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Originally Posted by DixieGal
LOL! Me too! They say I'm like a bird, because I have to see and touch everyone's jewelry. I hope you are still friendly enough with the GF that she can show you where the big shiny rocks are lurking. Let's talk ROCKS!
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We are still friends, but she is in Texas. Other then the Smithsonian, perhaps, the nicest mineral collection I've seen was when I was down there with her and visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I was drooling over the Beryl's and such that looked like they came from Superman's fortress of solitude...
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You are close enough to NC to go pick up some fist-sized pretty amythests in NC. www.gemmountain.com
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Probably 10-12 hour drive from me, heh. There was a Quartz mine upstate, in PA, but it has been shut down for a couple years now. I was actually going there one weekend and we had the remnants of a hurricane pass thru flooding most of the state.
http://www.raytowneinc.com/CrystalPointDiamondMines.htm
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Next year, probably in the late spring, I'm going to take Faceting and Tim is taking Silversmithing at the lapidary college.
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I have a few books on silversmithing. I have the GIA diamond course, bout it on faceting. I almost got ahold of a faceting machine, but was short that week. I do have a diamond bruting lathe, which is an interesting story in itself.
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We will probably go on a field trip with the rock club up to Franklin, hopefully sooner rather than later.
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Remember to bring a good UV source, worlds largest source of fluorescent minerals. Also about the most diverse mineral deposit in the world, though some recent Russian digs have started to come up with a huge amount of unique material.
http://www.franklinmineralmuseum.com/
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I've got a gorgeous cabachon pendant of picture rock, set in silver, that came from there. It's not the usual brown desert scene that comes from Oregon, but it is blues and greens, and it makes a fairy glade scene. I got the cab for $5 at a rock show, believe it or not! It's so unusual that I believe it would sell for upwards of $1000 or more - but they would have to pry it out of my cold dead hands to get it away from me! 
Today, I'm wearing a brand new pendant that I didn't make because I can't facet. It's a rubellite, emerald cut, ~1 ct, 14k gold, that I found at Gem Mountain. You can get all sorts of sparklies out of the dirt there!
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Some of those jaspers are amazing. I have a few little agate pieces. Some blue topaz, a trilobite
, but mostly I just admire others. Haven't really gotten a collection going yet. Probably cause I drool over museum grade stuff and have a hard time settling for a thumbnail specimin of rhodolite, lol.
Me and the ex-g/f sometimes get on chat and start looking at sites like
http://www.exceptionalminerals.com/ together. It's a good way to kill a night.
-MJ