This explains many things. Hope Rodney is doing well. I shall try to find some of old timers.
Yea, it is Chrono. Terry was great when he ran the mine. I could call John Cater the day of, and go dig all day long for only $20.
Here is a killer JXR crystal, with red and blue flash. This is Michelle Matthews photo, that she took with Rodney at the mine, way back in 2007 or so.
Did someone say....JXR???
The purple caped crusader is here.....still....aka. Amethystguy.
Arkteia..aka..Crasru?..or something like that...
I have been searching for the pics of that piece you got from me. 7.9ct port round, set into that custom bracelet. The bracelet was so artistic and beautiful, tis a shame it didn't function for you well.
If you recall, I had photos of the day I found the rough the stone was cut from...at JXR.....then I had pics of it prior to cutting, pics of it as a finished stone, then pics of it set into your bracelet. It was awesome to have the life story of this little purple stone....
from birth(finding it)...
to death...umm..errr...that sounds bad..LOL...from start to completion...yea..sounds much better.
JXR is not doing to hot these days.
The owners now require everything dug at the mine to be shown to them on your way out, so if it's worth over $500, they now reserve the right to keep your self-collected and self-dug crystals, and will split the profit off the sale, of your self-collected crystal, mind you, after it's been sold off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Big uproar about it going on now....Terry would have never done that if he was alive. What the current owners don't realize is, people want to keep what they find, regardless of what it's worth of how much it sells for. People dig rocks for that reason...if they wanted it sold and given money for, then they would most likely just skip the digging and buy what they wanted.
On top of all this, it's like $50 bucks as an entrance fee now!!!!!!!! I used to pay $20, when I didn't dig free, and did so for almost 10 years now. The mine is not open, except on specific digging days throughout the year.
As far as Four Peaks, and Uruguayan material goes, the latter has great quality material, that is perfect for the average amethystine collector. Nothing fancy with Uruguay, just large 30ct+ clean pieces of rough with a decent color. They heat to oxblood and Madiera very nicely though.
Four Peaks is always zoned and lackluster in color, in my opinion. The secondary red color, common in that amethyst, gives the purple hue a very washed out, metallic look. Having been mentored by the amethystking(rodney), and then being christened "amethystguy", allowed me to have handled numerous types of purple quartz from around the world. I have handled and scrutinized kilos and kilos of four peaks material(rough), sold a few cut stones, and have yet to see four peaks amethyst that caused me to take note. I am sure there is sme out there that is top notch, but they must be few and far between.
This post Haywood wrote, helps to explain why red is dead, and blue is the new....
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/show-me-your-jxr-amethysts.181054/page-2
The hot stuff these days is Ellis Mine material. Like I mentioned before, it's the top stop for amethyst these days. The best luster, clarity, and color, come from Ellis Mine. Granted, JXR material, as well as a couple other mines around the world, produce amethyst just as good as Ellis, but they are few and far between. If JXR pops out a top top piece, then it took 100 pieces to find that one. At Ellis Mine, it's more akin to 1 out of 10, or 15, crystals found are top notch.
This is the finest colored and nicest piece of rough I have ever seen from Jackson Crossroads.
I have a significant stash of uncut JXR from Rodney, and all of it is top color, but I rarely cut it and only cut large stones when I do. The reason is that it's just not very economical to cut when you're competing with tons (literally) of dirt-cheap synthetic material out in the market. In my opinion, the JXR amethyst when well-saturated is some of the best in the world. I know the Ellis Mine material is good, but its very hard to come by any, whereas I am lucky to have my stash of JXR material.
I actually have a cut JXR in the Smithsonian collection now. It was incredibly deep rich purple trillion, and in daylight it shows flashes of red and blue on the purple body color. It is 11.50 carats and 15.2 mm across.
Jeff Hapeman, Earth's Treasury
Have you seen the Rwanda material floating around the market, these days?
Joe Henley posted a few pics of some he got. The color is bluer than IRL, of course, but nonetheless, it's still fantastic looking material.
Hey Jeff: be careful, as your post could be misinterpreted as you trying to drum up business for your uncut rough and I wouldn't want you to be censored by the Mods...
ETA: Oh, and very pretty stone, btw!
I get asked about commissions often but I just don't do it. I prefer the freedom to cut what I want and think is best for every piece of rough, and when I want to do it. But thanks for the heads up.
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