Gems Ready To Sparkle

Jan 17, 2007 - 15:48:47 CST.

SNOW BIRD! If this American Robin did migrate here from northern states in hopes of finding cooler weather and better sources of food, he was probably hard-pressed here yesterday to come up with many berries. Sleet and snow, mixed with freezing rain, blanketed Gillespie County in ice Tuesday, causing creatures big and small to seek refuge from the bone-chilling winter storm. Standard-Radio Post Photo by Lisa Treiber-Walter

Gems will sparkle, jewelry will shine, rocks will roll and fossils will show their pasts at the 38th Annual Hill Country Gem and Mineral Show on Saturday and Sunday.

Sponsored by the Fredericksburg Rockhounds, the annual show will take place at Pioneer Pavilion in Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park.

Show hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Admission and parking are free. Children and adults are welcome.

Skilled craftsmen and rockhounds will offer the public a look at their pieces at sales areas inside and outside the building.

Special exhibits are in cases toward the back of the pavilion in front of the stage. This area will also display the free door prizes that will be awarded hourly.

Winners get to choose their own door prizes from this selection.

Jay Hutto of Ingram will show wire-wrapping techniques for making jewelry again this year, and Karen Burns of Galveston will return to demonstrate how to make cabochons, the shaped and polished stones used in some pendants and bolo ties.

Ed and Randy Gage of Pipe Creek will also be back with their display of fluorescent minerals in a darkened area of the Pioneer Pavilion.

New to the show are Dick and Bess Shields, part-owners of the Purple Passion mine near Wickenburg, AZ. They will display a 36-pound piece of the heart of the Hogan Mine vein.

It fluoresces orange, blue, green, white, pink and light blue, and will rest in a “fluorarium” equipped with an “ultrarev”, a patented rotating ultraviolet light source that changes from short wave to middle wave to long wave to show all the colors.

The couple has donated a piece that has calcite (fluoresces red), fluorite (fluoresces blue), willemite (fluoresces green) and aragonite (fluoresces creamy white) for a prize to be awarded at the end of the show.

The “fluorarium” will be located in one of the rooms on the side of the stage.

Fredericksburg resident Anita Burrow donated a smokey quartz stone cut and faceted with a star by her late husband, Bodo Burrow. It has been set in a sterling silver basket as a pendant for the drawing.

Fredericksburg’s shell expert and dealer, Kay Klaus, donated some of her collection for door prizes and children’s game prizes.

She also donated a group of five large shells as a door prize.

Dottie Sheffield-Patterson, a new dealer at the show, donated another prize n a sterling silver and turquoise necklace, bracelet and earring set designed with the Navajo bear claw motif.

Ms. Sheffield-Patterson tours the nation, and the shop at the YO Hotel in Kerrville features her jewelry.

Rounding out the prizes is a rockhound’s kit with rock hammer, rock and mineral handbook, hand magnifier, brass pin-on compass, Swiss Army knife and genuine army folding shovel, which was donated by Kathy Holloway of Kerrville.

Tickets for the prizes are $1 each or seven for $5. Those purchasing tickets put their tickets in the jar showing the prize or prizes they want to win.

Winning tickets are drawn at 5 p.m. on Sunday, and winners need not be present to win.

Fredericksburg Rockhound club members will offer parts of their collections for sale and have other unusual pieces for display only. They will occupy the stage at the back of the hall.

Persons with questions or who want identification of any “mystery” rocks or fossils can bring them to see what information club geologists can provide.

Dealers from around the United States will be on the main floor inside Pioneer Pavilion. They will have jewelry, gems, minerals, fossils, meteorites and lapidary equipment and supplies for sale.

Shu’s Rocks ’n Minerals will be back for their third year at the show.

Other favorites returning again this year are Stone Crystals, Love of Land, San Juan Gems, Earthworks, Aquarius, Bandera International Trading Company, DD and Angel’s, The Slab House and Lonestar Meteorites.

A newcomer to the show is The Bead Warehouse of Silver Spring, MD.

Kerrville jeweler Don Young will be back this year to set stones bought at the show or brought from home, size rings and replace watch batteries.

Outside the building, members of the Llano chapter of the Gold Panners Association of America will show those attending how to pan for gold.

John and Audrey Landry of The Marfa Rock Shop will bring a trailer of their rocks and minerals for sale.

Fredericksburg High School Project Graduation will provide the food service.