Montana Sapphires!!

So, this summer, my family and I went to Montana on vacation. We went to a place called Gem Mountain where you can actually find your own sapphires (and other gems, but mostly sapphires). You buy a bucket of rocks ($15 for 1) and you wash them and search for them yourself. I know that it might now sound like a lot of fun, but the minute you find your first gem (looks like glass against everything else) you're hooked.

To find the stones, you are given a tray you use to wash the dirt off the stones and shake it so the sapphires sink to the bottom of the tray and directly in the middle. Then you take the tray to a table and flip it over. You should find the gems right smack in the middle of the rocks, shining in the light just like glass.

What you might not know, is that sapphires don't start out blue. Almost all of them are crystal clear. Some of them will be yellow tinted, or even a light green. They're easy to see if they're where you shook them. (Sapphires are actually heavier than regular rocks so when you shake them, they sink to the bottom.) The people that run the place give you a film canister with slits on the top to push the gems through so they don't go all over the place. (Which is really, really, bad.)

If you happen to look like you're not doing so good, some worker(s) will come up, as if you're finding anything... SO NO!! They will get you a whole tray full of rocks not in your bucket and clean them for you. I found 15 stones in one tray whereas it was rare to find more than 5.

One of the rare sapphires you can find is the pink sapphire. I found one. a 1.73 carat one. I was so excited when they said that I had found something. Unfortunately, it had a spiderweb crack through the middle of the gem.

Unfortunately, out of all the gems that my family and I, there were only three stones that were big enough (without any cracks on the inside) for us to be able to have fired (That's where they get their color), send to China to get cut (yeah, long way to get cut), and about 6 months later, you get a sapphire mailed to your house.

Now, you don't have a say in what shape the stone will be cut into. It just depends on the shape of the raw stone. The one that I got was cut into what's called 'Princess' style and went from over a 1 carat stone into a .44 kt beauty. Perfect for me, I know. ;) While my mom's was cut into a 'Round Brilliant' and was cut into a .34 kt gem. Both of the colors are a little different. My mom's is more blue and mine has more teal in the center. Under the right light, in the middle of both stones, looks crystal clear. It's pretty awesome.

So, since I've been talking about this, I thought I should add some pictures.

Using a macro lens, we're able to see the detail in the gem. Pretty, isn't it?

Then, using photoshop, we magnified it so you get an even closer look. Hehehe, I found that all on my own. I dug (not really, but it felt like it) it out of the dirt, cleaned it, and am able to call it my own. Oh, how it love it!!

If you want the address to the mine, you can access their website by the following link: http://gemmountainmt.com/default.aspx

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me. aka: leave a comment, please. ;)