My shipment from Africa is almost on the way. There was one material I wasn't sure about ordering, and the mine owner, Paul Lee, gracious sent me a generous sample of it. It's sold as African Turquoise, but without actually having my hands on it and having it tested, I couldn't be sure what it was.
When it arrived, I sent one piece to a gemologist I know in South Carolina--John Rasmussen of Rasmussen Gems & Jewelry--and kept the other piece to play with myself.
The guys around the club thought it was true turquoise, mid grade, that should be a good seller. I tried polishing an end of the piece I have, and it does take a nice polish.
John did some chemical testing on it, and found that although it has a strong resemblance to turquoise, it's actually chrysocolla, and a high grade chrysocolla at that.
I changed my order--I'm getting three times what I originally planned to order. I've already had several people say they want to buy some of it. Now I'm worrying about whether I've ordered enough!
I'll be sending the payment this week, and it will ship in just a few more days. The waiting is almost over.........
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Hi Carolee- I'm Stacie...a very quiet member of the fest team. Well- I belong to the yahoo group but have hung back waiting for some sense of being an organized team. I'm also *very* interested in rocks- I'm taking my first cabbing class at our local rock & gem club. Just wanted to say hello! How exciting that it's chrysocolla...love that! I can't imagine barrels of rock...cool.
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