Tiffany Stones

I got to visit with my friend Vanessa today. She is soooo excited about a new find.

Tiffany Stone

Have you heard of it?

Tiffany stone was first discovered at the Brush Wellman Beryllium Mines, in Utah. It is predominately a mixture of opal and fluorite, or opalite (not the glass opalite that a lot of us have heard about). The Brush Mines closed collecting of this stone for many reasons. The biggest reason was the possibility of Berylliosis, although a case of this disease has never been faced in the 45 years of mining. Other reasons were as the collectors scavanged around the pits for this material, the ground was soft and would give away, and there are rumors some have died due to the walls collapsing.

It has been considered rare and very pricey until recently a new vein was discovered in 2004. New deposits have been found in the Spore Mountain Lavender Mines.

The color of the tiffany stone is what is brilliant. From bright to royal dark purples, with splashes, swirls, dendrites, plumes, etc. It is considered the more colors and patterns, the better the stone.

This is a beautiful example I found at Gram Cabbers.

I love this piece. It reminds me of the cave paintings in Lascaus France.







I hope you learned something new today - I certainly did!