Snake!!!

I started out prospecting yesterday morning and started down a steep embankment carrying my gear when before reaching the bottom I spotted a snake about one step in front of me.Carrying all that weight and momentum threw me off balance when I tried to backpeddle and down I went!!!I twistwed my back out,the snake slithered away and my black lab(Platinum) stood on the hill behind me looking at me like" thats why I didn't go down there"......

Gold on Calcite/Quartz

I recently found this beauty out rockhounding in WV Appalachians.

Fossil freak wanted

OK, I know the fossil in the top left is petrified wood,I found in WV Appalachians.The two on the right appear the to be the scallop family,but the one on the bottom left is a real mystery,it looks like a little hornets nest except the hollow is a fossil impression,of what?maybe you can tell me........

Platinum Gemstones?

I found this mineral po

cket that appears to be quartz,though platinum is known to run in this ore body and alot of these crystals have gold/platinum inclusions and even an occasional grain trapped inside.Thier natural facets and beauty along with thier other precious features rate them as a very attractive piece of jewelry or cabinet specimen.

prospecting garden

I prospected my garden . Time to wet them lips with some homegrown tomatoes.

Inflated Tires/Gold Prospecting Truck

Well, I figure Barack Obama may have a point,though my "68" 429 cobra under the hood of my "78" ford doesn't think it seems to matter.......

Caving Adventures/Calcite Flow Rock

So I tried to get some good photo shots in a few caves of WV.The Calcite Flow Rock forms beautiful formations,

and can be very wet and slippery,so be careful!!You may also have to do some rock jumping,like the ledge in the middle photo we had to jump across with a stream gushing 15 feet below us(in the dark,of course).

Smelting/Cupelling/Refining(Metallurgy)

I have been studying at home the trade of metallurgy,smelting and cupelling precious metals;gold,silver and platinum.

Herkimer diamonds?

These quartz crystals are very much alike (herkimer diamonds)except they were found in WV by me.WV Red Healers are a common find in this state as well.

Hand-crafted Quartz Crystal Jewelry

Well,I decided since they aren't pure carbon,(diamonds), I'll make some homeade jewelry pieces to the best of my beginners ability.Two sets

of earrings and a triple heart pendant with gold&silver bell caps were my first completed pieces.

Quartz Inclusions

I found these quartz crystals prospecting in WV Appalachian Mountains.One is an alligator quartz crystal with a sharp bright blue-green inclusion that appears to be a precious metal deposition.

The water-clear one has a black phantom inclusion with smaller salt&pepper inclusions.And a buffalo nickel for good measure!!!