In a year of short trips to explore the state's gem and mineral resources, I came to treasure the hospitality and interest shown to the hardy visitors who seek out Earth's treasures here. White, a former curator of the mineral and gem collection of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum who is now an appraiser in Stewartstown, Pa.īut I wasn't in this for profit. It's most likely that the best stones you'll find in the region will be rhodolite garnets and kyanite, a beautiful cobalt blue stone, rather than rubies and sapphires, according to John S. If a flume mine owner says you've found a $40,000 stone, get an expert's opinion. Of course, it's wise to greet claims of priceless gems with a healthy dose of skepticism. Although the Big One has eluded me, I have a goblet full of little emeralds and garnets as a consolation prize, and lots of warm memories. Having spent much of the last year flirting with Lady Luck myself on the gemstone trail, I got a thrill of delight just hearing about those lucky strikes. It happened again a few weeks later when a boy from Alabama found a 1,104-carat sapphire at the same mine, near the mountain town of Franklin. When a young Alexandria boy pulled a 1,061-carat blue sapphire from a bucket of dirt last month at a North Carolina gemstone mine, the event made news all over the country.
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