Pasadena, California, AMFS and CFMS Federation Members
Over 50 dealers are selling their wares: Gems, minerals, slabs, jewelry, fossils, cabochons, and a whole host of other goodies! There are also fun activities for the kids (and adults, too—no judgement here) including rock grab bags, sand scoops, spin-the-wheel, and gold panning. And don’t miss out on the raffle and silent auction for a chance at great prizes. See you at the Pomona Fairplex!
With the snow-capped Sierras in the very distant background, our little meteorite and Golden Bear pose for the Earth to Sky Calculus camera.
The Pasadena Lapidary Society (PLS) just sent a meteorite slice back to space!! PLS members engaged the Earth to Sky Calculus Club to launch a helium balloon carrying a pallasite meteorite slice from a launch site near Bishop, CA, up 95,000 feet into the stratosphere, often called “the edge of space”. A pallasite meteorite is a rare type of stony-iron meteorite containing olivine crystals of peridot in an iron-nickel matrix. The meteorite weighs 9.75 grams and was found originally in the Republic of Belarus. The balloon traveled over the snowy Sierra Nevada of central California on February 23, 2019. After the balloon popped, the meteorite was parachuted back to Earth, landing on the eastern edge of Death Valley National Park, where it was recovered the next day. The meteorite will be on display at the upcoming California Federation of Mineralogical Societies (CFMS) Gem and Mineral Show, March 8-10, 2019 at Fairplex, Expo Hall 6, in Pomona. An image of the meteorite will be viewable in the days to come by way of spaceweather.com. It will be back-dropped against the blackness of space and the curvature of the Earth, in a frame announcing the CFMS Show, along with a ‘Golden Bear’ figure (unofficial mascot of the CFMS).
PLS, a non-profit organization, is co-hosting the CFMS show, entitled California’s Natural Treasures. The show features many exciting things to experience: a Kid’s area with fun games about rocks, minerals and fossils; grab bags containing rocks, crystals, and minerals; special exhibits such as the aforementioned meteorite, display cases where members of different rock and gem societies in the CFMS show off their talents and compete for awards; gold-panning for real gold; wonderful, highly-coveted raffle prizes made and donated by PLS members; a silent auction with colorful rock slabs, collectible mineral specimens and other items; live demonstrations of jewelry making and other lapidary skills; dealers with meteorites, gems, minerals, jewelry, fossils, tools, equipment, books, maps, and many other unique items. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for teens 12-17, seniors (60+) and active military; Free for kids under 12, accompanied by paying adult. Hours are 10-5 Friday and Saturday, and 10-4 Sunday.
CFMS Annual Show and Convention: March 8–10
The Pasadena Lapidary Society hosts the 2019 CFMS Show at the Fairplex in Pomona, Building 6. Enter at Gate 17 from McKinley Ave.
For more information: https://pasadenalapidary.org/2019-show/
Please visit this page for important information regarding the CFMS Show next month:
https://pasadenalapidary.org/pls-members-corner-2/
Please click on the following link to view information about the February program meeting:
https://pasadenalapidary.org/pls-members-corner/
PLS member extraordinaire Janie Duncan will present ‘A Brief History of Beads’ at our first program meeting of 2019. Practically everyone knows what beads are but for those who’ve been hiding under or looking at rocks too long, a bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 millimetre (0.039 in) to over 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in diameter.
PLS VP Mona Ross will present the Rock of the Month talk on Psilomelane. A group name for hard black manganese oxides including hollandite and romanechite, psilomelane consists of hydrous manganese oxide with variable amounts of barium and potassium. Psilomelane is erroneously, and uncommonly, known as black hematite, despite not being related to true hematite, which is an iron oxide.
Come to learn and make new friends; open to the public, free admission. Tuesday, January 15 at 6:30 p.m., in the Donald Wright Auditorium of the Pasadena Central Library at 285 E. Walnut St., Pasadena, 91101.
Join us for our December PLS events:
December 6th – Board Meeting
December 9th – Workshop
December 15th – 2018 Holiday Party
By Joe Goetz
Friday morning turned out to be a perfect morning: The temps were not too hot or cold. The sun was shining as Marcia and I were trying to get ready to leave. We caravanned out with Sylvia Cliffe, Carolyn Duncan, and Charlotte Bane. The traffic was flowing better than I had thought, and a couple of hours later we were at the hotel. We got there safe and hung out for the rest of the day. All too soon I was dreaming about the rocks we would collect on Saturday, which came all too fast, and the sun was just barely up and breakfast was in the schedule.
We were getting things ready as people (30 in all) began showing up, and we talked about the upcoming day’s events and got release forms signed. Before you knew it, it was 8:30 a.m. and I gave a little safety talk. I reassured everyone that if you got bit by a snake, we’d get you to help. Of course, along the way we might just have to stop to collect some rock here and there. But we’ll get you there (just kidding).
The first place we went was the Whittier Club camping area. We stopped at a rock pile where some members have brought out their overflow and deposited it there for anyone to collect. Chances are you could find a piece of something there that you might not be able to collect anymore. Then it was off to the claim itself, and after about 30 minutes or so we headed over to the red moss agate area. I think everyone got some agate of different types as well as some of the red moss agate.
We headed back to the hotel for lunch. From there, we headed over to what we call Jason’s place. It is an area below some of the transmission towers. The reason we call it Jason’s place is that longtime Junior member Jason Badgley had told us he had been there, and when we got there every stone had been chipped. Stones were collected, and after 30 or so minutes we were off. Jay Valle led the group, and Marcia and I were bringing up the rear as we headed to “the wide spot in the road.”
Marcia and I decided to take the road a little further, passing Steve Cady who hiked up the hill. Marcia started to dig out what she thought was a double-fisted size piece of agate. However, it just kept getting larger and larger. I took over the digging, and it still got bigger. It started to wiggle in the hole a bit, so we asked Steve Cady for some help. He grabbed the stone with both hands and yanked it out and carried it to the truck bed (oh to be young again!). After we showed off Marcia’s little pebble, we all decided it was time to go back to the hotel and ready ourselves for dinner at Peggy Sue’s. Dinner was excellent as it always has been.
Sunday morning arrived, and we were getting ready to head out to some other locations. We had three guests from the San Diego area that day. We headed out and went to the silver lace onyx area. I do believe everyone who wanted it got some of the material. Marcia and I picked up little pieces for putting in grab bags for the CFMS Show in March 2019.
Next, we headed out to Mule Canyon to the algae agate area. We all found out just how much the canyon had been rearranged by rain. We did find the right road and got to the spot. I found lots of black agate; Jay found a nice algae agate. Someone asked if the green was indeed algae. The answer was the area at one time was much wetter, and there were ponds all over the place. In the ponds, there was in fact algae and pond scum growing. The area was suddenly covered with volcanic ash, and over time the algae and scum were petrified. The algae agate shows as a very distinct algae pattern in the stone. As for the pond scum, well, that was compressed and then petrified. If you think about that black agate I found…
The summer heat has dissapated which means it’s time for field trips! PLS will be hosting 2 field trips in the month of November led by our faithful guide, Joe Goetz.
November 3-4 – Yermo/Calico Mountains
November 22-25 – Afton Canyon
Please contact Joe Goetz at 626-260-7239 to RSVP.
