Tag Archives: Lake Superior Agate

Snob Appeal Jewelry-Cleaning the Barn

Just a few of the many buckets we sorted today.

I'm pretty excited about this job.

“How do you know what’s in this barn?” is asked regularly by Bonnie. The answer is usually vague. I know mostly what is in the barn, but there are rocks in there from many old collections I’ve bought over the years. I have no idea what exactly is in some of those buckets. Sometimes you just have to have a look.

These are some nice Lakers.

It's always nice when you re-find a whole bucket of Lakers.

Fossils

We hauled out random buckets and began sorting. I found stuff I had forgotten was there, and a few rocks I had no idea I had!

Binghamite before and after. It's a shame you cannot see the tigers eye like colors in this beauty from Minnesota's Iron Range.

I found a bucket of unsorted Lake Superior Agates I recall buying from a friend that owns a gravel pit in Minnesota, as well as another small selection of what appeared to be grade “A” Lakers I must have sorted years ago. I took a picture of the sorted stones in water. Are they nice…great jewelry potential!

A bonus bucket of nice Jaspers.

Another bucket was assorted Jasper and Jasperlite and other interesting quartz material from Minnesota gravel pits.

I found a bucket of Petrified Wood and one of fossils. On top of that bucket was a floating rock.

There were lots of jewelry grade stones, specimens, and a few garden rocks. One larger rock piqued my interest, so I cut that one. Although the inside was colorful, I donated it to Bonnie’s rock garden. I found an old piece of Binghamite that is always an exciting stone to work with. This particular rock was very discreet, and it was fortunate I was sorting in the sun, or I would have missed the telltale golden flashes from the stone.

Petrified Wood.

Dinosaur Bone, Ruby in Zoisite, Ruby in Fuchsite, and Kammererite.

I think my favorite find were a few rocks I knew I had, but have not seen them in a year. The closed bucket. A large piece of Dinosaur Bone, a piece or Ruby in Zoisite, one of Ruby in Fuchsite, and one specimen of Kammererite (and Bonnie remembered how to spell it) that I got on a recent trip to Russia; no, wait that was the trip to Tucson where I bought it from a guy from Russia! Just seeing if you’re paying attention. I’m sure pleased I found these. I have other stuff to look through, but I think I have to wait for Bonnie to ask me “How do you know what’s in this barn?” again.

A large rock I found in a bucket. Let's cut it!

It looks nice, but not jewelry. Next stop; Bonnies Rock Garden.

Lake Superior Agates, Datolite, and Greenstones on my Workbench.

I just can’t stop cutting Lake Superior Agates; Making
jewelry from them, or digging through my buckets, looking for that perfect jewelry stone.

Big brown eyes islandlakersajlogo

Recently I’ve cut some unusual pieces. One was a very rare Lake Superior Moss Agate. It resembled a Montana Moss Agate, but had banded eyes. I had to play with my photo studio lighting so you can see this detail. Another couple featured red Islands floating in seas of clear Quartz. roundislandlaker2

Lake Superior Agate Pendants are my passion. Enjoy these few additional pieces of eye candy.

Mesnard Datolite with Isle Royale Greenstone.

A few cabochons of Datolite from the Mesnard Mine in Hancock have been sitting on my workbench for a few weeks. I look at gemstones for a while sometimes, and eventually they speak to me and tell me what they want me to do with them! This was the case with the Mesnard Datolite. Sometimes I put off wrapping these because my idea was a bit complicated and I need to be in the right frame of mind to work on them. I’m sure you will love the results, especially with the pair of Greenstone Beads I added to this free-swinging creation. The Mesnard is known for its’ bright pastel colors, but as with most of the old mines, material is scarce and getting harder to find each year.

This is a busy time at Snob Appeal Jewelry. We have taken some time off to make jewelry. In August, we have shows in Eagle Harbor, Copper Harbor, and doing demos at Copper World in Calumet (AKA the best gift store anywhere around Lake Superior). See you there.

laker1

Radial Sagenite Laker.

Made you smile!

A rare Lake Superior Moss Agate (both sides)

Lake Superior Agate Pendants and other Unusual Stones-On the Workbench

I’ve been cutting lots of recently acquired Lake Superior Agates since we arrived back from our winter in Arizona.

I suspect a couple fans will want this one.

A marvelous pastel Lake Superior Agate Pendant

I have to admit a recent Laker Pendant was put together right after cutting and polishing the stone. Sometimes a certain stone just make me eager to make something of it. The Laker I am speaking about has unusual banding and color; a tight reddish/brown fortification pattern in the top, and an entirely different pattern of wide white and peach banding on the bottom. The agate outdoes itself with this beautiful pink/peach. Pink Gold and Gold Gold wires enhance this nice stone.I named it Color-Wicking Lake Superior Agate Pendant.

Unusual Lakers like stirred Mocha

The second great Laker is an unusual dark carnelian with a pattern that looks like it was stirred in. The brown base agate bleeds though the white pattern creating a very rare yellow. The opposite side of the agate is eye-like.

Luna Agate found over 50 years ago.

Copper Crystal Cluster in float copper. A really amazing cabochon ready to be jewelry.

Picture Petrified Wood.

As a bonus I show you a couple of cabochons of Picture Petrified wood from near Holbrook, Arizona. Also a few other cabochons that will soon be jewelry.

I have been very busy cutting stones and sorting through my treasures from the Tucson shows. I’ll share my favorites as I get more!

Variscite from Utah is a beautiful pastel.

Another blog is in the works for the near future on the 20 0r so new mini Greenstone Pendants I have recently made. Thanks to all our blog readers.

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?

Greenstone, Lake Superior Agates, and Custom Jewelry

I have been working on custom orders that mostly came from shows we did in the Upper Peninsula. These projects are always fun, as customers bring in Agates, Greenstones, and other U.P. rocks with ideas for jewelry.

The sister's Greenstones

After sitting in a drawer for 25 years, a pair of small Greenstones were rescued by Katherine and Judy. The Greenstones were already cut and polished, but needed a little extra work and TLC to bring them up to the standards they deserved. These lively sisters (and long-time customers) brought these stones to me and requested a wrap with “all gold and a fancy top”. A nice size for a Greenstone pendant, they converted into gorgeous jewelry . I love doing jewelry that has sentimental value, and these were not the only pieces of this nature I made this trip.

A custom piece for Nancy. Lake Superior Agate

Our buddy Nancy and her family have been long time lovers of our jewelry. She annually brings Lakers, and other interesting local gemstones, in for me to evaluate and make into pendants or polish. Nancy’s husband found what looked like a rather ordinary Lake Superior Agate (although large for a local stone), but when I cut the stone, it turned out to be a fantastic surprise. The reason the Lake Superior Agate is my favorite gemstone is the wide variations in pattern, colors, and types. The stone Nancy gave me was a mostly white, crack free, laker. I (and Nancy) were delighted with this stone. What makes this one special is the sentimental value that her husband actually found it. A great project. Thanks Nancy.

Shirley's Greenstone Geode. This one 1 3/4" across. I cannot believe someone would glue this in a spoon.

Our long-time friend Shirley has one of the most eclectic collections of my jewelry. She believes in supporting local artists, and loves U.P. rocks and minerals. I have fun sometimes in my shop when I see a certain stone, cut it, and immediately get a feeling that Shirley would like this stone. I make a pendant and when I get to a show where I know Shirley will appear immediately when the show opens, so I hide this special pendant (in plain sight) in my local pendant case. Shirley’s sharp eye and discrimination tastes, invariably spots this special pendant. The next time I see it, it’s around her neck.

This year she found a Greenstone Geode at another booth. The vendor had made a pendant with the stone glued into a spoon. I know, why would anyone do this? Shirley wanted me to free the Greenstone from the spoon and make a pendant from it. I had fun making a big, bold pendant. She likes Big, Bold, Pendants; she was very pleased with the finished results. This is a real one-of-a-kind..

Greenstone in matrix I found at a vendor booth.

The Greenstone pendant I made from that rock.This pendant is almost 3" tall. That's a biggun folks.

I found another Greenstone, entrapped in matrix, at the same vendor’ booths, and made a cash exchange with him. I put together a unisex pendant, and expect to wear it myself until someone makes me an offer I can’t refuse.

Before we went to the Keweenaw, I took a side trip to Canada to look at a rock collection. I bartered jewelry (plus some cash) for some of this large collection. One of the rocks was gorgeous;

A close-up view of a beautiful, odd, mystery rock. If you know what this is, let me know.

green and white in color, and even though it has been posted on the Lapidary Facebook site, no one has positively ID’s it. I made a pendant for John, the collection’s owner, and will make more jewelry in the future. My Facebook friends are hovering to get some of this stuff, but I think I will retain the 7 or 8 slabs I have until it is positively ID’d. It has the chatoyancy of Victoria Stone, and the color and starlike quality of chlorastrolite, but much bigger. Some of the material in this collection was obtained 75 years ago, so no telling what this is. It has been a fun research though.

Bonnie's Garden.

Amethyst in a salmon colored Laker. I called this one "Samethyst"

Our 36th Wedding Anniversary was last month. In honor of that and Bonnie’s love of gardening, I created a U.P. Thomsonite Pendant that I called “Bonnie’s Garden”. It is now in her private collection.

I have to show you a couple Laker’s I recently completed for our inventory. One is a red and white “Candy Striper” which is always a popular color combo, and one a rare Salmon colored Laker with Amethyst. Every amethyst Lake Superior Agate necklace I do sells as soon as I put it out!

It is not too early to start thinking of Christmas, especially if you have custom work for me. Now is the time to get your special stone to me; so I have time to do it justice.

Now is also the time to check out this website for special Christmas gifts.

There is so much happening right now with our business. We have grown every year, and expect 2014 will be no different. We try to treat our customers as friends, and if you order from us, like our website and/or like us on Facebook, you too can be kept up to date on all our adventures and jewelry. Let me know if I can do anything for you.

A "Candy Stripe" Laker with tubes.

Keweenaw Rocks, Minerals, and Copper Country Jewelry

Our trip to Keweenaw was great.

Wire wrapping on the top of Brockway Mountain awaiting the sunset.

Even though we are older, less agile, and spry than we used to be, we had great adventures in the Keweenaw. I hit a mother lode of SISU Agate, and spent a few very hard days banging this agate out of hard rock. I cannot give you the exact location, but it is south of Copper Harbor. Bonnie says that EVERYTHING is south of Copper Harbor. This is fairly true, so this is a nice, vague clue.

The view from Brockway Mountain in just amazing.

The art shows in Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor were very successful; as were our Demonstrations at the finest gift shop anywhere, Copper World in Calumet.

We consumed many Pasties and Vollwerth Hot Dogs, watched the Isle Royale Boat come into Copper Harbor while consuming a gourmet meal at the Harbor Haus. The waiters and waitresses do a can-can on the deck to welcome the boat each evening. In tune with the town theme, the restaurant has a huge double copper door, with warnings not to touch the Copper. It does get really hot it the sun, as you can imagine.

This is the Firebrick Pendant I made up on Brockway. It sold the next day.

We saw many old friends and met many new folks. I know we are getting a big following and a wonderful reputation, when we see women wearing our jewelry wherever we go up there. We were featured in the summer issue of the Copper-UP newspaper that featured Copper World with a color picture of our jewelry covering half the front page.

We found local miners willing to part with Greenstones, Datolite, and Thomsonite for some cash. I hand picked the best for future jewelry.

SISU (Cliff) Agate from my hole.

The only disappointment was we signed up (and paid money for) an organized hunt to the Central spoil pile that did not happen because the County had moved in a crusher and equipment. Another former fantastic greenstone and copper rock hounding location is disappearing to become asphalt, etc. Sad.

The weather was good and the bugs were sparse. Bonnie volunteers to go rock hunting and be bait for the remaining bugs, and they ALWAYS choose her. No further comments on that. She edits this, so I suspect a comment about this will be added. She is the jeweler’s wife, and is expected to suffer for being able to pick from thousands of pieces.

Random Pendants and Earrings of Lake Superior Agate, Datolite, and Firebrick.

I’m typing this as we navigate the Seney Stretch, M-28, a barren wasteland of scrub pine that is the longest straight stretch of Michigan road, flat also. You could go really fast out here except for Moose, Deer, Wolves, Bear and the like that you would be killed if you hit. The State has no bug-killing quota in the Seney Stretch. This is fortunate for all those that cross this area. An RV window can really take out a lot of bugs at once.

The roads are paved in copper in the Keweenaw.

When you look at the random pendant picture, take note of the far right pendant in the middle row.. It is a banded Laker floating in an Amethyst sea. I had four slices off this agate, wrapped them all, and sold four pendants in 5 days on this trip.

One day, while headed to the top of Brockway Mountain, I stopped to check out an outcrop on the side of the road. The roadway to the top of the mountain is in dire need of repair and is crumbling apart, but I noticed a glint in the blacktop. I was not surprised to see copper embedded in the blacktop. I have a friend that actually hunts copper on warm days with a metal detector in the roads. I will not say who this is for his protection from the law.

I have to say something about Firebrick for those that do not know what it is. When the Copper Smelters were build, they were made of brick. Over the years the Copper vapors and molten copper permeated into the brick and replaced everything except the Silica (Quartz) in the brick. When the smelters were torn down the copper bricks were disposed of by dumping them in the water, taking them to landfill, or burying them. Some were removed for landscaping or lapidary uses (bookends, jewelry, paperweights, etc.). I have a 70# piece I have been gradually cutting and making jewelry from it. This is a wonderful, rare, historic material and many purchase it not only for its’ beauty, but for its’ historical story.

We expect a return trip to the Keweenaw in October for colors and to dig more SISU. What a great time we had.

Keweenaw Ledge Agate-AKA SISU Agate

Visiting the Seaman Mineral Museum is always a treat. Their Fluorescent display is shown.

The Keweenaw Peninsula always amazes us. We have had the most wonderful couple weeks. Business has been robust, with loads of lovely ladies sporting our jewelry made from local Copper Country rocks. We pulled into our new campsite at Lake Linden last night, and while I was talking to the campground

The Pink Petoskey Stone and the Favosite I donated to the Seaman Mineral Museum.

host, I told her I sold my jewelry at Copper World. She said “Are you the guy that makes that amazing wire wrapped jewelry”. I admitted that I am and she told me that someone was in the campground who had a new Lake Superior Agate necklace she had bought at Copper World. It is so nice to get complements like “I could not believe that was wire wrapped jewelry, it was so perfect.” How nice is that? Coffee and a complement first thing in the morning–a great way to start the day.

Bon nie chats with some customers at the Eagle Harbot Art Fair.

Bonnie chats with some customers checking out some earrings in a mirror at the Eagle Harbot Art Fair.

I expect since it is a perfect day, I’m just going to relax and make some jewelry in my lawn chair.

This last week we started digging a hole in some hard rock ledges south of Copper Harbor, and we struck the mother lode of Ledge Agates like I have seldom been seen. This is a special type of Lake Superior Agate not as well known as the traditional fortification (or banded) agate. I was finding this agate in seams rather than in nodules, or single rocks.

Here I am "slamming" agates out of a ledge. I call these SISU Agates, because they are so hard to get.

The normal Ledge Agate is a dull brown or pink/white, non-banded, drab agate, but some of these are bright red, some with white Quartz. I have been literally working my meals off in this hole. I have a special “slammer” tool my buddy Chris made for me. I cannot imagine how much harder these would be with a chisel and hammer. I did dig this hole: bend and twist, sweat and ache. I saw color and from a deathlike state I come back to life and kept beating at the rock. The local Finns have a word for going above and beyond your ordinary: SISU. I am definitely in SISU working on this hole-struggling above and beyond. I hereby dub these SISU Agates!

Agates in the hole.

I guess I am in the Agate Greed mode right now, so we will go get more the next couple days.

A whole bucket of SISU Agates.

Finally the Monks at the Jam Pot had a full supply of their famous Muffins and other goodies.

Working on U.P. Projects

Today let’s talk about some of the projects I brought back from the Upper Peninsula.

Sue's "super" Thomsonite

Sue has been a faithful customer over the years and she has brought me some amazing local stones for custom pieces in the past.

This time she brought one of the largest and most amazing Pink Thomsonites I’ve seen in a while. The cabochon was found in the Keweenaw 40 years ago, according to an I.D. tag that was on it. Thomsonites of this size and quality are very scary to work with because of the value and this one because of the size. Thomsonite sometimes just blows apart when you work with it on the grinder. Any harmonics created by the machine grinding wheels can send shockwaves into this material that sometimes just blows the stone apart.

I am always up to a challenge, but I also would hate to ruin a $500 stone. Thomsonite varies in hardness quite a bit, as well as crystal structure.

I had to re-work this stone to balance the shape and the dome. Believe me it was scary. This stone was very hard and solid (fortunately), and I was able to reform and re-cut it .

I was very happy with the way the wrap came out. As is my normal theory on wrapping I did not cover the beauty of the stone, yet I wanted the wrapping to be as elegant as the stone. I liked the way it came out; as did Sue.

Unusual blue coloration enhances this great little agate.

Nancy's ring.

Our friend Nancy brought several stones for me to assess. She enjoys the U.P. and rock hunting. Her daughter, Elizabeth, is also a rockhound. Several of Nancy’s stones had possibilities, and cutting when I got home produced an unusual small agate from the end of an otherwise plain stone. The stone had a strange bluish area. I have never seen this coloration in a Lake Superior Agate. It is hard to explain and lucky for you I took a picture. I made a ring for Nancy that reminds her of the U.P.

Elizabeth's wonderful pendant.

Elizabeth found a very cool ledge agate the next day and after cutting it and finding out how nice it was, I made a great little silver pendant for her. All these projects I really enjoyed. I love making my customers happy. Thanks to all of them.

You are not going to believe what is inside this stone.

The third project was my wife Bonnie’s anniversary pendant. You have seen the amazing copper-infused Datolite Pendant, but I don’t think you saw the ordinary looking rock it came from. You never know what might be inside the crust of a rock. I think that is why I love making jewelry. I’m the first person to actually see the inside of the rocks I cut for my jewelry.

The 35th Anniversary Pendant...SHE LIKED IT!

I would be happy to do some custom work for you. I can take your stones and create something wonderful just for you! What’s your dream jewelry? Let me make it for you.

Worlds Largest Lake Superior Agate

Panera Bread is a great place to have coffee, a pecan roll, and to blog. Everyone likes my blog from Minnesota, and I really appreciate it. People at the Agate Show from all over have told me they follow my blog–how nice!

Wild Crazy Lace

Lakers like this are all over here; like they are a common occurence.

More Lakers over a pound.

MORE!

The excitement was high at the Celebration of Agate Show today. We talked to people that just came to the show on a lark and could not believe what they saw.

World Record Agates appeared at Scott Wolter's booth today.

The excitement today was I saw loads of Lakers again that I had not seen before, including both the world record Lake Superior Agate and the world record Fairburn Agate.

How about these north shore Thomsonites?

The show attendance was around 1100 today. I had good fun just talking to rockhounds from around the U.S.

Tepee Canyon Agates

I’m just going to show you some of the amazing things I saw today, I hope you do not get bored with great agates.

You would think Fairburn Agates were common looking at this display!

Celebration of Agates-A Giant Venue

Taken from the running track above the show.

Nice assortment of Petrified wood.

lind

The Celebration of Agates opened at noon with a rush of customers standing in line anticipating all the goodies enclosed in this giant gym. All the dealers here were invited to participate, so the best agate dealers from around the world are here, especially popular are the Lake Superior Agates, the State Stone of Minnesota.

Kentucky Agate-gotta love the red & black.

One of Scott Wolter's Lakers. This one maybe three pounds?

The Lindbergh Center is huge! There’s a 1/8 mile track around the top of this facility. All the display cases are filled with wonderful agate displays. The tables are piled heavily with rock goodies, rough, slabs, jewelry, and specimens. If you have the cash you can score big time. I am actually blogging from the show as the crowds have thinned at 6:15pm. The show closes at 7pm, and I believe that the big crowds will come tomorrow.

More huge Wolter' Lakers.

The only things I captured today were a slab of Luna Agate, a small Moroccan Agate, and a new pinpoint metal detector. I am sitting across from Scott Wolter’s booth, and he is busy signing his wonderful books on Lake Superior Agates and his new book on the Kensington Ruin Stones.

Scott brought probably the most fantastic Lake Superior Agate collection in the world. He has filled three cases with BIG agates. Picture all of them over a pound, with one named the “Bowling Ball Agate”, that is as big as a bowling ball at 15 pounds!

Brian Costigan's rock pile.

The display cases were arranged down the center of the Lindbergh Center. They were all wonderful and amazing.Other Lake Superior Agates were displayed by Brian Costigan and others. Bonnie and I took photos for you.

Crazy Crazy Lace.

Enjoy the pictures, if you can’t be here!

Luna Agate.

Our display of (from right) Arizona Green Petrified Woos, Peanut Wood from Australia, and Thunder Bay Seam Agate.

Bob & Jeff Anderson next to their massive agate shopping center.

Miles of rough rock.

Gene Mueller's Agua Nueva Agate.