Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[Bally002]

The Royal Peacock Mine, also open from May to September, is a similar mine-your-own opals operation. The Royal Peacock, where some of the largest opals ever uncovered in Nevada have been unearthed, has been featured on the Travel Channel.

BONUS: it also offers an RV park and gift shop.

The town of Coober Pedy, 693 km (430 mi) south of Alice Springs in South Australia is a major source of opal. The world's largest and most valuable gem opal "Olympic Australis" was found in August 1956 at the "Eight Mile" opal field at a depth of 30 feet in Coober Pedy. It weighs 17,000 carats (3.4 kg; 7.5 lb) and is 11 inches (280 mm) long, with a height of 4+3⁄4 in (120 mm) and a width of 4+1⁄2 in (110 mm) and was valued at A$2,500,000 in 1997.


Olympic Australis – The World’s Most Famous Opal

BlackOpal Australia

A Little History of Nevada Turquoise

Native American peoples first mined the beautiful Turquoise of Nevada long before the first European explorers entered the area. Some of the mines such as the Fox and Crescent Peak deposits were worked extensively. For centuries going back to the times of the Anasazi, the native peoples of Nevada produced beautiful necklaces and other decorative and sacred items using turquoise. However, unlike some of the tribes in Arizona that also cherish turquoise, silver work and the art of making Native American style silver jewelry never became fully established in Nevada. As a result, even though Nevada still produces considerable quantities of turquoise, the traditional use of this gem in the crafts of the Paiute and Shoeshone tribes of Nevada is rare by comparison to the prolific use of these gems by the Arizona tribes. This also explains why, although there are well-known styles for the turquoise jewelry work of the Navajo, Zuni and other Arizona tribes, no similar well-established style exists for the Paiute or Shoeshone peoples of Nevada.

The first Nevada turquoise discovery made by prospectors of European decent was made near Columbus in the early 1870s. At that time, it was only the second turquoise deposit in the US known to European miners. When Turquoise became fashionable during the period 1908 – 1910, the high prices attracted the attention of local prospectors and a number of new Nevada turquoise discoveries were made. Most of the turquoise discoveries made at that time were located in the Esmerelda/Mineral/Nye counties area which is the part of Nevada located nearest to that first 1870s discovery. By the late 1920’s and 1930’s turquoise once more came back into vogue, and increased prices again led to a number of new discoveries, and this time most of the new finds were located in Lander County, farther to the north. In the 1960s and 1970s, increased turquoise prices again led to new discoveries and production at mines all across Nevada, most notably the deposits at Carico Lake. Nevada has been a major producer of turquoise since the 1920s, and until the early 1980's, the State was the largest producer in the US.

In this era of small turquoise operations, it may again be the largest producer. It is estimated that over the years, more than 100 different mines and prospects located in Nevada have produced significant quantities of turquoise, much of it of very good to excellent quality. That number far exceeds the total number of turquoise deposits all in the rest of the US combined. Production from these mines varied from a few thousand dollars worth of material at some of the smaller properties to many millions of dollars at the more productive ones. To date, the total value of the rough turquoise from the state of Nevada is estimated to comfortably exceed $250 million dollars.

In recent years, the small central Nevada town of Austin has sort of become the unofficial turquoise capital of Nevada. This is because of its location close to several turquoise mining districts that are still producing some material. These include the Damale/Godber, Carico Lake, McGuinness, and Blue Diamond/Papoose areas. Even though the town has less than a thousand residents, it has three nice shops that specialize in fine Nevada turquoise jewelry. Both rough and cut stones are available as well.

May 28, 1999: After 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, The Last Supper, was put back on display in Milan, Italy. The classic painting shows the expressions on the faces of the disciples at the moment Jesus says the words: “One of you will betray me.”

Hi, these guys are my nephews.  Just putting it out there.  Did Math tuition with them when they were young. Dunno if it helped but at least they are honest hard workers.

https://youtu.be/TSpxpr4hzPk

Kind regards,

Bally)