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Kelly Mine Smithsonite Wire Wrap

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Author Topic: Kelly Mine Smithsonite Wire Wrap  (Read 1349 times)
Amethyst Rose
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« on: June 24, 2015, 11:59:12 am »

a cab of good blue smithsonite from the Kelly Mine, New Mexico.  I obtained the rough in 2013 at the Contin-Tail show in Buena Vista Colorado.  My daughter, Amethyst, wire wrapped the stone in sterling silver.  The body wires are 24 guage square and the wraps are 22 guage half-round wire.

Enjoy,

Bob Johannes
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PhilNM
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« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2015, 12:50:54 pm »

Where is pic?
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Amethyst Rose
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« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2015, 01:08:19 pm »

Lets try this again

Bob Johannes
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* Kelly mine WW.jpg (65.22 KB, 570x579 - viewed 45 times.)
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Susan
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« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2015, 06:53:39 pm »

Gorgeous!! Both the cab and the wire wrap!
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kjsspot
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« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2015, 07:02:34 pm »

That's better!  That puppy glows!
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southerly
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« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2015, 04:39:18 am »

Very nice, really like the wrap.
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55fossil
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« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2015, 05:46:17 am »

Wow, just beautiful. Is that grade of Smithsonite hard to come by or expensive?  great work
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orrum
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« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2015, 07:28:35 am »

Like the stone and luv the wrap!
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Amethyst Rose
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« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2015, 10:15:16 am »

Kelly Mine Smithsonite is very rare and good grades of the blue to blue green can run 2-10 per gram in the rough.  This piece came from a damaged specimen that someone had dropped and broke.  It cost about 2.00 per gram.  If it had been a darker blue, it would have 5 or more per gram.  This piece is very translucent and you can see newsprint thru the cab.

The mine was worked out by 1931 but numbers of pieces were recovered from the dumps over the years.  The material is hard enough that I feel that specimens should not be cut up to make cabs.

Thanks for the comments

Bob Johannes
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55fossil
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« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2015, 11:11:17 am »

Bob;

     Thanks.   Let me know if you ever see another bad specimen for cabbing. I will look around a bit at the shows more now.
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Amethyst Rose
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« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2015, 05:26:05 pm »

I bought 1/2 of the specimen as that was all I could afford at the time.  Saw the other 1/2 the next year for 10 times what the original seller was asking for it and watched it sell for that. 

Bob Johannes
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mossyrockhound
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« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2015, 04:03:45 pm »

Beautiful stone and wrap!!  Thanks for posting it.  I wrapped a similar stone for a friend and had no clue what it was, but I think it is the same stone. 

Here is a picture of it.  Do you think it is Smithsonite?


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~ Garry ~
All is not in vein, but most of the good stuff is.
trigon
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« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2015, 07:07:02 pm »

Beautiful stone and wrap!!  Thanks for posting it.  I wrapped a similar stone for a friend and had no clue what it was, but I think it is the same stone. 

Here is a picture of it.  Do you think it is Smithsonite?




My first guess would be Gem Silica Chrysocolla.
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Amethyst Rose
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« Reply #13 on: August 28, 2015, 08:50:05 am »

The stone is probably either gem silica or smithsonite.  Hard to tell just from a picture.

Bob Johannes
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Mark
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« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2015, 10:36:53 am »

I agree with Bob, but will throw in opal and Krohnkite to confuse the point.

Mark
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