B.C. Vol. 14 Spring 2010 Rockhounder Contents President's Message 2 BCLS General Meeting 3 Share your trips and Golden Rules 4 knowledge by sending an A New Fire in Tiger's Eye 5 article to the Rockhounder Rings 5 Submit articles for Debunking the Mystery of Stone Balls 8 the next issue by Diamond Wrongs 9 Suiseki 11 August 1, 2010 to: The McAbee Fossil Beds 12 Win Robertson Types of Fossile Preservation 13 6 – 2401 Ord Road Quartzsite 13 Kamloops, BC V2B 7V8 Hints and Such 15 E mail: [email protected] Summer Camp 2010 16 The First Summer Camp 17 "My thanks to all that Historical Amber 18 have submitted articles History of Tourmaline 21 and club news for Scrimshaw 24 publication. They are Earth's Oldest Rocks 25 greatly appreciated and Club News 26 enjoyed by our readers." Club Shows 35 Cover Photo: Material from the McAbee Fossil Beds. Courtesy of Dave Langevin. Photo By Mike Coulter Published Quarterly By the British Columbia Lapidary Society 20739 39th Avenue, Editor: Design & Layout: Printing: Langley, BC Win Robertson Mike Coulter Sure Kamloops V3A 2V7 [email protected] [email protected] Print & Copy Centre Tel: (604) 532-0582 (250) 376-4878 Cell - (250) 682-9134 (250) 554-1322 E-mail: [email protected] #6 - 2401 Ord Rd. Kamloops, BC 552 Tranquille Rd. www.lapidary.bc.ca Kamloops, BC V2B 7V8 V2C 5C2 Kamloops, BC Spring 2010 | 1 President’s Message Hi Everyone, We have a beautiful feature on the front cover of this want to say a special thanks to all the volunteers who I issue of the Rockhounder, and an interesting article by help put on our exciting B.C. Gem and Mineral Show. Dave Langevin about the McAbee fossil beds. This is We visited four shows this winter, in California, Arizona such a fun place to go. I remember my frst trip up there. and New Mexico. To my mind, our show here in B.C. It was Rendezvous, and I was new to rockhounding. tops all of them. We differ from those other shows, in that My son David and I climbed all the way to the top we have Special Displays, Club displays, Demonstrators of the hill... small mountain, really. We could see for with excellent skills, Kids Corner with crafts and lots of miles, all up and down the valley: the cultivated squares variety in our dealers. We have it all! of farmland, green with spring planting, and blue skies The biggest show in Canada does not happen by itself. dotted with puffy, fuffy white clouds. We sat in the Cam Bacon, our showchair, has a large committee of warmth of the sun, happy to be outside again after the volunteers that meet once a month, all winter long, to cold, rainy winter. plan the sizable details of this show and work tirelessly to At that time there was no road up, and it was a long make it the special event that it has become. Well done, climb to the top. Being new to rockhounding, I left my all of you, and Thank You Very Much :) lunch at the bottom of the hill. I will never forget looking On another subject: down at the car, way below me, and yearning for my We welcome the warmer weather that brings us to lunch down there with my grumbling tummy at the thoughts of being outside to do some rockhounding. top of the hill! Now Dave Langevin has had an expensive road built to the top, and we no longer have that arduous climb to access those fabulous fnds! The shale beds have been worked with benches, and it's easy to pluck out a hand-sized chunk of the shale. We took our bladed hammers, and tapped the chunks open just like the pages of a book. In nearly every opening, there was another fossil surprise. This is one of the most rewarding feld trips to visit. If you have never been there, I encourage you to go. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Happy rockhounding, everyone! De Morgan, President, B.C. Lapidary Society 2 | B.C. Rockhounder BCLS W! General Meeting NE The next general meeting of the BCLS will be held Sunday, Sept. 5th, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Sullivan Hall, A Field Guide 64th Avenue and 152nd Street, in Surrey to the (I realize that it's the Sunday of the labor day Rocks and Minerals weekend.) but there are already 2 shows that month, of and the only other date is already booked at the hall. Texada Island Bob and I are going away at the end of September, so by Amanda Martinson it's not possible to move the meeting into October. I hope the turnout will still be good or even better. Texada Island hosts a As usual, we will offer refreshments, and a door prize. unique geology amongst On the up-side, the long weekend gives an extended the Gulf Islands of BC, namely poly-metallic skarns time for people from farther away to attend, so I hope special to island-arc terranes. With it’s 100+ years of colourful mining history to present-day operations, Texada we will see some of you out to the meeting. is world famous in the mining community but remains an I hope as many of you as possible will be available enigma to most. The 193 page book includes maps, unique to come. It's always fun to hear a good speaker and mineral transition charts, 100 colour photos of mineral schmooze with other rockhounds! specimens, descriptions, fossils and historical overview with sites of interest. An additional metaphysical section Cheers, provides a ground-breaking analysis of the properties of skarn mineral combinations. Limited supply. $36 (tax De Morgan, included) + shipping Call Amanda: 604-486-7552 President, B.C. Lapidary Society Donnamae Chionis had her RV broken into, the following Items were stolen: Attention Gem Setting tools, Wire Wrapping tools, Silversmithing tools or Beading Rockhounders tools. Gold Filled wire, beads, loose gem stones or cabs as well as about 150 prints all signed by her . If you see any of these items for sale in a Pawn shop, Flea market, 2nd Robbery hand store or a Garage sale. Please contact Donnamae at: 604-836-2303 or Notice e mail: [email protected] Any assistance is appreciated ! Spring 2010 | 3 A Wealth of Difference REAL ANSWERS Golden Gold Filled: A layer of gold backed with another FROM EARTH metal such as chrome, nickel, copper Rules or silver. SCIENCE EXAMS Tips for Purchasing Gold Plate: Gifts of Gold The process of placing a base metal, such as copper, in a bath and sealing The rear end of a trilobite It is beautiful, it is fattering, it is the two metals through electroplate. is called a trilobutt. precious and it never goes out of style. Gold Leaf: That is what makes gold jewelry a The terrestrial planets are popular gift, year after year. A sheet of gold varying from 4 to 5 Classic designs can be found in millionths of an inch in thickness much larger than the gas 14K, 18K and even 24K gold. To help used for gilding and other purposes. giants. you get the most for your money, as Liquid Gold: Wegener found matching well as a whole lifetime of pleasure, Finely divided gold suspended in the World Gold Council offers some a vegetable oil and used for bedbugs on opposite “golden rules” for purchasing. gilding ceramics. sides of the Atlantic. Know you Karats Vermeil: The main problem Always look for a karat mark when 14 Karat gold overlaid on associated with limestone purchasing gold jewelry. It is usually sterling silver. aquifers is Lyme disease. stamped as 10K, 14K, 18K or 24K, Sterling Silver: but could also be stamped 417, 585, Silver of a purity of 925 parts per Erie, Pennsylvania has no 750, or 9999, which are the European 1,000. The content is 92.5 percent equivalents. The karat mark indicates volcanoes because it's silver and 7.5 percent of another the percentage of pure gold in the too cold there. metal, usually copper. piece. 24K is 100 percent gold. Gold is often alloyed with other metals, like Silver Plate: We know that the sun is copper, silver, nickel and zinc, to give Silver that has been coated over a much farther away from it strength and durability. The higher base metal such as copper, nickel- us than the moon is, the karats, the more gold in the piece. silver or brass in a dipping process because we can see stars Different proportions of metals that included sealing the two metals between us and the sun, added to pure gold give gold alloys through electroplating. but not between us and their yellow, rose, green and white coloration. Most gold jewelry contains the moon. a mixture of at least two other metals. C&D Gemcraft Rockhound Custom Made Gemstone Jewelery & Repairs Shop David Barclay 777 - Cloverdale Avenue, Owner: V.I. Rockhound Shop Accredited Gemologist (C.I.G.) Victoria, B.C. Canada V8X 2S6Ltd. Tom & Gerry Vaulkhard) Phone/Fax: (250) 766-4353 Box 42015, R.P.O. North Email: [email protected] Winfield, BC V4V 1Z8 E mail: [email protected] Tel. (250) 475-2080 (Tues - Sat.) Fax (250) 475-2083 4 | B.C. Rockhounder common assumption was in dire need the quartz and crocidolite minerals of an update. to grow toward each other from A New When light refects off the either side of the fracture, with the parallel mineral bands of tiger's eye, quartz dominating as they both fll the gem shimmers.