darrad
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,636
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Post by darrad on Dec 26, 2007 21:31:16 GMT -5
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Post by taogem on Dec 26, 2007 22:24:19 GMT -5
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WarrenA
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2003
Posts: 1,530
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Post by WarrenA on Dec 26, 2007 22:27:26 GMT -5
You will find as I did that the wild grain has a tendancy of chipping off especially where the dark and the light spots are. You should be able to cut around some of bad areas and still make some nice cabs and pendants and still make money on the stone not counting labor. The more purple the stone the higher the price goes. it would be a good buy at the opening bid but still a decent buy at the buy it now if you have the patience to wait it out
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Post by akansan on Dec 26, 2007 22:36:19 GMT -5
Yeah, that gorgeous material is really pricey. The last show I was at a SMALL slab - 1 cab worthy slab - was selling for about $15. Granted, a silversmith could recoup that cost but I couldn't justify the purchase.
It is a pretty piece, though. I like that smokey purple a little more than the other stuff. Granted, I actually prefer Seraphanite (the green stuff) over Charoite, so I'm probably not one to pick the slab!
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Post by deb193redux on Dec 26, 2007 23:39:26 GMT -5
Tao, you don't seem to have any Russian, but only some cabs made of Russian. Kinda dark at that. I looked around your site thinking you were referring to rough or slabs and didn't find any. So were you trying to educate about the grades of Charoite or just to hawk merchandise? You might have better luck selling on a beading site or silversmith site. It seems kinda silly to try to sell polished stones to stone polishers. Anyway, that 3lb chunk does not seem to have a lot of purple, but stuff with a lot of motion seems to cost even more. I like swirls of light & dark purple with black and just a bit of white. Motion and feathers are important. Those dark purple cabs seemed to be missing all the movement I like in the stone. Something like this: cgi.ebay.com/Charoite-Slab-8333_W0QQitemZ220177290205 (although more than I can spend as a hobbyist). I got a small slab last fall and made 3 cabs. I like the color, but might go back to the grinder to tweak the shapes. If I find them, I'll post a pic.
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Post by cpdad on Dec 26, 2007 23:49:34 GMT -5
daniel...just hush....i got my rearend in a pickle....cause of something ;D...kev.
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Post by taogem on Dec 27, 2007 0:32:12 GMT -5
Tao, you don't seem to have any Russian, but only some cabs made of Russian. Kinda dark at that. I looked around your site thinking you were referring to rough or slabs and didn't find any. So were you trying to educate about the grades of Charoite or just to hawk merchandise? You might have better luck selling on a beading site or silversmith site. It seems kinda silly to try to sell polished stones to stone polishers. The pics at that link are suppose to be the Russian Charoite. Your right about the pics being dark. I need to retake those pics. Here is another pic of a pair from the same lot. It really shows the beautiful swirls and awsome coloring that I just did not really see in that piece of rough on eBay. No, I did not mean to link to them for the purpose of selling/hawk, just a pictorial reference.
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rockdewd
has rocks in the head
Member since October 2007
Posts: 605
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Post by rockdewd on Dec 27, 2007 0:41:47 GMT -5
I checked out some of the other auctions for that dealer Beckmanns Rocks and Minerals and he's pretty proud of all his stuff. He has a charoite cab with more white than purple for $40.
It's getting harder and harder to get quality rough charoite. The Russians want to sell the finished product and take all the profit out of it. Last year I searched for alternatives for purple stone and got some nice bertrandite, amethyst agate, sowbelly agate, chevron amethyst, purple mookaite, etc..
But the charoite sells the best in purple stones. I've got some slabs like the $75 one that I got for $10-$15 a few years ago. Then I swapped some rough with a friend of mine and he gave me a nice block of charoite. I definitely came out the better on that swap. I'm thinking maybe I might put that in the safe...
Rick
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Post by sandsman1 on Dec 27, 2007 1:00:20 GMT -5
all i can say is the shipping is too high and it dont even have that nice a color not worth the price haha
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Post by deb193redux on Dec 27, 2007 4:06:28 GMT -5
The new photos are much nicer Tao. Did you make these cabs? Do you have rough? Apologies if I misread your post. Still most folks here would rather hear about rought or slabs not finished goods - unless youhave just finished them and want to brag.
RockMe, I agree the 3lb chunk is going to sell a lot cheaper, and I am not advising any hobyist to pay $75 for a slab. There might be a few nice sections in that chunk. I did not draw circles around the size difference because I was not advocating the purchase of either one. One not worth $60-$90 and the other not worth $75.
Now and then you see a 2x4" slab with one good end. It will sell for about $13 and you get 2 or 3 small cabs. Thats what I bought last falla. That is what folks should wait for.
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Post by Michael John on Dec 27, 2007 11:24:19 GMT -5
The 3 pound chunk on eBay is very low quality, and not even worth the opening bid. I doubt that you could even get one decent quality Charoite cab out of that mess.
TaoGem, I'm surprised that you're selling those cabs so cheaply.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Dec 27, 2007 12:27:16 GMT -5
The 3 lb piece might not be good for cabbing (I'm not a cabber), but a year ago when I was actively building up my pile of tumbling rough, I would have at least considered buying it. Expensive at $60, yes, but I don't know of a cheaper way to fill a barrel with charoite tumbling rough. -Don
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darrad
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,636
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Post by darrad on Dec 27, 2007 21:36:58 GMT -5
I was not thinking anyone on here would actually buy it, I sure didn't. I have gotten far better for less. I did think the swirling patterns were quite beautiful for what it was so......
Don - Can this stuff even be tumbled? I would think it would break up. It's tough enough to cab without it breaking.
Akansan - My other half agrees with you about the Serafinite. She is nuts about that stuff!!!
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