We just sent off our monthly newsletter (new year edition) filled with upcoming products and good deals. Amethyst, Sonora Sunset and soon to come more Rhodonite polished cabochons. Click here to view the newsletter!

As we enter into a new year for 2010 we have some exciting things coming up! We’ve been hard at work cutting, tumbling, polishing and of course shaping gemstones. Expect to see some rough rock too along with polished necklaces, rock clocks, belt buckles and more. Of course you can still get our translucent obsidian apache tears from small to large sizes.

You will see more premium selections including priday agate, chrysocolla, dinosaur bone, green moss agate and more gem quality stones you can use in your next project or select from one of our necklaces, rings or bracelets. The new amethyst with cacoxenite polished cabs or faces are also new additions to our website and you will see more jewelry with this combination. The formations in the stone have landscape formations with golden fibers amongst the purple hues from the amethyst. Check our website soon for more polished faces and amethyst cabs!

In addition we are ramping up our website and will have a newsletter being sent out this week, so be sure to add your email to the list to be included for all of our promotions. You can add your email to the “Newsletter Sign-up” box on the right side of the screen –>

This is an incredibly beautiful old material from Brazil that is Cacoxenite in Amethyst. The Cacoxenite (Hydrated Iron Aluminum Phosphate Oxide Hydroxide) is a needle like golden fiber inside the Amethyst which helps to bring a metaphysical “spiritual awakening”, promoting new ideas and understanding. It is also said to aid us in seeing the positive and benevolent sides of life.

The interesting part of this stone is the needle like fibers form tree like formations give it a surreal landscaping effect. Watch for our polished faces of this stone which make for a eye catching display. We will be posting polished face display pieces along with more cabs, have a look in our store.

Check out some of our new beautiful Chrysocolla Cabochons we have added to our site! We have some with Gem Silica from Bisbee and Globe Arizona! There are some beautiful Malachite inclusions in some of them! Click on any of the items below to view more in our store!

The name Chrysocolla was first used by Theophrastus in 315 B.C. and comes from the Greek chrysos, meaning “gold,” and kolla, meaning “glue,” in allusion to the name of the material used to solder gold. Found in the oxidation zone of copper deposits, often encrusting or replacing earlier secondary minerals. It is typically found as glassy botryoidal or rounded masses or bubbly crusts, and as jackstraw mats of tiny acicular crystals or tufts of fibrous crystals.

This pink plume agate material is said to be out of Madagascar with agate formations and beautiful druzy crystal pockets. First said to be on the market at the Tucson, AZ Gem and Mineral show in 2008 for this rare material.

These pink plume cabochons are looking really nice when polished as the pink colors deepen while making the agate more visible on the surface. We are excited to have picked up a limited supply of this rare find and hope you enjoy our cabs in your next piece of fine jewelry! Let us know what you think and if you have more information on this rare stone.

Priday Plume Thunder Egg Agate

“Priday” or “Plume Agate” is a very rare agate found many years ago on the Priday ranch outside Madras Oregon. Long gone are the digging opportunity’s for this agate found in thunder eggs. You will find moss with rich browns patterns and in some cases plume patterns which become more valuable all laced within a beautiful agate matrix.

Wikipedia says, “Petrified wood (from the Greek root “petro” meaning “rock” or “stone”, literally “wood turned into stone”) is a type of fossil: it consists of fossil wood where all the organic materials have been replaced with minerals (most often a silicate, such as quartz), while retaining the original structure of the wood. The petrifaction process occurs underground, when wood becomes buried under sediment and is initially preserved due to a lack of oxygen. Mineral-rich water flowing through the sediment deposits minerals in the plant’s cells and as the plant’s lignin and cellulose decay away, a stone mould forms in its place.”

Fossilized wood

Fossilized wood is also known as “petrified wood” with the mineral composition of jasper, chalcedony, and, less frequently, opal; it consists of silicon dioxide only. The wood has not changed into stone but only the shape and structural elements of the wood are preserved. Read more…

What is a Thunder Egg?

Wikipedia says, "A thunderegg (or thunder egg) is a nodule-like geological structure, similar to a geode, that is formed within a rhyolitic lava flow."

Appearance & Composition

Thundereggs are rough spheres, most about the size of a baseball – though they can range from less than an inch to over a meter across. They usually contain centers of chalcedony in the form of agate, jasper or opal, either uniquely or in combination. Also frequently encountered are quartz and selenite crystals, as well as various other mineral growths and inclusions. Thundereggs usually look like ordinary rocks on the outside, but slicing them in half and polishing them may reveal intricate patterns and colors. A characteristic feature of thundereggs is that (like other agates) the individual beds they come from can vary in appearance, though they can maintain a certain specific identity within them.

Agatized Dinosaur Bone or "dino bone" is the result of fossilized bone from dinosaurs in which the cellular structure has been replaced with quartz, leaving the bone structure intact. The resulting stone is a 7 on the Mohs scale.

Many excellent specimens of dinosaur bone are found in and around the American southwest. Dinosaur bone ranges in color from brown to black with splotches of red, blue and bright yellow. Dark yellow-gold and red dinosaur bone is also found, but is more rare. The coloring of the specimen is due to impurities that were in the surrounding sediment.