We were stumbling our way across eBay this fine Saturday afternoon, when we noticed this funky little bright red rhodochrosite carving for sale. At first glance, the photo made it look as though someone had crudely etched something into a gem crystal of Rhodochrosite, then, upon further review, the true shape was revealed and I was left with a very fine appreciation for such an interesting specimen.

Archimedes is a Rhodochrosite specimen from the Sweet Home Mine in Colorado, the world’s most famous location for gem quality red rhodochrosite rhombs. This 500 carat gem owl has the classic rhombohedron slant to it. The beautiful gem quality indicates a large crystal that must have had some damage to it, which would have destined it for faceting or lapidary uses. The history from the auction states that the owner of the sweet home mine, Bryan Lees, commissioned the gem carver Sherris Cottier Shank to bring to the rhodochrosite specimen to life. Paired up with a simple quartz base, this is a very interesting gem.

What I find to be so striking is the bold simplicity to the carving style. Clearly planed bold faces and a classic greek style of influence, an underused, if obvious, way to go with an owl carving.

At this very moment, March 24th, the carving is for sale on eBay for $25k.

Just an interesting thing we saw, on a lovely Saturday afternoon, high above the city in downtown Los Angeles.

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Quantum Spin Liquid, a third type of magnetism, was demonstrated in December of 2012 by a team at MIT, in the form of synthetic herbertsmithite. Herbertsmithite is believed to be a two-dimensional quantum spin liquid: a solid material whose atomic spins continue to have motion, even at absolute zero temperature. This exciting research has potential to improve technology, another wonderful scientific advance related to the study of mineralogy. While this form of magnetism is limited to the pure synthetic herbertsmithite, the minerals found in nature are quite interesting in their own right.

We noticed a beautiful example of this rare mineral available on eBay by the seller MineralMan999. This sample shows some big crystals for the typical material.
You can use this link to search for samples of Herbertsmithite on eBay

This uncommon Copper Zinc Hydroxide Chloride named to honor Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith (1872-1953) of the Natural History Museum, London, England, who discovered the mineral paratacamite.

The blog “Nanoscale Views”, written by Douglas Natelson, had the best article about understanding quantum spin liquids in a easy to digest fashion. On the subject of the experiments,

So what did the experimenters do? They grew large, very pure single crystals of herbertsmithite, and fired neutrons at them. Knowing the energies and momenta of the incident neutrons, and measuring the energies and momenta of the scattered neutrons, they were able to map out the properties of the excitations, showing that they really do look like what one expects for a quantum spin liquid.

You can read his entire article HERE

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Tucson Rock and Gem time again, from the end of January until well into the month of February tens of thousands of people involved in minerals, rocks and gemstones flock to Tucson for the annual three weeks of trade shows. During this time the buyers and the sellers need to be housed, fed, and entertained, in addition to the countless hours everyone spends going from one show to another, visiting with friends and going to dinner parties, it is a whole world apart for many individuals in this line of work.

Several people post updates about the Tucson show, like Jolyon Ralph of MinDat.org or John Veevaert of MineralShows.com.

The set of show reports we like the best are the ones from the ladies of the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.

Assoc. Curator Eloise Gaillou, work-study student Caroline Im and Collections manager Alyssa Morgan (3/4 of team L.A. County)

In these three blog entries, Elouise, Caroline and Alyssa share with the general public the life of three los angeles museum workers during the Tucson show. Though, I am pretty sure no mention of the cramped sleeping quarters are mentioned.

The first report is on the AGTA and GJX gem shows
http://nhminsci.blogspot.com/2013/02/tucson-part-1-gem-shows.html

This is the bracelet I’d do terrible things for. Red Beryl and Montana Sapphires. Ouch.

The next blog entry is about the various mineral shows around the Tucson area, from the Inn Suites (Hotel Tucson) to Riverpark and onwards to some of the more…less visited areas of the Tucson Gem Show.
http://nhminsci.blogspot.com/2013/02/tucson-part-2-hotel-shows.html

There were neat pyrites from Merelani, Tanzania, with interesting morphologies. Roy Foerster, Gem and Mineral Council Treasurer bought us a flat of them. Thanks Roy!!

Then, finally, the BIG show, the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society Show at the Convention Center, which caps off the whole event. A behind the scenes look at one of the important parts that makes the TGMS so legendary, the display cases.
http://nhminsci.blogspot.com/2013/02/tucson-part-3-main-show.html

Not to brag or anything, but you KNOW my team here in LA walked away with the GRAND PRIZE for professional educational exhibits

So, while other show reports talk about what minerals are new, why prices are so high and so forth, these reports give you a much better look into the lives of the professionals who make Tucson their home, for a large percentage of their total lives, in the month of February.

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