Author Archives: SnobAppeal

Tucson Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Shows 2014-Hot buys and Hot Miners

A nice group of Raptors. Triebold Paleontology always Impresses.

Another Triebold Specimen: This one a Thescelosaurus Neglectus (65 million years ago)

We were really excited today to get on with our buying and exploring at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Shows. There are some 41 official shows and several bandit shows scattered all over Tucson. They open and close at various times. You need a show guide (a large catalog) that lists the locations of shows, dealers, and dates for shows. Some shows require dealer ID, while others are Wholesale/Retail.

Buckets of Turquoise at J.O.G.S.

Turquoise Bead picking.

The J.O.G.S. Show opened at the Tucson Expo Center and we were near the front of the line. We were not really looking for anything in particular, so we Freestyled, looking for things we did not know we needed. Bonnie looked at, and purchased some beads. We look for quality and bargains, but were conservative in our purchases. The crowds were not large, but people were spending some money. I would call the J.O.G.S. show “busy”.

I saw buckets of Turquoise in the usual spot, some nice cabochons and much gem material. Perhaps pictures were frowned upon, but I ask several dealers, and they said I could take a picture. One dealer that we deal with every year again had great stuff. I purchased a Moss Agate cabochon and a wonderful slab of Maw Sit Sit.

Maw Sit Sit from Burma (Now Myanmar)

Maw Sit Sit is a cousin of Jade, but not really Jade. It is considered a rock and not a mineral. You can look it up on line. A very interesting stone indeed. Good stuff is also quite valuable. I looked over on the counter and saw three pieces of Elbite Tourmaline. Are you kidding three pieces of fairly good Tourmaline for a give-away price? This must be a mistake. It was not. The largest piece was 2 1/2″ X 1 1/4″. The buy of the day.

Blakes Guard...Don't mess with the silver dude!

Blake Brothers' Guard...Don't mess with the silver dude!

I saw a very intimidating guard at the Blake Brother’s booth.

A scary skull available for purchase. Bumblebee is not jasper. It is a sulfur rich volcanic Tuft from Indonesia. It can be made into some very colorful Bumblebee jewelry.

We proceeded on to the 22nd Street Show. Last year we were promised an additional tent and a paved lot, but that did not happen. Half the show was fossils and dinosaurs, and the other half random gems, jewelry, cabs, and carvings. If your kids are into dinosaurs, do take them here!

Amanda Adkins has to be the "hottest" Miner around.

The entire cast of the Weather Channel Show “The Prospectors” was there. I asked Amanda Adkins for a picture. She graciously agreed. She is very tough on the show, but very nice in person. It doesn’t hurt the eyes to see her either. I enjoy the show and everyone was taking turns in the booth and selling their wares from Colorado.

A great Dendritic Agate I could not resist.

Tourmaline for four bucks. Nice buy Don.

Tourmaline bargain. Nice buy Don.

Smilodon Skull and Petrified Wood.

Check in tomorrow for more adventures from the Tucson rock shows.

Wire Wrapping 101-NOT! ( My most Challenging Wire Wrapped Pendant)

One of the Gem Bone Slabs I found last year.

One of the Gem Dinosaur Bone Slabs I found last year.

Jewelry I made from the above slab.

Last year I bought some amazing gem dino bone slabs in Quartzsite. These particular slabs came from the estate of a famous bone collector. I love gem grade Dinosaur bone. It amazes me that each individual cell is many times an individual agate, within the agatized D-Bone. These cells can be fortification agates of just nice clear Chalcedony or some of the great colors in good gem Dinosaur bone can be vivid red, orange, yellow, pink, brown.

I cut a few slabs with a multi-stone pendant in mind, and searched out some bone-shaped dinosaur bone beads. I layed out the pieces and saw good possibilities. Bonnie has wanted me to make a pendant for myself to wear at shows, and D-Bone seemed to be a good choice for a manly pendant.

My most challenging pendant thus far.

I thought about this piece of jewelry for at least a year. With multi-stone pendants you have to know the end, and mentally work backwards. Sometimes I need a challenge, or I think I do. No matter what stage you are in your wire wrapping endeavors, you should always look for something to challenge your brain, fingers, and tools. I sometimes get bored just making simpe single-stone wraps and enjoy the challenge of multi-stone wrapping.

Even with all my experience I sometimes try things that just do not work; I have to start over, and try again. This is very frustrating at times. I can almost wire wrap a single stone with my eyes closed, but these multi-stone things are another issue entirely.

Multi stone wrapping is equal parts of engineering, art, and expertise. I find myself inventing techniques to conquer challenges when using multiple stones. A good understanding is also important as to what your wire, your tools, and yourself may be capable of. Sometimes it really upsets me when I think I can do something, and it fails. But I find the best way to learn is from your mistakes (sometimes it takes reminder mistakes).

Ahead 1 year: I laid out my dinosaur bone cabs on my workbench and was certain that I had a plan, but instead I had two complete failures which frustrated me and taught me that perhaps I should rethink this pendant. What I had in mind was extremely complicated and intricate. Can I really pull this off? Finally after being on my workbench for approximately three weeks the pieces began to come together. The big challenge was how to connect piece to piece and still make the work come together artistically.

Also you have to think about what metal to use. In this pendant I decided to use Argentium sterling, yellow gold and pink gold (three tone). I decided that twisted pink always looks nice with silver and I bound it with half-round gold. In this pendant the center rectangular dinosaur bone cabochon is the featured stone: bright red and a perfect pattern. I used another slab of dinosaur bone to fashion the top and bottom pieces with the beads coming from another piece of dinosaur bone. I worked on this off and on for three weeks so that my frustration level would not exceed my judgement. Backing off and thinking things through entirely indeed helped.

I had a larger gap between the second and third pieces than I expected, which gave me the chance to insert the two 5mm faceted garnets between which adds a bit of dignity to the piece. This entire piece is about 4 1/4″ by 1 3/4″.

The finished piece exceeded my expectations, and I will be happily wearing this piece beginning with the upcoming Tucson gem shows. It will open discussions with other wire wrappers that I meet.! I enjoyed the challenge of making this piece of jewelry, but I am elated now that it is done! I name this the Dinosaur Boneyard. So if you are at the Tucson shows and you see a guy wearing this, say hi and introduce yourself!

Speaking of the Tucson Gem shows, my daily blogs will start later this week–hope you join me for my adventures!

Quartzsite-Let’s See What We Got

Olivenite-Caution should be taken with this stuff as it is a Copper Arsenate.

Cheetah Jasper with Apatite inclusions.

Returning to Tucson after 2 1/2 days exploring the Desert Gardens Show and several other locales around Quartzsite, we re-lived our adventures by taking a close look at our spoils.

A few of the very fine Imperial Jasper slabs I selected.

Cobra Stone-India. Some is wet so you can see the color better.

Cobra Stone-India (AKA Coquina Jasper). Some is wet so you can see the color better.

There were several slabs I picked out from at least that many dealers. One was an interesting stone from India called “Cobra Stone”. By looking at it you can see why it got its’ name. In actuality the reddish matrix is filled with a multitude of clams. When the stone is oriented and cut the little clams look like cobras.

I also mentioned the scarce crystal Rhodocrosite from Argentina I stumbled across. There is some left, but I picked the top pieces I saw. You can still find this beautiful pink material around, but is is uncommon. Generally a story comes with a rock purchase. With this Rhodocrosite we were told that Chinese bought the Rhodocrosite Mine from an unwilling to sell miner. The wrote him a check for so much money, he just walked away. The

Crystal Rhodocrosite ( color not enhanced)

Chinese converted this mine into an open pit operation in search of precious metals and rare earth minerals, doing so much damage, and violating so many mining rules, that they got evicted. In the meantime their dynamite destroyed a wonderful gemstone mine.

Coprolite-Yes I did indeed buy this crap.

I found some great Apatite-included Cheetah jasper at T-Rocks. This is actually spoil rock from the Brazilian Apatite Mines. It used to be just left in the discard pile until someone realized what great cutting material it is. The rock varies widely in color and pattern, but nice Cheetah Pattern is what most look for. The beautiful Apatite is a bonus.

Condor. The colors were classic Condor. Some of this is damp, but the Az sun just dried the slabs off immediately.

I bought a couple pieces of Condor Agate. I usually am not excited by most of this stuff, but occasionally I find such beautiful coloration that it just screams “CONDOR”. I found these two pieces, out of the whole box, begged me to pick them out.

Pickings were very good, but there were no crowds. Maybe shoppers are waiting for the week end.

All these rocks we bought with the plan of turning them into the top-quality wire wrapped stone jewelry that we sell. You might not be able to see it yet, but come back over future months to see the results! Like us on Facebook to keep up with new items and all our blogs from Tucson.

A nice slab of Purple Opal (AKA Bertrandite, AKA Tiffany Stone)

Some of the deluxe Aventurine from near Pikes Peak.

Some of the deluxe Amazonite from near Pikes Peak.

A fist sized piece of superb Chrysocolla picked from the 60# I found at the Desert Gardens Show.

Quartzsite Rocks and Redneck Guitars

Amazonite crystals.

T-Rock's Garden.

Clear sunny skies greeted us as we arrived in Quartzsite for Day 2 of our rock shopping adventures. We continued to walk the aisles of Desert Gardens searching for the best stones to make our jewelry, and found an amazing ammonite display from Lake George Colorado. They told us this is one of the only area on earth that smoky quartz crystals and amazonite are found together. We spoke to the miner and he related that after many years of mining amazonite he hit a four foot by four foot pocket that contained beautiful museum quality specimens of amazonite with smoky quartz crystals. He said it took three years of cleaning to get these specimens ready for sale. Combination specimens can be valued at many thousands of dollars. Larger amazonite specimens were in the $150-$500 range. We bought several small bags of pieces and chunks to make cabochons and jewelry.

amozonsmoky1

Digging through the many bins of water-covered slabs led to cold and wrinkled hands. There wasn’t too much that I didn’t already have, but I found a few treasures. One dealer had some lovely crystal rhodochrosite. This material is quite scarce and is unlike the common pink/black/white banded rhodochrosite in that it is quite translucent and has no banding. The Argentina mine that this chunk came from was purchased by the Chinese for mining of precious metals. The mine has been converted to an open pit operation that virtually ruined all of the superb rhodochrosite that had previously been mined there. The Chinese were after other materials, and lapidarists are in mourning over the loss of this great gemstone source.

The water was icy in the morning.

Quartzsite is like a redneck garage sale.

The redneck display champ.

We always get a laugh over some of the things we see in the flea market area near Tyson Wells. You always see an array of random redneck relics. If it is something you didn’t know you needed, you can find it in the flea market at Quartzsite. My redneck winner of the day was a guy with a card table containing animal skin rugs and banjo and guitar shaped facsimiles made from license plates. He must have ties to the Midwest because two were Michigan license plates. Interestingly, one of them is a non-expiring trailer license which costs $75. I also saw under his cardtable a pair of green antique glass net floats. Where do people get this stuff?

We had to return to T-Rock to pick up our purchases from yesterday and marveled at their rock garden of random large rocks encircled by large wire trees decorated by large glass balls similar to the ones under the guys card table. We gave up the shopping early and returned to the banks of the Colorado River.

We will return to our home base in Tucson tomorrow. When I get back to my portable photo studio I will take some detailed pictures of the treasures we purchased. For all of you who are coming to the Quartzsite shows, I left lots still on the tables–happy picking.

Quartzsite

Shopping the Quartzsite Rock Shows 2014

A pleasant 4 hour drive from Tucson, the town of Quartzsite (where there is no Quartzite in Quartzsite) is a small oasis in the desert mountains about 20 miles from the California border. The town explodes during the winter months with Snowbirds, Rockhounds,flea market shoppers, and RV fans. The giant RV shows are in full swing, but there is some early rock picking around also.

Desert Gardens

Later in the month the Powwow opens as does the Tyson Wells Show, but our favorite show in Quartzsite has always been the Desert Gardens Show (there are no gardens at Desert Gardens). This is a tent/RV tailgate show in a large dusty lot along the freeway. Bargains can be found by the astute buyer, and always lots of interesting rock. I go to Desert Gardens mainly for the rough rock, but other hidden treasures can often be found.

The REAL gem amongst all the rocks at T-Rock.

Our first stop in town was T-Rock that our Upper Peninsula friends Mike and Theresa Thompson own. I found some lovely lavender opal, and several other random pieces of gemstone rough. They are open all year in case you come through off season. I’ll be hitting that place again.

Real nice color in this bucket of Chrysocolla.

At the third booth we looked at, Bonnie seemed to be lusting over a couple small buckets of Chrysocolla. I recongnized this to be old stock from the Ray Mine. You would swear it was Turquiose, it was so blue. I guessed there was around 60-70 pounds. Bonnie said we could keep some and sell some, so I bought it all.

How do we get this home?

We looked at a 4400# piece of Tiger Iron as well as a piece of Gaspeite I would guess to be about 800-1000# at the Australian Outback Mining booth. Peanut wood was available, but not as good a quality as ten years ago. There was one very unusual Peanut Wood piece that was combined with Mookaite. We were told that it came from their area where they mine Mookaite. No Peanut Wood was available last year in the way of Peanut Wood, so even though we did not get any, it will make other’s happy.

What is more fun than buying rocks? Talking to the dealers; picking their brains, so to speak. You can learn so much and fill your trivia banks just by chit-chat.

Next I spotted some Royal Imperial Jasper slabs that the dealer had acquired in a collection he purchased. Amazing, nice stuff indeed. Expect some Royal Imperial Jasper jewelry in the future.

We saw some buckets of crap (Coprolite), but did not buy any.

Coprolite (petrified poo)

4400#!!! Look over Bonnie's shoulder for large Gaspeite.

We did not finish looking at the Garden’s show today, but was have another day. I’ll keep you posted.

Gaspeite.

Mookaite/Peanut Wood

Ammonite Jewelry and Ammonite Discus

Iridescent Ammonite from Alberta are many Thousand Dollars.

There are many sources on line (and we should always believe anything on the Internet), that indicate the first Discus’ were Ammonites. Other sources (WIKI) say the first Discus’ were cats. Who do you believe? I am indeed confused; perhaps they alternated; throw a cat then an ammonite. I say nothing more for fear lest PETA members boycott my blog. ammoinrock

Reverse impression and golden hue make this Ammonite classy.

I enjoy making fossil jewelry. A favorite popular fossil is Discus Ammonite. Most ammonites are found in Canada, U.S., or Madagascar. I’ve also seen plates of Morroccan Ammonites that are obviously fakes (ie artsy positioning, exact duplicates, or Ammonites from different time periods in the same plate.

Moroccan Ammonite

Ammonites were Cephalopods related to Nautilus, Squid, Cuttlefish, and Octopi. Many people think of them as snails. This is incorrect. Sizes range from huge 3 footers to miniscule sizes. I like the 3/4 to 2″ size for jewelry. The avid specimen collectors love the amazing iridescent Ammonites from Alberta. These specimens are priced in the high 5 figures. Some Ammonites from Europe are six feet in diameter. Ammonites thrived in the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods (175 to 65 Million years ago).

Kosmo Ceras

I have been attracted by the Pyrite Ammonites, Kosmo Ceras, from the Volga River in Russia. A Russian dealer mentioned that you have to pay large sums for a ride on a government helicopter to this remote site on government property. You could save much money by buying a Snob Appeal Jewelry Ammonite instead of exploring the Volga River Valley.

I love the reverse imprinted Ammonites that appear to be sprayed with gold paint from New York State. A light dusting of Pyrite occurs naturally on these Ammonites. I think, along with the iridescent Ammonites of Alberta, these particular Ammonites are very classy. I seek good ones out each year at Tucson.

Iridescent Ammonite

The iridescent part of the Ammonite is called Ammolite, and is considered gem material.

My metaphysical friends tell me that these iridescent Ammonites have good Feng Shui in the home or office. I would think that if you owned an Ammonite Pendant from Snob Appeal Jewelry, it should provide enough Feng Shui for your body. Besides Feng Shui, our Ammonite Pendants are great conversation pieces and look great with anything.

Fun Ammonite trivia:

Ammonites were believed to be petrified snakes in Medieval times.

Navajo and plains Indians called Ammonites “Buffalo Stones” as they had a resemblance to Bison. They carried them in their medicine bags for health and good hunting.

Top Stone Pendants of 2013

2013 was a very exciting and productive year for Snob Appeal Jewelry. I made many beautiful pendants and even though it was hard to pick favorites, I had some success picking these for your viewing pleasure. They are in no particular order, but these are my favorites:

Malachite Bullseye Pendant and Earrings

The first is a bullseye malachite set. While at the Tucson Gem Show in February I saw two unbelievable bullseye malachite slabs at a booth. I snatched them up as soon as I saw them and willingly paid by the gram for these beauties. During packaging, the vendor dropped one of the slabs and it broke in two. My heart sank, as did his. But I noticed that the slab broke perfectly i half. This pleased me, because I knew I could make a set of earrings to go with the pendant. Since he broke the slab, we renegotiated our deal, and I went away confident that I could make a gem out of a broken gemstone!

Mystic Quartz

At the Tucson Gem Show I also found a vendor selling large impressive faceted mystic quartz. Looking at these meticulously faceted gemstones I could picture what they might look like when finished in a precise wire wrap. Only one of the three gemstones I bought remain in my inventory. They are very eye-catching!

Royal Imperial Jasper

Another favorite is a double Royal Imperial Jasper pendant with Swarovski crystals around the top. Royal Imperial Jasper is the most beautiful and coveted of the jaspers because of the diverse colors and patterns. I think this pendant does justice to this regal pink and green stone set, making a striking and elegant jewelry presentation.

Dinosaur Bone Pendant

Sometimes you find something so unusual and spectacular that you just have to have it. This was the case with a piece of dinosaur bone I purchased in Quartzite. Fully banded fortification agate embedded within the dinosaur bone matrix. This stone does not need any fancy wrapping to make it shine.

Samethyst Laker Pendant

A Lake Superior Agate with amethyst, what a great jewelry combination stone. I was fortunate to have several slices of agate and amethyst to work with this year, and they all sold promptly. Only one survives for me to share with you today, Samethyst, with a combination of salmon pink outer layer and light purple amethyst in the center. Pink gold and argentium silver made this beauty stand out. I had a great run with amethyst and agate this summer, with them selling as fast as I made them. I don’t think there are any other cabochons of this in my stash, certainly not any as nice as this. An unusual combination, specimens of this are hard to find and highly coveted.

As of this writing, these are all available for sale, but are not all on the website. Contact me if you are interested. It is difficult for me to make choices as to my favorites. Every pendant I make is part of me. I hope you like these in particular. Which is your favorite?

Favorite Rhodochrosite and Jasper Jewelry

At our outdoor art shows shoppers generally look close up at several pieces before they make their selection. On the web it is a bit difficult to flip from page to page and remember sizes and features, so using our ability to look at several at a time, this blog will be about some of Bonnie’s favorites. I write mostly about jewelry from our Michigan stones, the Lake Superior Agates, Greenstone (chlorastrolite), Datolite, and Prehnite, so today I will focus on some other great stones.

Beautiful pink Rhodocrosite

Rhodochrosite is one of those stones that Bonnie gravitates to every time she sees it. In fact that is true about Turquoise, Variscite, and Sonoran Sunrise. These Rhodochrosite Jewelry choices have very pink color with banding, the favorites are Red Ridge and Banded Heart Rhodochrosite Pendants. They are both beautiful pinkish-red, though the colors in their photos look more orangish. If you love rhodo, you’ll love these.

Queensland Agate boasts the most beautiful pastels in the agate world.

Amazing variety in Queensland Agate,

Queensland Agate jewelry is lovely because of the candy colors that are available. A strand of beads Bonnie bought looks like a bunch of jelly beans. The Yellow Banded, Pink Banded and Orange Blossom Queensland Agate Pendants show the great variety of pastel colors that you can enjoy. Bonnie loves them all!

A pair of Biggs Jasper (bottom), and Paintbrush Jasper (top)

Picture Jasper is a less colorful stone, but makes distinctive jewelry because of the one-of-a-kind pictures that you might get if you are lucky when you cut the stone. Mountain Valley Picture Jasper Pendant and Tree Lines Hills Picture Jasper Pendant are two great examples, both of them are Biggs picture jasper. Conjuring Image is a picture, but comes from Paint Brush Jasper. It looks like a pond edged by trees to me. Since there are so many jaspers, these are grouped together under Jasper.

Ocean Jasper in now extinct, but it is the amazing in both patterns and colors.

So, Ocean Jasper could be on that page, but because there are so many of them, they got their own category. And because it has been more readily available than some other stones, they are some of the more economical jewelry pieces. A favorite (remember my wife is a flower gardener) is Ocean Jasper Flowers Pendant, The size is large enough to command attention, the colors are very neutral, with the obicular pattern is enhanced by flower petals! Eternal Pink Ocean Jasper Pendant and Ocean Jasper Arrowhead Pendant are a couple of the other good ones, and show the diversity of colors available in this stone.

owl

To finish today’s list of favorite stone jewelry, Bonnie picked “The Owl”, a cabochon of rhyolite that inspired me to play with the wire a bit. A good choice for someone who loves owls, or who lives life playfully!

Dinosaurs and an Official State Invertebrate Fossil

Miniature Museum

Cincinnati Museum Center.

“Way better than the average museum!” This is how I describe the Cincinnati Museum Center which is located in the old Union Railroad Terminal. After the decline of railroad travel, the building was used for other random uses and in 1978 an attempt was made to convert the terminal into a shopping mall known as the Land of Oz. (Wikipedia) The mall opened in August of 1980 after two years of construction and then the recession hit and the mall took a hit. In 1982 the Cincinnati Museum of Health, Science and Industry opened in the terminal. The Oz project closed in 1984. The terminal was virtually empty for the next decade. In May of 1986 a bond levy was passed to save the terminal and transform it into the Museum Center. Former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer was one of the major proponents of saving the building and converting it to a museum. Amtrak still runs out of the terminal three times weekly. The conversion cost in excess of $40 million, funds provided by federal and state governments, local millage and donations.

Six organizations now have their homes here: The Cincinnati History Museum, the Museum of Natural History & Science, Robert D Lindner Family Omnimax Theater (a five story domed movie house), the Cincinnati Historical Society Library, Duke Energy Children’s Museum, and the Cincinnati Railroad Club. We were most interest in the science part which was featuring dinosaurs, while the Omnimax Theater showed a movie, Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants of Gondwana (Patagonia). t-rex1

The dinosaur exhibit featured fossils, skeletons, and 20 full scale casts of assorted dinosaurs. The Omnimax movie was projected on a five story dome which allowed for a full surround picture and digital sound. Watching this movie that appeared to be three dimensional, but you didn’t need 3-D glasses is so realistic that it freaks some people out. Dinosaurs are layered over natural habitat for a completely realistic experience. The movie featured the discovery of the first super-big giganotosaurus which is possible the largest land predator that every lived. It measured 45 feet in length and weighed six tons, slightly surpassing the T-Rex in size. We followed Fr Rodolofo Coria a renowned Argentinian paleontologist who has discovered several new dinosaurs in Patagonia. This was one of the most amazing movies we’ve ever seen, with supersized dinosaurs walking right over your head.

Dinosaur Bone.

A closeup or some Dinosaur Bone reveals they are made up of a multitude of individual agates.

The museum featured a series of diaramas starting at the beginning of geologic time. Wonderful displays of rocks, minerals and fossils–I wished I owned the beautiful red and black Kentucky agate that I saw. I specialize in great agate jewelry.

Also featured was the official invertebrate fossil of Ohio, the trilobite (isotelus). This was a 12-13″ specimen, not your friendly little pendant sized ones I make into jewelry! Now as far as I know, Ohio is the only state with an Official Invertebrate Fossil(Ordovician), which leaves open the opportunity to name any number of other types of fossils as official. Naming other Official Fossils would be a good activity when state legislatures have nothing else important to do in the future. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of this official fossil, but picture one the size of your biggest dinner plate! Pennsylvania also sports the phacops rana (Devonian) that is also a trilobite as their official state fossil. Does this make it more or less important than an official invertebrate fossil? This will give you something to ponder today: which is more important Official State Fossil or Official State Invertebrate Fossil?! I just hope Ohio is not still upset over trading Michigan a small strip of land for the entire Upper Peninsula.

Mastodon teeth look fairly ugly from the outside, but reveal magnificent patterns on the inside. The issue with them is most often they are too soft for lapidary work.

Mastodon teeth look fairly ugly from the outside, but can reveal magnificent patterns on the inside. The issue with them is most often they are too soft for lapidary work.

There were a number of mastadon fossils on display from Ohio, including several sets of teeth, which of course reminded me of the jewelry I made from them! Seriously, they were black and kind of boring looking color-wise. Notice that the pendant I made from a mastadon tooth had interesting mineral replacement giving it earthy blues and browns.

The main museum entrance. You enter a fantastic domed huge open space that sued to be the main train terminal.

The main museum entrance. You enter a fantastic domed huge open space that used to be the main train terminal.

Murals, that at first seem painted, turned out to be made up of small colored tiles.

Across the huge lobby from the entrance to the Science museum is the History Museum. As we entered the museum we were met with a friendly volunteer that pointed out their scale model of Cincinnati as it may have looked beginning in the 1930’s. The detail and accuracy of this model is jaw-dropping especially as Cincinnati goes from daylight to darkness, and the lights come on. Miniature people, streetcars, trains, automobiles and animated action are all part of the scene. The history of Cincinnati is throughly detailed, including a neat 2/3 scale steamboat and small historic town on the lower level.

The old entrance to the trains is now the entrance to the 5 story OMNIMAX theater.

If you are ever in Cincinnati, do take a day to visit the Museum Center.

Canadian Rocks and Jewelry

Michipicoten Agate with Amethyst. A rare Lake Superior Agate, I call this Samethyst because of the salmon color and amethyst center.

I met my new good friend John when he called me based on seeing my Snob Appeal Jewelry website. John said he had acquired an old collection of Canadian rocks and minerals. I was immediately interested when he described some of his treasures, including a quantity of Michipicoten Island Agates that were removed over 70 years ago.

Michipicoten Agate with Moss.

John's wife loved this pretty pink picture in this Michipicoten. What an unusual Lake Superior Agate pendant!

Michipicoten Island is now a Provincial Park, but 70 years ago it was not. Provincial Parks in Canada are the equivalent to National Parks in the U.S., and are protected. Collecting rocks today can get you in big legal trouble. The Michipicoten Agates are not rare on the island, but cannot be taken.

Michipicoten Agates formed in very fluid basalt and are an oval shape, rather than round, and formed in pockets. Like other Lake Superior Agates, they are varied in colors and types, coming in all sizes, types, and colors. Some that are not this oval shape look more like carrots, and are locally referred to as “Carrot Agates”. Some will make great jewelry, and some are better as specimens.

I am still trying to figure out what exactly this Green Mystery Rock is called.

Although I don’t live far from Canada, I am not very familiar with Canada’s rock and minerals. Additionally some of the material I’m running across was collected over 50 years ago. These older pieces often are from played out locations. Sometimes a familiar rock looks quite different from the specimens that can be seen today.

The Mystery rock sure makes spectacular jewelry.

One of these special Canadian rocks is beautiful green with Amphibole type (needle-like) crystallization. I sliced the rock into slabs and put it up on a Lapidary Facebook Group I belong to. Many guesses were made, but this rock seems to be a combination of minerals. I suspect it is a Chlorite with Quartz. I am taking the mystery green rock to the Seaman Mineral Museum to see if I can get a better identification.

Another interesting rock was a Rhodonite that had flowing pastel blues throughout it. You can certainly find Rhodonite today, but I usually see it with black inclusions, not pastel blue!

Pastel colors abound in this Rhodonite.

I expect this is Prehnite with Copper Inclusions is similar to the Patricianite we find in the Keweenaw.

John also had a copper-included rock similar to the Patricianite found in the Keweenaw, but not as pretty as the Keweenaw material. I had not seen the copper-included rocks in Canada, so this was interesting to me.

I found flower type formations in Calcite, as well as other, what I suspect, is Prehnite flowers in another rock. These are pretty and intriguing. I can’t keep my saws and grinders going fast enough!

I suspect these are Prehnite Flowers.

These flowers are in Calcite. I have not figured out what these red, Canadian, included material is.

John and I hit is off, so I expect I will go rock hunting with him next spring. I’m looking forward to finding new and unusual rocks in the Canadian wilds.