Gem and mineral shows

There was a gem and mineral show at the State Fairgrounds this weekend, so of course I and several other possible part-dragons showed up to admire the shinies.

If only.

With stands with $50 stone hummingbirds and stands with $500 pearls and stands with 5-figure ruby and emerald bracelets, it was quite a feast for the eyes (but not the wallet, which stayed near the $5 strings of beads and the geodes, because I was good, or at least not terribly bad). I also ran into the owner of a stand where I'd bought one of my favorite jewelry pieces a couple of years ago, because she recognized my necklace and said, "Oh, that's one of mine!" 

I think of all the pieces, the antique and estate jewelry fascinates me the most. At the show, these pieces were gold and ruby and gemstones, instead of the costume jewelry I usually see at the flea market. Interesting swirls of gold and rubies and diamond flecks, they made me think of things you'd find in treasure chests, of adventures and of stories.

Of course rock collectors and gem collectors and jewelry designers and people looking for interesting things like malachite boxes or gold-rimmed, polished stone bowls all found something worth looking at. I found the perfect clasp for a necklace I've been working on, and I now have my third geode, cut right there at the show, and shining happily on a bookshelf right now. 

Couldn't resist another geode. There's just something about knowing that you'll be the first person to see inside a rock that took millions of years to form, the first person to witness what unique pattern of crystals and stone has formed inside it. One more thing from the gem show that smells like dreams and stories.

Have you ever been to a gem and mineral show? What did you find that you loved the most?

Flea market treasures

I hit the flea market this weekend to pick up some beads at the bead vendor, and came home with nice set of teacups.

When I find some hidden treasure, be it at the flea market or local thrift shop, I can't help but feeling like some archaeologist-action hero, like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft, who just found an amazing treasure. Sure, it's just a set of teacups. And yeah, they're probably worth exactly what I paid for them--they've, uh, been loved to the trim-rubbing-off point. But they're pretty, so I feel happy.

What's the best hidden treasure you've picked up at the flea market or at a thrift store?

Little girls and treasure boxes

Two years ago, my aunt (who lives in California) came to visit, and I sent her home with a treasure box to give my second cousins (also in California.) The girls were 3 and 5, and little Kay was just a bit too young.

This wasn't just any treasure box, either. It was a box full of real treasure (for little girls, that is).
There's a great gem-mining place up in the NC Mountains where you can buy buckets of ore and sift for gems. Most valuable gemstones don't look like much to start with, but any variety of quartz will look pretty awesome, and so do some garnets and some of the younger emeralds. So I took the "fishtank" rocks (stones too small for value but still pretty) and all of the amethyst and quartz.

Then I found my own girlhood treasure box, emptied it out, scraped the half-disintegrated stickers off the old wood. The most interesting (and durable) of my own old treasures went back into the box. I added the gemstones from the mountains, and threw in souvenirs from some of the trips I've taken since then. Quartz crystals, amethysts, pieces of citrine, tiny chunks of garnet, small milky emeralds, pyrite, old marble chess pieces, a silver spoon from Switzerland, real coins from foreign countries. There was also some of my own old jewelry from when I was their ages, rings and necklaces and charms. It was the treasure chest I'd dreamed of when I was a little girl, after watching Shipwrecked a few times too many. It was like packing away my own secret girlhood dreams, a box of all the adventures I'd wanted as a kid and some of which I'd gotten as an adult. I tied it all up with a bright red satin ribbon, and sent it away with my aunt.

And mostly forgot about it, of course, except to occasionally wonder if the girls had gotten to it yet and if maybe they were enjoying it. Or maybe they were still a little too young, and it would be next year, or the year after.

Last night, I got a call from my aunt. In the background, I could hear little Kay and Em squealing and discovering their new treasure.

I could hear them interrupting my aunt to show off a new discovery: "Look! A ring!" and "It's a cat statue!"

Somewhere in the great expanse of California, right now, two little girls have just found a box of dreams. And I know, even as the jewels and gems and coins get scattered to the winds of time and playgrounds, that the little treasure box of dreams will only become more full.

The best gifts are the ones we get from giving.

What's the best gift you've ever given?