Metal detecting, gold panning, gemstones etc
Anyone do this stuff, anyone want to take me along.. I haven't done this stuff in ages, wouldn't mind a day out now and then in Victoria
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That's not a bad haul.! :yahoo:
there is an old saying A C .
quote [ blow in my ear and i will take you any where ]
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we go out to anakie and sapphire to the gemfest
ever year in july/ august and have a wonderful time .
last year we sold over $ 3000.00 worth of un cut gemstones
mainly zircons and some peroidot and iolite .
these pictures are of the ones i have found and had cut out there ..
good fun .. ,, kel ,,
I have about 1/2 kg of uncut Mt Surprise Topaz that I collected about 35 years ago and never got around to getting any of them cut.I should get around to it one day
wow pretty, I have a few uncut stones around how much does it cost to get them done, I also have rocks - haha don't know the names, Chrysoprase and Agates basic stuff you don't have to dig up, mostly pick up "pretty coloured rocks".
Tho when I was a tiny taker we went sapphire-ing and I used to go around saying I have fond a party, and sure enough when dad had a look it would be one.
I will skip outside and take some pics, o that gold pic isn't mine or I would be laughing all the way to the bank, the gold we used to get was called specks and are like a few mm in size.
here are some rocks, and buckets of uncleaned stuff.
and added my amber pics that I bought from a nice lady online from the Dominican, I got one of each colour.
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a of that rock can be slabbed and polished , comes up very nice
at a cost if you pay to have it done , very expencive though
some of what you have is agate . can be slabbed and polished or cut into small pieces and tumbled ,..
the round one near the white bucket is a thunder egg , needs to be polished on the cut side only ,
and the coloured ones from overseas i dont know about them but look very nice .
to cut and facet a gemstone cost around $ 30 .00 per carrot after it is cut then it is weighted if it is 10 cts in the rough then look for maybe 3 cts when cut if you are lucky .. ,, kel ,,
Quote from: 'stevo1962' pid='10041' dateline='1363669699'I have about 1/2 kg of uncut Mt Surprise Topaz that I collected about 35 years ago and never got around to getting any of them cut.I should get around to it one day
steve , you have a lot of topaz in 1/2 kg , sort it out first before you sell any of it .most is clear but comes up like diamonds only softer, look for blue colour , can be very light colour blue ,but still more value in the coloured ones , still very nice stone when faceted ..
i will find some of mine and show pictures cut and un cut .. quite a difference .. ,, kel ,,
at mt supprise it was a tin mine , and they found this shiney stuff in the mullick heaps after it had rained , they saw it shining so they started to save it and they ended up with 44 gallons drums full of it ..thats how it was found up there at mt supprise ..in the begining.. ,, kel ,,
most of what you see in mine is zircon , or zirconia is the right name for it , comes from harts ranges in the N T .
zircon has gone from semi presious stone to presious gem stones next to sapphire and diamonds ..
the green is peridot from cheviot hill out west qld and the blue is iloite from hart ranges in N T same place as the garnet , red ones ..
the iolite fields have been taken over by the n t gov and has all been mined over and now no more iolite can be mined . so that stone will become very scarce and hard to get .. ,, kel ,,
Actually its only 312 grams when I weighed them but there are some nice stones amongst it all
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nice stones steve , mainly the bigger ones
some look pale blue
wholesale as is ,about $ 2.00 per carrot ,
mainly the big ones , small ones , depends ,?
cost to cut about $ 27= $ 30 per crt .
still very nice stones when cut ..
i know a guy in thailand who cuts cheap ,
but , sending them over and getting them back .
your risk ..
,, kel ,,
hi Keldew
I am after a nice australian garnet
about the size of a 1/4 (?) ct diamond, round
my engagement ring had a garnet in it - nice orange aussie one
but it got a big scratch & another jeweller replaced it with an african garnet (mozambic?) deep red
but it has never appealed to me
i can send you the orange garnet for a size match if you had some that you were selling
my engagemnt ring is my mother's original one but it was modified for a round basket setting from the original 1950's square sapphire basket
cheers robbie
i can post a pic of the ring
hi robbie , i will put up some pic of mine tomorrow so you can have a look ,
i dont know if there is one you like or not but i will show you in a picture .
remember the bigger you go with garnet , the darker they get because of the depth in the stone .our australian garnet are darker then mozambic ones , .have a look at the above pic and you will see i have 3 garnet in the one holder , i know they are not the shape you want but they will give you an idea of the colour .garnet is a very soft stone compared to sapphire or diamond and will scratch very easy , like doing the gardening or washing up and things like that ..and like zircon when they go to set it in the setting , if it dont fit and they have to heat the setting to fit the stone and the heat hits the stone it can take the colour out of the stone .. ,, kel ,,
thanks Kel
yes, I did spot the garnets in your photos
i'll post a pic of mine too
yes, now i take the rings off when doing work but most of the time i forget to put them back on
i bought myself a diamond engagement ring a few years ago and it takes being worn/wear and tear more much better than the lovely soft coloured stones
all that said, i do adore my garnets and have a few other bits of jewellery with them as well.
Quote from: 'keldaw' pid='10072' dateline='1363682764'nice stones steve , mainly the bigger ones
some look pale blue
wholesale as is ,about $ 2.00 per carrot ,
mainly the big ones , small ones , depends ,?
cost to cut about $ 27= $ 30 per crt .
still very nice stones when cut ..
i know a guy in thailand who cuts cheap ,
but , sending them over and getting them back .
your risk ..
,, kel ,,
My brother is going to Thailand this year hopefully with his Thai girlfriend and I've arranged for him to take all of the good ones to get cut over there otherwise they would probably just lie around for another 30 years
I also bought some cute cut gems online, some from a Aussie seller who had great stuff and I'm guessing they would be genuine, they were round cut, and I bought some from the USA that were heart cut, some are garnets some are amethyst both sellers are jewellers and I didn't pay much as they were selling wholesale and they were odds and ends, what I would like to know is can you tell if they are natural, synthetic or heat treated. I will have to find them and take pics tomorrow. they are tiny under 5mm, but cute :heart:
Here's my gold collection,bought not found
o pretty, I would love to go looking for gold
wow
gemstones
and now pure gold
far out!!
Hi Kel
Here is Mum's ring - which is my engagement now. This red stone looks almost black when I wear it.
And then here is a pic of a garnet drop earring that is about the same colour as the one I orginally had - can't find it now!! Blimey! But that colour or lighter is what I's be after. And I'd prefer an Australian garnet if possible?
ps again - it's about 5mm across
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these are some of my stones , may be a bit dusty from sitting out in my shed since last july , when we came back from our trip out west ..
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just remember on all gemstones
more light better pictures ,,. ,, kel ,,
Lovely looking stones Kel, another fun form of noodling.!! You are now my most knowledgable expert in this field. Hope you get some sales.!!!
my gold ..stored away nice and safe and cool ..
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and some of my thunder eggs, when they get cut in
half , there is always a different patton in side each one .
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thunder eggs look so much better after being polished
,, kel ,,
these pictures of my gold and thunder eggs are taken with my new camera ,
the pictures of my gemstones are taken with my old camera
so much better . ,, kel ,,
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A Bit of Colour fron Coober Pedy/ Flinders Ranges Fossil.
o pretty, do you know what the fossil is, I think the round ones are called ammonite, and opals are made from silicon, I seen a program and there's a very special fossil that is made of opal too, an Aussie bone from something and its very rare.
I have seen the fossilised dinosaur that was discovered many years years ago.! My younger sister spent a couple of years in Coober Pedy (Police Officer) so I visited often.! Met a couple who excavated a new room in their dugout for an impending new arrival (baby) and found $40.000 of opal in the process.!:yahoo:
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Wetting the rock brings out the colour.!
Quote from: 'keldaw' pid='10099' dateline='1363728431'these are some of my stones , may be a bit dusty from sitting out in my shed since last july , when we came back from our trip out west ..
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(http://i45.tinypic.com/2a6p5c8.jpg)
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(http://i48.tinypic.com/13zaohc.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2wfl05u.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/30vkoc1.jpg)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/2z9fjbs.jpg)
just remember on all gemstones
more light better pictures ,,. ,, kel ,,
Hi kel
Are these all garnets?
the orange ones are lovely (the round ones)
hi robbie , no mate only the round are garnet,
the oval ones are zircon .
we dug all our stones ourselves , over 35 years ago ,up in the hart range , in the north/terr .
if you like them i can give you a few uncut stones [ zircon ] for you to play around with , and maybe you can get a couple of them cut to suit you one day , when you feel like it ..
if you like , p/m your address and watch for the mail man .. ,, kel ,,
thanks so much Kel
those deep red granets look very much like the one that I already have in the ring (I think). ALthough the highly faceted one looks a bit more browner & brighter
what lovely stones
i'd be looking at gemstones like that each night instead of my old pennies
will pm message you and google zircon as I know little about it
cheers robbie
and maybe i'll have to dig up the local lapidary club contact details to find someone who can cut stones!!
Kel, I have a 'pink zircon' fron the Harris Ranges (according to the scrap of paper tucked in with it) Are these common.?
Robbiegal, I am a bit the same- could look at shiny things all night.!:exclamation:
Quote from: 'Robster' pid='10166' dateline='1363815918'Kel, I have a 'pink zircon' fron the Harris Ranges (according to the scrap of paper tucked in with it) Are these common.?
Robbiegal, I am a bit the same- could look at shiny things all night.!:exclamation:
robster , lots of different pinks , in gemstones , the most common colour is champaine and there is light and dark in that to ,
zircon is cut for weight , some other stones ,, stones like my iolite in above pictures [ the small blue ones in the box ] are cut for colour .
if you look at iolite one way it is blue , turn it around a bit and it is clear , so it must be cut on the colour format .pictures of gemstones on p/c will never really show the right colour , the light makes the difference . if it is a pink ,, pink , then it would be better then common . .. ,, kel ,,
:wavemulticolor:
if it is pink like the 2nd guy in this lot , then you have a very uncommon pink zircon .. ,, kel ,,
robbie ,
gemstones are a thing that i dont think you can buy via the net ,.except for the pretty junk from overseas . most of them cheap ones are man made..
first , you must have the exact size to fit the setting , or a jeweler has to alter the setting , very expencive if not cut to aust no in the setting sizes .also the colours are never the exact same as what shows on the pc , enless it maybe ok if pic is taken by an expert ..
zircon prices , are whole sale prices selling to cutters or jewelers
larger cutable stones $ 2.00 per ct , uncut , retail at $ 4.00 per ct ,,,.cut stones $ 40 per ct , .. prices in australia to cut stones are around $ 28.00 per ct
that is when, they are cut then weighted.
these prices are rough est , because it depends on where you are and were you have it done . ,, kel ,,
robbie , which stone are you talking about , please??
start from the top 4 then the next 4 then one at a time down , and let me know by number please .. ,, kel ,,
straight below robster,s opal is my first lot of 4 stones ,
top 2 are zircon , and bottom 2 are garnet, then the next picture of 4 stones are zircon ,then the next 6 are garnet , all different sizes .
and not under the light in the same position , it is the light that makes the difference .. ,, kel ,,
i rather like that zircon
it looks like citrine
it certainly does look like citrine ,
but not so i can give you my word it is zircon ..
again the light .. ,, kel ,,
I quite oftain reline Ball and Sag Mills at Gold mines.
On many occasions the gold recovered from the worn liners and plates is enough to pay for the entire reline including the new parts.
I often see chunks of Gold inside the mill and is quite commonplace to me.
The novelty wears off after a while but when you first see raw gold it is a bit of a "Buzz"
These polished stones however look fantastic and far better than an inert lump of gold anyday:yahoo: