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A nice bright little yellow sapphire gets my vote too.

A couple of the best cuts for topaz of size in my opinion. First is Simple Portuguese, second is an Ascher Cut both have their appeal. Politely suggest you get a Specific Gravity on that topaz may be a big zircon.

Recent work from my faceting machine. Rough trapiche sapphire found at Grabben Gullen 2019 Left in photo Sort of faceted hard to foucus on.

Hi Ian, I picked up some " fairy stone" looking like yours at Opalton couple years back, and experimented unfortunately I can only tell you what doesn't work. Soaked some slabes in olive oil then baked in oven. It was stable but a dirty brown background and not really attractive.Have been told...

Sorry to rain on your enthusiasm but looks like quartz crystal to me. The clear and orange are zircons from nearby they are heavy and will centre in your sieve.

I think its sapphire and zircon get a similar mix at Grabben Gullen,Parson's Gulley suggest you invest in set of carot scales about $20.00 on ebay, any weighing above 1c are worth sending for cutting to Lamberts in Thailand.Above 5c be a job for a good Aussie cutter. Your on the right stuff...

This is a Grabben Gullen snake which decided to climb in a mates sieve he had just put down. Too friendly!

Hi James, My information to answer your questions some of my opinions could be debated no doubt. The area near the bridge is free to all, it has been abused at times with massive holes left in creek bank but stones are still found under the bridge and on the public area especially after good...

Ha take you skies I recon, Black Springs be very cold at the moment clay be frozen in the holes my tip leave it till October!

Hi Donna, I have two suggestions firstly I do an 8000 prepolish using a ceramic lap found the harder lap does a better job with sapphire. The ceramic is different to use but very good once you get the hang of it. If you get hold of one I could provide detailed instructions for successful use...

Yep Mt Hay many moons ago. :)

Very nice, she should be happy with that. :)

Not from Kangaroo Valley but from up Lefty's way, a couple of Thundereggs showing I think two stages of formation ie cooling. Whatever there nice to look at.

The agates were always a bit rare but the secret was they were downstream of the township of Cambewarra in the creek running through the town now reclaimed, built on etc.The opposite side of the mountain to the Valley. There used to be extensive gravel beds there alas no more.

So, the closer the plug the blacker in this particular case? Yes for whatever the reason. :)

A couple of drops of vinegar from the kitchen be safer and show the same. :)

The Cambewarra flow is called a porphritic latite however with the depth of the flow there is considerable variation. This is oldish late Permian 200my but there is several post Triassic intrusions lamprophyre, which have come through the older volcanics 17-24 million years ago, and its one of...

Jaspers found below a cliff where a band metres wide appears to be bedded in between lava flows. The jasper here has a waxy texture which gives a good polish. A volcanic breccia found here appears to have angular pieces of the jasper bedded in it.

Before I post some of my specimens let me be clear who you are dealing with here The other member of my august committee Otto, he doesn't disagree with anything much, never picks up discredited terms, even allows colour to be spelt with the u. As I haven't kept up with the latest technology...

No before photo but this is a simple portuguese cut topaz, hard to get the swirling of light effect in a photo. I also have in progress a pale citrine about 25mm dia similar cut but I am moving the index by 2 every second row on the pavilion to increase the swirling effect perhaps. Rough...