[Rockhounds] Gemstones in a War Zone...

[Charles Baran]

GcB:  Please tell your cousin that an old Vietnam Vet thanks him for his 
service as a Warrior, and whishes him God Speed.

Chuck Baran



> Well, there's a ton of really cool minerals from Afghanistan/Pakistan.
>
> Personally, I'd not ask a neophyte to choose minerals for me, the 
> probability of disappointment is high. Eg. what if he brings back a 
> pretty pink tourmaline crystal, looks great but no termination, for a 
> bargain price of $500... and you have to pay him. Or say a nice aqua 
> on matrix... but it's glued on. It's your choice though, taking a 
> flier on a hundred bucks might be fun.  I'd be extra dubious about gem 
> rough, you really want to see that stuff in person, and know what the 
> current state of faking/treating/enhancement is. Buying minerals at or 
> near their source seldom guarantees any sort of bargain price.
>
> Any mineral show will provide you with a nice selection of material 
> from that area, as will the internet. Lazurite, afghanite, sodalite 
> xls, brookite, anatase, spodumenes, tourmalines, aquas, bastnaesite, 
> forsterite, tons of choices.
>
> Cheers,
>
> T
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Brown" 
> <gbrown at catspaw-minerals.com>
> To: "'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem 
> collectors'" <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 11:58 AM
> Subject: [Rockhounds] Gemstones in a War Zone...
>
>
> Oh my, let's get off the flames, eh?
>
> A note from a friend:
>
> ~~~~~
>
> My cousin’s heading back over to the war zones for a couple of months, 
> specifically Afghanistan, and we got to talking about stones. He 
> picked up some emeralds last time he was there, relatively cheap, 
> which turned out to be fairly good stones. One of them, about 2.5 
> carats with nice color, was his wife’s valentine’s present. He wanted 
> to know if there was something else he could be on the lookout for, 
> too, besides just emeralds.
>
> Any ideas? I’m thinking not so much cut gemstones, because I suspect 
> he got very, very lucky this time (although if you saw him, probably 
> not all THAT lucky—I sure wouldn’t want him coming to me to ask for 
> his money back in an annoyed way...). But what about collector’s 
> stones, crystals, etc...?
>
> ~~~~~
>
> And so, huddled masses yearning to give me answers.  What sayeth thee?
>
> GcB
>
>