Meet Annabelle

This is Annabelle, our newest addition to the PrettyRock team!


Helping Beth D. add rough to the website.


Napping with her big brother! He's only two months older then she is!

4th of July Celebration!

Hey Guys! I am gearing up for out 2nd Annual 4th of July Celebration!

Just a little different this time. We will be having the celebration over 4 days, July 2, 3, 4, and 5th on our forums. That gives everyone the long weekend to participate in the games and contests even if they have plans for the 4th of July or they are in say... Australia.

AND we will be announcing our next faceting contest! More that later :) *evil grin* bahahahahaha

Our new helper!

Meet Chief! He's our new helper here at PrettyRock.com. He's a 4 month old Maine Coon. Yes, he will be a big boy, but he's going to be lugging rocks around so he needs to be!

Announcing the Winners of the PrettyRock.com Faceting Competition

Thank you to everyone who entered! We had over 30 contestants, some of whom entered 3 or more stones! We were thrilled with the turn out for our first contest.

The judges had a very difficult time deciding winners, and it was a close call in several categories. We had a total of 6 judges, from a complete novices to experts. They were asked to pick their favorite stones in each category and then their top 3 stones over all.

and the envelope please...

Best in Show - Ivan Smith - Aqua CZ - $250 gift certificate for rough
Second Place Over All - Edward J Maidl - Aqua CZ - $150 gift certificate for rough
Third Place Over All - Charles McCoy - Lavender CZ - $50 gift certificate for rough

Winners of goodies package:

Best of Lavender - Charles McCoy
Best of Yellow - Lance Andrus
Best of Amethyst - Harold Schmidt
Best of Golden Yellow - Michiko Huynh
Best of Lavender Color Change - Jonathan Rolfe
Best of Ruby Synthetic - Jeff Steele
Best of Pad Synthetic - Jeff Steele
Best of Emerald CZ - Ivan Smith & Mark Barber (Tie)
Best of Aqua Blue CZ - Ivan Smith & Lance Andrus (Tie)
Best of Grass Green - Ivan Smith
Best of Rhodo - Mark Barber
Best of Pink - Charles McCoy

We wanted to show our appreciation to everyone who entered, so we are going to send everyone a t-shirt! Thank you!

I will get your stones back to you as soon as I can. I still need to take the photos, and we are waiting on the t-shirts to come in from the printers.

And stay tuned..we will be announcing our 2011 contest at the 4th of July Party!

St Patrick's Day Party this weekend!

Just a reminder that our St Patrick's Day part is this weekend. 12 - 9 pm EST, online on the forum! We will have games, prizes, contests, and more! I hope you will stop by and join in the fun!

Link to the forum: http://www.prettyrock.com/prforum/index.php

St Patrick's Day Party!

We are going to have a St Patrick's Day Party! Saturday March 13, from Noon to 9 pm est, right here on the forum! Games, prizes and lots of rock talk!

In Remembrance...

Dev and I both have family in the military. My nephew just currently at boot camp for the army. He's going to be a medic. We both worried and so very proud of him!

Opal Yawah Nuts and a chance to help a friend

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay.. first check out this video!

http://www.outbackgems.com/Devin/Devin.htm
THIS STONE IS SOLD!
Hopefully Dev will share his story about the purchase of the first half of this opal.

Devin came home from Tucson one year and told me all about this wonderful opal lady he met. He couldn't say enough nice things about Barbara. We so saddened to learned that she is in stage 4 cancer treatment.

This was her message in the current issue of The Opal Express:

"To my AOS friends,
As many of you have probably heard, the big C stage IV is wrestling me about. I'm not going down without a fight but am wise enough to know that I need to put my inventory out there quickly. Inventory such as special specimens of both the Ridge and Yowah and Koroit opals that I tucked into bookshelves, back of drawers, and in special velvet bags for my viewing and fondling pleasure over the years. However, co-pays demanded before treatments make it necessary to sell. I can not think of a more appreciative group of opal lovers who would be insterested."

I hope you will keep Barbara in your prayers, as I know she will be in ours. And if you can help her out by purchasing an opal or two, that would be wonderful.

Things that make you go ..hmmmmmmmmm

http://www.firstwaternews.com/feature/718-1-Ice-diamonds-included-diamonds-rough-diamonds-industrial-diamonds-Carol-Besler-de-Grisogono-Nina-Runsdorf-Todd-Reed-De-Beers-

So now they aren't included diamonds, but "icy" Now that is some brilliant marketing...

Announcing the 2010 PrettyRock.com Faceting Competition!

Details here! http://www.prettyrock.com/2010facetingcompetition.htm

We hope you will join in the fun!

Contest: Guess the number of rocks!

We started this contest at our Halloween Party. Since no one answered correctly, we decided to just keep going until someone wins!

The person who correctly guesses the number of rocks in the photo wins! In the case of a more than one correct guess, the winner will be drawn at random by Diva.

Yes, we know.. you can't see all the rocks! This is our version of guess the number of marbles in the jar. You have to make an educated guess!

You are welcome to discuss the contest here, but please email us your "official" guess to amethyst@prettyrock.com

The prize: $50 gift certificate.

Winner will be announced on the forum and in the newsletter next week.

Image below, or you can enlarge it as your wallpaper http://www.prettyrock.com/free-wallpaper-minerals.htm

PrettyRock.com Halloween Party!

Come on in and join us for the games, contests, discounts, and more! Join the fun here: www.prettyrock.com!

Just a Quick Reminder: You are invited to our Halloween Party!!

Just a Quick Reminder: You are invited to our Halloween Party!!

Saturday Oct 31 2009 Drop in anytime between 11 am and 11 pm to join in the fun. There will be games, contests with great prizes, 20% off all rough, and more! Also, we will be announcing a very special contest that day... faceters stay tuned for more! Many of the games and contests are run through our forum. Sign up now by sending us an email with your preferred user name (nickname), and be ready to play: http://prettyrock.com/prforum/index.php



New Facet Rough posted 10/25! -gorgeous stones, including a 42ct Green Tourmaline! There are still a few of the $5 rocks Dev posted last week left. Remember these specially priced rocks are one per customer per week. Keep an eye on this page for the latest facet rough postings: http://www.prettyrock.com/php/facet-rough-all-recent.php

ET Gems!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091018141608.htm

" According to a new study by geologists at the University of Toronto and the University of Maryland, the wealth of some minerals that lie in the rock beneath the Earth's surface may be extraterrestrial in origin."

$5 Rocks!

Dev had fun on the last batch of rocks he put up and marked them all $5!

http://www.prettyrock.com/php/facet-rough-all-recent.php

Finding Aliens (aka another use for your spectroscope!)

Okay, maybe not *your* spectroscope.. but a really really big spectroscope!

http://www.ted.com/talks/garik_israelian_what_s_inside_a_star.html

And if you haven't discovered the TED talks yet.. take a look around, great stuff out there!

From GIA eBreif- Name that Inclusion

This is the new G&G brainteaser. I have no clue what it is, but maybe one of our readers does!



Name That Inclusion!


Nature has fashioned an image in this diamond better than any laser could. What is this inclusion? Send your answer to tom.overton@gia.edu no later than Oct. 19, and one lucky entrant (with the correct answer) will win a free G&G 1-gigabyte flash drive preloaded with the 1934-2008 subject and author indexes.

New Synthetic Rough Available!

We have bunch of new synthetics available. A couple of new synthetic corundum colors, and a whole boat load of CZ that we are offering for the first time!

Check it out, and get yourself a hunk to play with!

http://www.prettyrock.com/php/synthetic-rough.php

The image above is available as wallpaper:
http://www.prettyrock.com/free-wallpaper-minerals.htm

Old Gold!

(Photo from CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/09/24/staffordshire.uk.gold.hoard/index.html

An amazing find by an metal detecting hobbyist! You know.. maybe I should dust off that metal detector out in our garage. Not that we will find a Anglo-Saxon gold hoard in NC, but there just maybe some pirate treasure left on the Outer Banks!

Be sure to check out the other photos.

The Hope Diamond - 50 Years at the Smithsonian

Image from the Smithsonian Channel website, showing the Hope under ultraviolet light.


The Smithsonian is has a wonderful page up on the history and science of the Hope Diamond. They are celebrating its 50th anniversary at the museum by having the stone set in a new setting voted on by readers. The new design will be announced September 23 (Wednesday!)

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/smithsonian/hope.html