member-owned

Things from the personal rock collections of members of the Show-Me Rockhounds

What time is it? Time to get a rock clock!
A round clock with green turquoise chips floating in resin on a black background. It has ornate gold hands and numbers that complement the gold flecks in the turquoise.

Photo by Stephanie Reed

This clock was made with turquoise chips in resin and a craft store clock kit.  It belongs to Show-Me Rockhounds member David Reed.

Don’t forget to set your clocks forward 1 hour tonight for Daylight Savings Time!

Valentine’s Hearts
Two shiny stones carved into heart shapes. One is gray with black cross-hatched lines and the other is blue with small white swirls and gold sparkles.

Photos by Stephanie Reed

Two Show-Me Rockhounds members who are very much in love took a trip to Hot Springs, AR. While they were there they stopped at a rock shop, of course, and these carved hearts caught their attention. Stephanie was drawn to the gray and black petrified wood heart because she thought it looked like a charcoal drawing. David was drawn to the blue sodalite heart because the blue color reminded him of lapis.

What kind of rocks catch your attention, and why?

Thunder Eggs
Three round geodes in small, medium, and large. The smallest one is a flat slab with a blue inside and brown outside. The medium one is a hemisphere that's black on the inside and gray on the outside. The largest one is a hemisphere that is purple amethyst crystals on the inside and brown on the outside.

Photo by Stephanie Reed

Some thunder eggs from the personal collection of David Reed. The largest one has purple amethyst crystals on the inside. It was originally from the collection of the late David White, who lovingly polished it by hand to a reflective shine. The medium one is from Oregon. The smallest one is a slab cut from a thunder egg and was from the Show-Me Rockhounds gift exchange.

Gold Sheen Obsidian
A dull gold oval-shaped stone resting comfortably in a person's palm. It is highly polished and reflects the overhead lights, and appears to have depth.

As viewed at the November 2014 meeting.

This is a gold sheen obsidian from the personal collection of our members M. Mueller and C. Maazouz. Obsidian is an igneous rock, which means it is formed from lava as it cools and solidifies. Obsidian is usually black. However, some types of obsidian have gas bubbles that create a gold or silver sheen like this.

Turritella Agate
A dark brown, almost black square of rock, cut flat, completely covered with images of tan, tubular shells pointing in various directions.

Photo by Stephanie Reed

Turritella agate is a fossiliferous agate that contains lots of snails who died, sank to the bottom of a lake, and became silicified. When it was first named, people thought the fossils were marine snails from the Turritella genus. The shells are actually from the freshwater snail Elimia tenera, but the Turritella name was too popular already and it stuck. They are found in the Green River Formation in southwestern Wyoming, northeastern Utah, and northwestern Colorado, because that’s where the snails used to live (they are extinct). This specimen is from the personal collection of Show-Me Rockhounds member David Reed.  Fun fact: Elimia tenera snails became fossilized in materials other than agate, such as limestone, so there is also turritella limestone. It’s not quite as pretty in my opinion because the light background doesn’t contrast with the shells like agate does.