Novice needs advice

[Kath]

Hi all.

I am new to the site and new to fossicking. My husband and I went to the Weld River over our Christmas break for 4 days and let me tell you we are absolutely hooked. So now we have a few questions. Firstly how do you know if you have any stones worth cutting and what size is to small to worry about? Also where do you get them cut and how much does it cost because obviously the stone would need to be worth more than cutting costs. I have taken some pics to share our finds with you and I'm thinking the third pic is the only gems that might be worth getting cut but I'm not really sure, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[ratters]

Hi Kath,

Nice looking lot of stones you got, looks very typical of my own endeavors in the weld.

Personally I am saving up a bunch of larger stones, mostly Topaz and Zircons which I will send to Thailand for cutting. I have never done it so I can't actually recommend it as such but I'm going to send off a parcel this year and fingers crossed they come back. Plenty of success stories about Thailand gem cutting services on other forums, enough encouragement for me anyway. Having said that though I won't send my best stones away to Thailand, just what I can bear to lose if I get burnt. In TAS I don't really know what the options are, perhaps somebody else might chime in.

I spoke to a couple of jewelers at the Hobart gem and mineral fair about cutting services last year, had a few varying prices and mostly too rich for anything I have in my collection. The upcoming Gemboree held in Ulverstone this year will surely have a few gem cutters and sellers from all over the country so maybe try your luck then as well.

http://aflaca.org.au/wp-content/uploads ... let-v6.pdf

Cheers
ratters

[Kath]

Thanks Ratters,

I was unaware of the Gemboree but will definitely attend now though, sounds interesting.