I haven`t been writing for quite a while now, I was busy with my shops on Etsy, selling through other channels, too. Privately, I am getting married next month, started a part-time job that I love (will be a while till I can live from selling stones only), and I am expecting my second child. I hope I`ll be able to write the promised posts in the coming days.
"Mineralwise", in the last three months I visited the Czech Republic where I collected agates, viewed the collection of Mr J.Klaban (in this post), and visited a mineral museum, I went on a few collecting trips in Ireland, including Owenahincha (a few times), the Gortdrum Mine, Tynagh Mine, and the Wicklow Mts, and recently visited the mineral show in Gliwice in Poland.
Concerning my shop on Etsy- RockyRoadMinerals, I had made a few observations and decided to open a second shop- NatureMagicStones. I was selling a mixture of things in my first shop, starting from beach crafts supplies, ending on fine minerals, and I just felt like these things need to be separated. Therefore now, I focus on minerals in my first shop, and sell crafts supplies, aquarium rocks, ets in my second shop. Please visit them, if you are also interested in beautiful cabochons and faceted stones, such as rutilated quartz, emerald, garnet, epidote, schorl, kunzite, turquoise (untreated) etc.
Both shops here :
Visit my shop on Etsy- NatureMagicStones
Visit my shop on Etsy- RockyRoadMinerals
Now the colourful part of the post :)
In June I was in the Czech Republic on holiday. My husband-to-be has a neighbour who has been collecting minerals since he was a young gentleman (right now he is a little older gentleman ;) ). I visited Mr Klaban a few times during my holiday to listen to his stories and to see his enormous collection of minerals. He has amazing specimens of regional minerals, collected in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Germany, but also "foreign" pieces, as he has been collecting wherever he goes, and believe me- he has traveled the world left to right, up and down...
I would need a full day or two to see his collection in detail, and we simply didn`t have this time. We could discuss one specimen for 15 minutes, so it all moved very slowly... but well, how can you not stop and discuss if his pieces are so good? I was amazed how Mr Klaban remembered how, where and when he found all his specimens, and how carefully he handled them, as if they were his children.
Let me show you some of his specimens...
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| One of VERY MANY cases, here lovely agates and jaspers |
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| One of my favourite agates from Mr Klaban`s collection |
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| I think it is a polished, Slovakian opal, I must check it in my notes, though ;) |
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| Calcite... how I wish I found something like this myself!!! |
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| Opal (?) |
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| giant smoky quartz |
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| chalcedony |
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| A huuuuge amethyst kept on the floor (the shelf would break in half under its weight) |
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| a few big nodules and a huge quartz crystal |
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| Czech garnet (?) |
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| garnet (?) |
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| a big vltavin, below the same specimen |
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| Mr Klaban told me the story how he went looking for the vltavines with his friend, and they dag big holes for a long time with no success... After some time he relaxed for a while in some bushes and... there it was!, waiting for him on the surface, ready to be picked :) It kind of reminds me of my boy-friend, who always finds the best pieces without even trying too hard, usually when he goes for a smoke and kicks a few "ugly rocks" off his way ;) |
I hope you enjoyed :) I will try to find my notes with exact localities for these stones, however, it could be hard as my storage place currently looks like after a tornado ;) Will try anyway ;)
