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30th Annual Gem, Mineral & Jewelry Show

March 29 and 30, 2008

Saturday 10 am – 6 pm

Sunday 10 am – 5 pm

Quality Inn & Suites

Interstate 81 at Exit 14

Wayne Avenue, Chambersburg, PA

I’ll add more about this show at a later date, but mark your calendars.

This is the Website Listing of Clubs, Societies, Schools, and Organizations Associated with the AFMS.

Yeah we fall in that category.

Anyways, this is the Northern Virginia show.  It is from 10-6 on Saturday the 17th and from 10-4 on Sunday. 

There will be demonstrations, exhibits, and door prizes.  Oh, and kids will love the fossil dig and mini-mines.

Admission is $4 for adults.  Seniors and Teens $2.  Scouts (in uniform), children under 12, and students of the George Mason University will be free.

Come have some fun….

It is the New York City Fall Gem and Mineral Show.  It is at the Holiday Inn on 57th Street. 

Admission is $6 for adults and $1 for kids.

www.excaliburmineral.com will have some more information for you.

This one will be at KENNY’S AUCTION, 4401 PHILADELPHIA AVENUE, CHAMBERSBURG, PA 17201.

For more information call 717-264-6578 or e-mail info@kennysAuction.com.  The website is www.kennysauction.com.

Directions to this are: EZ access from exit 20 of I-81 Take 997 north to route 11 at Sheetz turn left onto route 11 go about 0.5 mile-on right.

This is the sale of the collection of Pat Hoyer who was the creator and first president of the Franklin County Rock & Mineral Club.

Sale includes:

• 125+ flats of mineral specimens
• Quality Turquoise and Silver Jewelry
• 15 buckets of Native Copper in matrix  (some museum
  
  quality)
• Lortone Trim Saw model TS-8
• Graves single side Grinder
• Display lights and numerous other mineral items.

Hope to see you there.

The admission is free. 

There will be over 20 artists selling silver and gold, beadwork, glass, fiber art, pottery, clothing, and much more…hopefully some beautiful rocks and minerals.

There will also be the Bobbin Lace Society here demonstrating how to make lace.

Come and Enjoy…

First of all, the patterns & features come in so many types.  Some have fortification banding, with lots of alternating colors of bands, while other “Lakers” have banding of the “water-level” (straight, parallel) type. There’s another type of feature in some Lakers called “tubes”.  The best way to describe tubes, is sort of like circular, straw-like patterns running through a portion of the stone.  Some Lakers have what’s called “peeling”. Picture a part of the stone which was eroded to produce a smooth, very thinly-layered step formation. That’s peeling.  A rather rare type of Laker pattern is the “spaghetti-strand” type, whose pattern speaks for itself.

Another type of Laker is called a “floater”. This type consists of fortificaton banding which is suspended within a section of quartz.  That quartz can, sometimes, be amethyst.  Some Lakers also have “eyes”, with any number of small-to-medium-size eyes (which really DO look like eyes) on the surface of the stone.  Some Lakers have beautiful inclusions, such as “moss”, which resembles little plants, and “sagenite”, which are needle-like, spray formations in the stone.  It is not uncommon to also see well-defined “crystal impressions” in a Laker. These were left by Calcite crystals which were, at one time eons ago, embedded into the rock, and now long-gone.  Be aware that there can often be any number of the types of patterns, features, & inclusions mentioned above combined in the SAME stone!

 But WAIT….THERE’S MORE!   What often draws one’s attention to a Laker is its MAGNIFICENT coloration!   The colors of Lakers are limitless, as any color of the spectrum is possible.  I’d challenge anyone to find a Lake Superior Agate with less than 3 colors in a single stone.  Most Lakers have, at least, 5 or 6 colors/shades in a stone.  The variation of colors can be seen within the banding, tubes, peeling, quartz, moss, sagenite, and on the “husk”, which is commonly referred to as the “matrix” in the mineral world.   Yes, even the husk adds much to the character of a Laker!  The stones that have predominately red & white banding are affectionately called “candy” by collectors.  The multi-colored Lakers are, obviously, incredible.  Another one of my favorite-colored Lakers is the “paint” Laker.  This type comes in various shades of red, orange, brown, & yellow, sort of blending into each other.  There are also the “blue paints”.

To sum it up, I’ve never met a Laker I didn’t like!  If you are enticed by my article, & want to get into the wonderful world of Lake Superior Agates, contact me, & I’ll inform you of the best locations in Minnesota to hunt for and/or purchase these ULTRA-SWEET GEMS of many patterns, features, inclusions, colors, & sizes.

“LONG LIVE ROCK, I NEED IT EVERY DAY!”  (Pete Townshend)

“KEEP ON ROCKIN’ IN THE FREE WORLD!”  (Neil Young)

“ROCKS IN MY HEAD!” ……………..Sheldon

I sent off some of my rock photos from the Lebanon Show that I took to various club members to comment on.  This is a piece of petrified wood, that Dale showed a specific interest in and isn’t it neat. 

Here is what Dale had to say about it:

Hey, what can I say about that beautiful hunk of former wood (tree trunk) that has been transformed into petrified wood. This may have taken millions of years, but, is now worth between $3000.00 and $4000.00 after finding, excavating, hauling, sawing, polishing, and transporting.

Inflation may cause an increase in value as time goes on and as the material becomes scarcer and harder to excavate. I think the center bluish part is opal, while the outer part is agate.

The rock slab is about 30 inches across at the widest part, while the thickness appears to be about 3 1/2 inches and weighs around 350 pounds.

According to the owner, the slab came from China and the price includes the formfitting wooden stand.

Isn’t it an interesting piece?  I should have gotten the information on where you could buy it.  I didn’t though.

It is held at the South Mountain Fairgrounds in Arendsville PA on route 234.

It is a great show for both dealers and buyers alike because of the low fees associated with this show.  We have a lot of dealers who are not “professional” dealers, so you will get some great prices from the people who collected most the specimen’s themselves.

The admission is only $1.00 which pays for the building rental.

If you would like to set up as a dealer, there is no pre-registration or table limits.  It is $10 per how much ever space you need.

The swap is held from 8 am to 3 pm.  It is held rain or shine as the building is interior, so you won’t get wet, so come have some fun and find some treasures at this the Rock Swap.  Oh yeah, traders are welcome to bring there pieces to trade with our dealers.