elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 23, 2011 10:19:50 GMT -5
Ah, now you're just teasing! What else do you have from your Southern California trips you haven't shared!
I have no ulterior motive to see these agatized and jasper specimens from parts of the Mojave Desert I've only passed by... No other reason whatsoever...cough....AgateIndex...cough....AgateIndex...
Pardon me.
Great specimen! Proves even rocks are happy when we pick them up to bring them home!
Lowell
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Feb 23, 2011 10:17:27 GMT -5
Nuevomundo: There is a reddish patch in the photo but is a reflection from something else, I believe. I did just look and there's none like in Indian Blood Stone that I've seen.
I'm thinking Mel might be right with the Imperial Jasper. Next time I'm outside I'll snap a couple shots to post to get more variety.
It was covered with dust when I saw it, and one shot from the spray bottom showed the color (I almost thought it was artificial at first) and just grabbed it.
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 20, 2011 19:03:26 GMT -5
I love these lil agates. The problem is that basically anything non-white or non-blue isn't agate, so it compromises the shine. But, you get some great circular patterns.
I believe I sent you two boxes of material. Is this from the 'extra/leftover' box you initially wanted, or from the box I sent in trade?
Hope they were fun,
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 20, 2011 18:52:04 GMT -5
(Thought I was starting this on the Members Section but forgot I had gone to browse elsewhere...so sorry for the misplaced posting...) A local rockhound passed and his widow put up his rough for sale. He was into spheres so there was a lot of large chunks of stone. I packed up about 60 pounds in an hour. (Warning - Me standing on soapbox for paragraph) Again, I picked up material that other people pushed aside, not recognizing it. Truly, if you live in a place where these kinds of sales take place, to get the best deals and material, you have to study agates/jaspers to the point of recognizing them by sight. "It's pretty" is a great beginning to creating a collection, but if you want depth without excessive cost, then these sales are your best friend - if you can recognize the rare/unusual/expensive material for what it is. If someone else recognizes it first - it's gone. Point - The Owlshead material is from a closed location now within Death Valley. (The only other person with this material I've known is Mel, who provided me with a bucket of material when he moved from CA a few years ago.) The sale had been going on for an hour and about two dozen people had been through the bins in the garage, when I walked through and found the nodules. One look of a cut side gave me the I.D. and a thus a shoebox of material from a closed locality. Here is a sampling of what left with me. Rainbow Ridge, CA Some Rhodonite, - Most likely CA Marcasite Turritella Agate , Wy Snakeskin Agate - Rome, OR Fancy Jasper, Africa (Label on back - price is not what I paid) Crazy Lace, Mx Moss agates - Possibly Horse Canyon Owlshead Mtns Nodules and Sagenite Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper, Ca Plume - Normally I would say Graveyard, but Kanan Road - which is near the sale - also produces plume....Hmmmm Chapinite - Siam Siding, CA And my two karma stones: I've come to believe that the more you give away, the more returns back to you. Recently I gave a large piece of whalebone and a piece of Stone Canyon Jasper to Woody when I met him in the South Cady's. He's posted pictures of the cut material. Here's what I found at the sale: Whalebone: and Stone Canyon Jasper: and one mystery - (yeah, I'm a hypocrite - I'm still learning the jaspers....) Oh, and the price for all this (plus the 30 lbs of stuff I didn't photograph)? $.30 a pound. Yeah. 30 cents a pound. I paid $18.00 for everything you saw here. Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 19, 2011 13:14:21 GMT -5
There is also a general book by Zeitner and Cross called Geodes, Nature's Treasures. I wouldn't call it definitive, but it does provide a nice overview of the major types.
I just find it funny that California is not portrayed more in books such as this - especially with the huge amount of material in our deserts.
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 9, 2011 10:04:13 GMT -5
That's some pretty stuff!
What's weird about the video is that at first there seems to be no scale to the size of the agates. I'm thinking, are those huge agates sitting on the floor, or small agates sitting on a table . . . and then the hand comes in.
Still, nice pieces. Wouldn't mind adding a couple to my shelf.
Great find!
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 8, 2011 21:58:03 GMT -5
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 8, 2011 0:50:48 GMT -5
Wonderful eye candy!!!
There's some great patterns in there - and love that pink!
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 7, 2011 23:05:33 GMT -5
Photos of some of what I put into the rock box: Chapinite - brecciated jasper (unknown) - stone canyon Rhodochrosite - Silver Lace Onyx - Mexican Fire agate 5 limbs - 3 casts - 2 pet wood Slabs - 2 bruneau, chalcedony, unknown middle - large unknown right - obsidian, chapinite, brazilian slabs - brazilian dryhead (cracked), 3 unknown 3 small pieces of S. Cady Red Moss/ N. Cady plume in bag/ pieces of woodward/marfa agate in front 3 unknown
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Feb 7, 2011 2:31:35 GMT -5
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 6, 2011 23:09:29 GMT -5
See response for Rock Box II.
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 6, 2011 23:08:10 GMT -5
Sherri,
I have finally had the time to go through the 1st box and wrap it up. It's now 1 lrg and 1 medium. What would you like me to do?
I took out a lot of the rough that was just sitting there over the miles and put in a lot of agate - most from CA but some from elsewhere (such as a small bag from Woodward Ranch & Marfa Tx.
I added Turtle Mtn Blue Agate Nodules, some small cut Hausers, a small bag w/ Mex fire agate(3 pieces w/fire) another with 3 small pieces of rhodochrosite, 5 limb casts/wood, chunk of chapinite, chunk of brecciated jasper, chunk of Silver Lace Onyx, some pieces I don't know but are pretty good, 3 pieces of S. Cady red moss, and a few pieces of N. Cady plume from 3 locations. I've added 12 or so slabs (chapenite, cracked Dryhead, 2 brazilian, 2 bruneau (no real pattern so don't get too excited), and a few others I don't really know.
Tell me what you would like me to do - send to you the large to go through and set up for the next run and keep the medium for when it comes my way again? Send off one to someone in the mix? Send both to you?
PM me, please - and if you want the LRG box only sent to you (it contains the slabs and polished work - the Medium has mostly the larger rough rock and two barrels filled with smaller material), let me know what you want in it from what I was listing.
I'll post photos
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 6, 2011 2:46:36 GMT -5
indoagate.com/Was browsing the web after reading a post here about indonesian agate and came across the one above. It is full of interesting reading, both in the detail of the agate information (hunting, mining, use) and the types of agates found. The purple is incredible. Besides that there are tube agates, fossil palm, beautiful banded nodules. There is also a tantalizing hint that they might supply material, but the link to the cabochon website isn't working. Take a peak. Lowell
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Feb 5, 2011 10:36:21 GMT -5
Next year, all you people affected by global warming global freezing climate change mother nature El Nino the jet stream killer bees chupacabras chiggers bed bugs and whatever else is irritating you need to come out here and have a good winter rockhunt out in the Mojave!!
Oh, wait. They just made the whole desert a National Monument where you aren't allowed to walk ride collect parasail stare at or breath. Only the Sierra Club members who have 2% body fat will be allowed to roam the deserts in eco-friendly shoes, respirators, and colostomy bags so the ground isn't soiled.
Never mind.
It's not even fun going to restaurants any more. They just passed a law (don't know if its CA or nation) that forces restaurants to post the calories of each meal. Depressing. Takes the fun out of going out and having a nice meal after a bad day. Like I want to know my burrito has 10,000 calories without guac and 15,000 with. Can I live in ignorance? Can't I just enjoy my life (as Mel says) since it will end soon enough?
Sorry for being off topic a little, but I can't complain about the weather so I had to find something else.
Going away now.
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 5, 2011 10:05:46 GMT -5
Rich,
Thank you for the heads up. I bought that book as soon as it came out. It's great, but its definitely a supplement to the first one. It has a ton of material, but the first one covers all the classic sites (well, most, I guess. Mel is critical of the U.S. coverage - which is the conversation that led to the Agate-Jasper Index last year.)
6 years ago, when the first one was published, I was just starting this hobby and didn't realize how strong the pull was going to be, so I turned down the book (AAARRRRRRGGGGGGGH!!!) The Gem Co. offered a copy of Agates 1 last year at auction, and it went for close to $500. I bid $425. Being an old book collector, I have little trouble dropping a wad of money on a book if I think it is rare enough. This one is rare and right in my 'collection zone' in that it would add oodles to my knowledge of a field I love to read about. The other maddening thing is that Mel moved right before I realized how much I wanted to read this book, so I even missed an opportunity to browse it.
There's also right now a CD-Rom series that is being offered. I'll post a thread asking if anyone has ordered these things.
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 4, 2011 23:05:03 GMT -5
Don, Hey, thanks for the head's up! I've never been there. It sounds interesting. Actually, I've never been along the Kel-baker road and want to take drive along it just to see the desert there.
I'm looking forward to heading back into the desert. My traveling friend has just returned from AZ and we're comparing notes.
I think we're hitting the N. Cady's again, but right now I could go almost anywhere.
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 4, 2011 22:55:51 GMT -5
I wish I had the Zenz book....then i could know all the cool information too!
One of my wife's friends is back from Germany and I had her read me the BODE (publisher's) website - which mentions the Agate book won't be reprinted, but there is a different, shorter book that was done as a compromise. I'm ordering it as a late Christmas gift.
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 4, 2011 22:51:14 GMT -5
Beautiful as always!
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 4, 2011 21:45:39 GMT -5
aka highplainsdrifter Okay...I have been getting so frustrated with my own photography that I decided to go back and do the last portfolio I had planned, which is for Dan Heuer (highplainsdrifter). Dan's work is incredible for both it's quality and, for much of it, its rarity. He has an eye for finding and working some of the more valuable materials available. He gave me permission 6 months ago to do this project and, after checking we him, he repeated his permission just a couple days ago - so I say to Dan (as to all who give me permission to use their photos): thank you for trusting me with your images. This portfolio covers the last three years of posts. Rare Earths and other Alien Landscapes, a portfolio by Dan Heuer the file is 75 pages long and about 9.7 MB. www.4shared.com/document/bWqx33M2/Portfolio_-_Dan_Heuer_1st_Book.html(New link added after I realized I left out Dan's website from the first book. New version adds link.) Due to the black background to Dan's photos, making a White background version didn't work very well, so there is only a Black Background. If enough of you ask, I will do a white one. The conversion won't take long. Just a note - Dan had so much stuff, I realized I needed two portfolios to do his work justice. This is the first one. It focuses on picture jaspers, landscapes, poppies, and plumes. AS ALWAYS, CLICK ON THE BLUE DOWNLOAD BUTTON AND FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. I hope you enjoy this portfolio. Thank you as always, Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Feb 4, 2011 18:32:51 GMT -5
Geodes, Nature's Treasures, by Zeitner and Cross discuss 'Agate Pots' from Salto do Jacui' Brazil on page 71 and 73, with a photo on page 72. pg 71 "Informally called agate 'pots' by collectors, these agate geodes usually have a thick banded agate rim enclosing a hollow center of drusy quartz crystals." pg 73 "The upper one third of the geode is cut to reveal its inner sparkling beauty. Both pieces are then sanded and polished and ultimately sold as a pair." There's more, but the specimen looks a lot like yours. links: www.mineralworld.de/html/achat_engl.htmlwww.sailorenergy.net/Minerals/DwarvesETAgatesEggsMain.htmlLowell
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