Shiny Objects

[hwango]

Went to the rock and mineral show in Topsfield on Saturday. The guys from Africa with tons of malachite were there again this year, and this year they also had dioptase, which is a favorite of mine. I thought it was a bit odd that I'd never seen them with it before, and soon found out why - they were selling it crazy cheap, because they're the ones who actually mine it, so it hasn't been marked up at all yet. I suspect that in previous years, when we've gone on Sunday, a dealer had already purchased their whole stock of the stuff. Even though we already have several pieces of dioptase we still got a few more, because it's very pretty stuff, and it was such a good deal. We also got a sphere of fossilized coral that I thought was nifty, and another picasso marble sphere, because I couldn't resist the overwhelming impression of "spooky eye" that it projects. Also got a wobbly hollow piece of chalcedony from our friends at Green Mountain Minerals. Not a bad show.