Metal detecting, gold panning, gemstones etc

[Australian coin]

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

[Robster]

That's not a bad haul.! :yahoo:

[keldaw]

there is an  old saying  A C .

 quote [ blow in my ear and i will take you any where ]




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 ,,

[stevo1962]

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

[Australian coin]

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.

[attachment=1457]
[attachment=1458]
[attachment=1459]

[keldaw]

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 ,,

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 ,,

[stevo1962]

Actually its only 312 grams when I weighed them but there are some nice stones amongst it all

[attachment=1461]

[keldaw]

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 ,,

[robbiegal]

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

[keldaw]

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 ,,

[robbiegal]

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.

[stevo1962]

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

[Australian coin]

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:

[stevo1962]

Here's my gold collection,bought not found

[Australian coin]

o pretty, I would love to go looking for gold