Getting My Botryoidal Orpiment Groove On

As some of you may recall I visited Quartzsite, AZ, a year ago on New Year's Eve and Day in my column Quartzsite 2012 - Early Bird Gets The Worm Day One and Day Two . I did it again this year as I shared earlier in Quartzsite 2013 - Early Bird Gets The Worm Again. It was at my visit there last year that I first encountered the gorgeous botryoidal Orpiment with Barite (and sometimes with small amounts of Realgar) we have all by now seen and to which it was "love at first sight" for me. I acquired a piece of it which I shared HERE after having first espied this material in the form of  the piece pictured HERE and HERE and HERE and to which I mightily lusted. This time I picked up two smaller but perhaps finer pieces which I share with you below.  

In Specimen A the Barite almost looks like Calcite. The labeled price on this specimen was $36.

On the bottom of Specimen A is a bit of Realgar. I purchased this specimen at "double keystone" so my cost was $9.

I purchased Specimen B at "double keystone" meaning I paid a mere $4.

These specimens come from Paloma Mine, Castrovirreina Province, Huancavelica Department, Peru

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Quartzsite 2013 - Early Bird Gets The Worm (Day Two)

My friend Dave and I lodged New Year's night at the Super 8 Motel in Quartzsite, AZ, awaking before dawn to drive down to Blythe, CA, (where we lodged last year but not this year) for a decent cup of coffee before returning for breakfast at Sweet Darlene's. After that we got to work picking up where we left off yesterday. We hit yesterday's spots again, but Desert Gardens was behind schedule filling up with vendors relative to last year so we did not do much there and near the end of our visit at that. However, that mattered little as by the time the day was over Dave's truck was full and could not take one more flat or box of anything. Near the end of the day we headed home which took surprisingly little time despite the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, CA, (my place of origin) letting out being directly in our path en route home.
Check out yesterday's action on Day One.

A new year dawning upon Quartzsite, AZ, on New Year's Day.

A 1955 Nash Metro in the parking lot of where we had breakfast.

Newly-unpacked Brazilian Amethyst vugs at Village Originals.

These are actually rather nice Amethyst vugs which in this configuration are called "cathedrals".

This is an exceptionally cool cathedral pair.

That's Western Wood across the way behind this rack of Amethyst cathedrals.

The view inside Village Originals as they unpacked the day before they officially open

This image does not do this particular specimen justice.

I like the ridges of crystals some of these vugs contain.

Calcite crystal cluster on Amethyst.

Detail of some Brazilian Amethyst vug kitsch... real miners hate this stuff!

While we're on the topic of rock kitsch...

...here's some more!

One of the latest methods developed for ruining a perfectly fine silicon dioxide crystal cluster.

Made in China!

Well, at least it's man-made silicon dioxide cut in a diamond configuration.

Died/dyed in China.

At least one row of these seems to feature natural color.

Ambivalent/tepid dye job.

How to ruin a perfectly nice Brazilian agate sphere...

Dyed Brazilian Ocos.

Boxed sets of dyed Brazlian ocos.

Although these are quasi-kitschy I actually like them.

At least their color is natural and they have been shaped by means of utilizing their natural cleavage plane.

Although from a desert climate they evoke thoughts of ice castles.

Anybody else think of Superman's ice castle while looking at these images?

Genuine mosasaur skull with genuine teeth in original plaster casing from Morocco.

Genuine mosasaur jaw with genuine teeth.

Faux Moroccan mosasaur jaws with genuine teeth.

Faux Moroccan trilobites.

These trilobites were accurately labeled "reproductions" but other wholesalers and retailers more often than not do not.

I'm not sure these starfish are genuine fossils.

I'm fairly certain these crinoids are genuine.

Lots of genuine Moroccan fossils in these flats.

This design and configuration for Moroccan fossilized marble is new to me and I like it.

This is the show sleeper... in future years these will be hard to come by (and thus much more expensive) given what they are: Homo erectus tools known as Acheulean choppers.

Prospector's Panarama seemed more dead today, New Year's Day, than it was yesterday or even a year ago today.

Even Beer Belly's was pretty dead... no television and thus no bowl game watching to be had there.

The best mineral deals to be had in Quartzsite, AZ, are at this place which shall remain unnamed.

This is when and where I acquired my two Orpiment specimens.

This guy was selling larger Campo del Cielo meteorites which most people do not realize are forbidden to be collected by the government of Argentina.

This struck me as funny as the label refers to the source, NOT the name of the material itself but not initially knowing that caused me to do a double-take upon first glance.

Sunset over the Inland Empire on the way home to the Central Coast as seen from Interstate-10.

Quartzsite 2013 - Early Bird Gets The Worm (Day One)

For the second consecutive year I had the honor of visiting Quartzsite, AZ, on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in the context of helping my friend Dave Richter of Rocks & Relics fame begin shopping early from the early. He and I drove down from Atascadero, CA, yesterday and stayed overnight a few hours west of here at Hyatt Hotel in the Coachella Valley. We then got up before dawn and got to Quartzsite and started in on the early deals. The show was behind last year's schedule as fewer dealers were ready today despite the fact we followed the precise same schedule we did last year. Below are some of the things I saw.
Check out the action on Day Two!

Looking west on Kuehn Street on New Year's Eve Day. Tyson Wells Market Center is at left while while Tyson Wells Main Show Grounds is at right.

The Quartzsite warehouses of Village Originals (left) and Western Woods (right), the two main powerhouses in town.

Like last year it was clear and beautiful in Quartzsite but much colder this time around.

Heat-treated Amethyst vugs to create faux citrine vugs.

The color isn't the only thing unnatural about these: their bases are concrete casts and their outer rinds are actually paint over a stucco.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with this as by now most people should know heat-treated and yet they still buy them.

A mix of treated and untreated Brazilian vugs.

There is a danger in leaving these vugs in the direct sunlight too long: their color will fade.

Brazilian Amethyst vug kitsch.

A Brazilian amethyst vug pair created from slicing a single in half and here packed in the crate in which it was transported.

Brazilian amethyst vugs slabbed in such a way as I have not heretofore seen.

Brazilian vug wall plates of Amethyst-turned faux Citrine.

I don't really know why people go for this material.

Indonesian petrified wood sphere approximately 3-1/2 feet in diameter.

 Rocks should not look like jelly beans!

This grade of tumbled stones featured at least some natural coloration mixed with the dyed.

Folks, please don't do this at home!

Of course, not everything or even most things at Quartzsite are faux or kitsch. Here is some Arkansas Quartz.

These are generic but quite natural Moroccan fossil marble sculptures.

Moroccan Selenite light fixtures in an ice tower configuration.

These cutsey Moroccan three-candle holders were knew to me this year or else I had forgotten about them.

I'm not a big fan of the faux/reconstituted Hematite but people seem to gobble this stuff up like candy.

No!

Oh God!

Oh God no!

Why?

Please no!

Somebody please shoot me!

There is such a thing as a kitchen table and then there is such thing as kitsch on a table.

This was new and news to me: intensely dyed Moroccan geodes. They almost look like they are fluorescing.

This piece of Brazilian Amethyst is actually large and nicer than it appears in this image and was wisely being kept out of the direct sunlight.

We did not have to shop for this Congolese boytryoidal Malachite directly from the Africans this year because Village had a bunch at a better price.

The early bird view inside Prospector's Panorama.

"Celestial Garden" consisting of a Quartz and Agate geode with Quartz pseudomorph after Anhydrite crystals and secondary growth of Selenite crystals from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Courtesy of Doug True

Large Shiva lingham of Ruby in Fuchsite from India.

Large, gemmy Barite.

Amethyst stalactites with a bit of Calcite in a vug.

 Agatized Coral with Chalcedony stalactites from Tampa Bay, Florida, region.

Large Agatized Coral with Chalcedony stalactites from Tampa Bay, Florida, region.

Agatized Coral with Chalcedony stalactites from Tampa Bay, Florida, region.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).