3-4 other locations?
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 215
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Post by fireforged on Nov 19, 2018 17:05:51 GMT -5
If you do a quick search for it on eBay one can find plenty of it for sale. I am very wary of it because every piece of rough that I have bought and worked with was terrible for pits, vugs and fractures. It seems as if there is a bunch of it floating around and not rare.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 19, 2018 17:09:32 GMT -5
It would be worthwhile if there was enough there in Nevada to make it profitable. There is very limited material at the mine I go to. And if claimed the reclamation fees would be astronomical as BLM said you can be held responsible for reclamation of past work on mines. As for Utah the Brush-Wellman mine IS NOT the only location Tiffany stone has been found. There are 3 or 4 other locations that have been reported in Utah where Tiffany stone has been found. I think a lot of the single source myth is perpetuated to keep the illusion of being rarer than it really is and thus allowing inflation of the price.
Where are these 3-4 other locations? I don't know the exact locations, nobody is going to give up exact locations. All that I found several years ago when I started researching Tiffany stone is that there were several other deposits in Utah away from the Bush-Wellman mine where the Tiffany stone had been found. Just small deposits, not large scale operations like Bush-Wellman.
The whole thing reminds me of the red beryl claims where it has been claimed that red beryl is only found in one place in Utah when in fact it has been found in two locations in Utah and has also been found in New Mexico.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 19, 2018 17:15:06 GMT -5
If you do a quick search for it on eBay one can find plenty of it for sale. I am very wary of it because every piece of rough that I have bought and worked with was terrible for pits, vugs and fractures. It seems as if there is a bunch of it floating around and not rare. I agree, it is not as rare as it is being portrayed to be.
Quality does vary quite a bit. I have a nice nodule from Utah with no pits or cracks. And it is identical to a lot of the material I find in Nevada, a lot of which is very stable. Every once in a while I will come across softer material, which is easily stabilized with sodium silicate.
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gemfeller
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Member since June 2011
Posts: 3,759
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Post by gemfeller on Nov 19, 2018 17:19:43 GMT -5
I used to find "lunch bucket" Tiffany at some shows. This brown/black combo is rare." It even has a dendrite. I like this one because of the interesting brecciated character/ Both are from the main Utah location.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2018 17:42:44 GMT -5
I like this one because of the interesting brecciated character/ Ooooh, Alien Santa Claus and his one little Reinworm!
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 3,759
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Post by gemfeller on Nov 19, 2018 17:54:44 GMT -5
@rocks2dust , Reinworm will become a new holiday addition at my house!
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Don
Cave Dweller
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Nov 19, 2018 18:03:50 GMT -5
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 19, 2018 18:14:30 GMT -5
"The good stuff" - my friend's work, not mine. That is a really beautiful stone.
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 19, 2018 21:07:44 GMT -5
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 215
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Post by fireforged on Nov 21, 2018 13:12:04 GMT -5
Wow those are incredible!!!!!
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