2019 Winter Update
Posted by Terry Diede on
Greetings from the southwest. Arizona has provided warm weather, opportunity to hunt for rocks both in the desert and at the shows. Even at 90 years old mom still enjoys hunting for rocks in the desert!! Once spring arrives in the North we will be headed home to get the saws running and unpack the winter’s treasures. There are some great lapidary specimens that we will be sharing with you throughout the year. The most impressive part of the shows for me is the international materials. There are a few new and exciting materials that I can hardly wait to see come out of the saw.
From Mexico we acquired a spectacular moss agate resembling and named Quetzal after the colorful tropical bird. The colors are bold and the patterns are very distinct. It will make great lapidary material. We will also be introducing Cotton Candy, a material similar to Youngite but with stronger color, to the store.
Chile provided a new material called Red/Green Blanket. The colors are deep and include green, blue, and reds with patterning that reminds me of Owyhee or Noreena. This is certainly an attention grabbing material.
We renewed our supply of African Pietersite and Shattuckite and found both to be some of the best available in the last couple of years. Additionally, we were able to purchase a very nice, both color and patterned, rough piece of Rhodochrosite.
We were able to obtain very limited quantities of the increasingly difficult to find Bullion Mountain and Wingate Pass plume agates from California. These collector’s pieces have virtually disappeared and are no longer available for mining.
It has been a fun winter and we are looking forward to getting these and many other new items to you. They will be posted to the store as quickly I we can process them.