CATEGORIES

Pink Opal

For many years, the only deposit of pink opal was found in Peru. Then in 2011, Glenn Archer of Australian Outback Mining discovered a new find in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, just east of the coastal town of Carnarvon.

The Rumbling, Bone-Tumbling

"Coo" of T. Rex

Top 10 Magenta Rocks

Lapidary Materials to Celebrate the Pantone Color of the Year

SERENDIPITY EQUALS A MONTANA AGATE

Serendipity is having an apparent aptitude for making discoveries accidentally.

The LA BREA TAR PITS: A Journey to the Ice Age

Los Angeles is the land of palm trees, movie stars, Malibu and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"Lucky 13"-A New Find of Purple Apatite at Maine's Pulsifer Quarry

A patite is a favorite collector's mineral with a dizzying array of beautiful colors and interesting crystal habits.

Gold & the Hard Rock Summit Show

The Hard Rock Summit Show has become the top fall mineral show in Denver around which other shows have clustered.

ICELAND SPAR: THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS

In Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, author Lewis Carroll used the title phrase as a metaphor for peering into a world where nothing was quite what it seemed. When it came to understanding the mysterious nature of light, the \"looking glass\" for early scientists was optical calcite or Iceland spar.

Raised in a ROCK SHOP

The Influence of Rock Collecting & Lapidary While Growing Up

EXPLORING Fantastic Cavems, Drive-Through Cave

Plus a Bucket List of Caves for the Physically Challenged

Bye-Bye, Glaciers?

Concerns about the loss of glacial ice vary. Downstream from the Himalayas, one billion people depend on run-off from existing glaciers to fill their rivers and meet their water supplies.

To Find the Beginnings of Complex Life on Earth

Search Life Living Today!

Dinosaur Mummies

Perhaps More Common Than Imagined?

A New Tale for the Ankylosaur Tail Club

They weren't just for clobbering T. rex, after all!

Filling Earth's Oceans with Water

One Meteorite at a Time, Per One Smoking Gun

Ichthyosaur Birthing Resembled that of Gray Whales

Prepare for a New Era of Boots-on-the-Ground Exploration

The Magnetic Field of Mars

Life Would Have Depended on It

Geoengineering Earth's Oceans

From Science Fiction to Science Fact

Leaving Earth Behind

A Record Number of Rockets Take off from Earth in 2022

Concrete for the Ages

What the Romans Knew that We Might Learn

THE CURIOUS LORE OF George Frederick Kunz

America's First Gemologist

Volcanoes and Emeralds

I've had the privilege to give lectures worldwide at shows, club meetings and retreats. I've also done videos and DVDs including Russian Gem Treasures, shot in Russia and another associated with the Smithsonian about American gem mines.

THE MAGIC OF MARBLE

Sculptors and architects have an abundance of natural stone materials to choose from alabaster, travertine, granite, limestone and soapstone to name a few. But one medium has always stood out - marble. For the last 2,500 years, marble has been chosen for many of the greatest works of sculpture and architecture, from the Parthenon of Classical Greece to Michelangelo's Pietà and Washington D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial.

COLOR-THERAPY Gemstones

Designing Jewelry Based on the Healing Properties of Colors

The Silver of POTOSI

Triumph, Tragedy & El Tío

CURVED RIDGES SHAPED TIPS

Complex carving with curved ridges and shaped tips can be daunting.

NIPOMO MARCASITE

Many of the digging locations for this marcasite are on private property. It was allowed at one point to collect with the owner's permission, but a few rockhounds ruined it for the rest by trespassing, trampling newly-grown crops, and opening and closing gates not allowing cattle to get to their water sources. As a result, this material hasn’t been dug for a few decades.”

PAIL Treasures!

From Gems to Fossils, Dig Them at Home

RV Rockhounding

ON THE ROAD WITH THAT CAMPING COUPLE

The Pleasures and Perils of Competitive Exhibiting

Competitive exhibiting offers lots of opportunities to earn awards through venues like club shows, county fairs, trade shows and Federation shows. Since 1995, I've been involved in competitive exhibiting from three perspectives: administering, judging and exhibiting. Here are my suggestions for best practices.