# Any other rock hound /orchid growers here ?



## Gilda (May 1, 2015)

My latest adventure is rock hounding. I LOVE finding these pretties ! They don't need watering, get mealies, or rot :rollhappy:! We went to Graves Mt GA and found these.


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## cnycharles (May 1, 2015)

Looks cool; you should go to sw New Mexico, eastern Arizona area. My mother lives in deming nm and very near there is 'rock hound state park'. The whole area was volcanic so lots of interesting things all over. I went out one Saturday with the local rock hound club, lot of fun


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## Paphluvr (May 1, 2015)

You betcha! Here in Michigan we have a lot of fossils and the state petoskey stone. Lots of cool minerals in the upper peninsula and Lake Superior agates.

Polished Petoskey stone


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## Migrant13 (May 1, 2015)

Those are cool. I like this mineral/rock stuff too but other than a few interesting pieces of petrified wood, I never collected any.


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## NYEric (May 1, 2015)

Very cool, my GF used to collect. Thanks for sharing.


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## gonewild (May 1, 2015)

Been a rockhound all my life. My father had a rock shop forever and we spent a lot of time collecting.


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## Gilda (May 1, 2015)

cnycharles said:


> Looks cool; you should go to sw New Mexico, eastern Arizona area. My mother lives in deming nm and very near there is 'rock hound state park'. The whole area was volcanic so lots of interesting things all over. I went out one Saturday with the local rock hound club, lot of fun



Charles, we ARE going to Las Cruces, NM in a few weeks !!! Rock Hound ST Park is on my list ! We are driving, so another stop is Arkansas for large quartz crystals. 
Happy to see fellow rock hounds on here !!!


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## Gilda (May 1, 2015)

Paphluvr said:


> You betcha! Here in Michigan we have a lot of fossils and the state petoskey stone. Lots of cool minerals in the upper peninsula and Lake Superior agates.
> 
> Polished Petoskey stone
> View attachment 10332



LOVE that stone ! I doubt I'll ever get that direction to collect though.


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## SlipperFan (May 1, 2015)

Very cool, Gilda!


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## abax (May 2, 2015)

I used to be a rock hound and have a rather nice collection
of different kinds of agate and jasper, but after a large rock dislodged
and rolled over my foot, I decided that maybe I wasn't sufficiently co-ordinated to do it anymore. There are quite a few old mines in Nevada that yield some nice
stones, but they're a bit dangerous.


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## Ray (May 2, 2015)

I used to be seriously into rocks, too. Still have a. Few nice specimens..

When I was at Ga Tech, a friend's grandfather let us into a cave on his property north of Atlanta that was actually a giant geode, lined with amethyst, that was about to be commercially mined. We dropped down into it from the top, and there were Individual crystals as large as your fist, but of course, they were unreachable on the ceiling.


Ray Barkalow
firstrays.com


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## rbedard (May 2, 2015)

I wouldn't describe myself as a rock hound, in that I don't go collecting; but I do love gems and minerals, particularly crystals. Bought a gorgeous 9.6 carat gem quality deep green tourmaline crystal and a string of 1950 Sleeping Beauty turquoise beads at a gem/mineral show last weekend. Really high quality stuff.


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## Clark (May 2, 2015)

Nice finds. And thanks for the location tips.

My wife and I have had the gems(that we mined ourselves) turned into jewelry, a bracelet for me and she got necklace and earrings.

I honestly prefer fossils. When we bought the pallets of rocks to construct waterfall/stream in back yard, one of the rocks was clearly unique. 
So I set it aside. Later realized I had five eggs. Slightly smaller than chicken.
I have another piece that I cherish, got a fossilized head of something. It is about the size of my fist. The teeth are the coolest.


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## Linus_Cello (May 2, 2015)

Clark said:


> Nice finds. And thanks for the location tips.
> 
> My wife and I have had the gems(that we mined ourselves) turned into jewelry, a bracelet for me and she got necklace and earrings.
> 
> ...



Megacharcorondon shark tooth hunting for me


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## MaryPientka (May 2, 2015)

I recommend 'Herkimer Diamonds' (quartz) from Herkimer, NY


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## Lordoftheswarms (May 2, 2015)

My favorite is Dioptase. This particular piece is from the Tsumeb mine in Namibia, Africa.


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## cnycharles (May 2, 2015)

Ray, that would have been seriously cool! I've been to herkimer diamonds; doubly terminated quartz is very rare and people from all over the world will show interest if you get some from there and offer it for sale


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## Paphluvr (May 2, 2015)

MaryPientka said:


> I recommend 'Herkimer Diamonds' (quartz) from Herkimer, NY


I only got to Herkimer once, it was mid afternoon so only had about 1.5-2 hr before the mine closed. Didn't get a chance to go to the pit where the larger crystal's are found, but found 5-6 small ones. Love the fact that they are doubly terminated.

Many years ago in Lapidary Journal they had an article about someone that was doing three dimensional carving on the inside of a crystal. The carver said the first time he carved a face and then rotated the crystal it looked as if he had carved Pinocchio (due to the refractive index).


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## Gilda (May 2, 2015)

Beautiful Dioptase and Herkimer ! I'm more of a surface collector..than a digger ! It is tempting to buy pretty gems and rock specimens but I like the thrill of the hunt.
We have a lake near us and in the winter when they draw the lake down, you can find quartz crystals....some are very similar to diamonds ! Below are a few we found in Feb.


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## rbedard (May 2, 2015)

MaryPientka said:


> I recommend 'Herkimer Diamonds' (quartz) from Herkimer, NY



Agreed; they're something special.


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## rbedard (May 2, 2015)

Lordoftheswarms said:


> My favorite is Dioptase. This particular piece is from the Tsumeb mine in Namibia, Africa.



Gorgeous color.


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## Ray (May 3, 2015)

This is what I was able to get out of that cave - and I just realized, that was over 40 years ago!!!


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## Gilda (May 3, 2015)

WOW awesome Ray !:clap:


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