From Mud to Mounted Jewelry

A journey of two jewelers who say “Get your own Idaho star garnets, why don’t you.”

What happens when 2 jewelers from Stoecker Jewelers in Mountain Home, and their wives, go to northern Idaho on a very rainy Memorial Day weekend in 2009? The answer is Idaho Star Garnets and lots of them.

What We Encountered
Mike, Kelly, Brenda, and Denise found out what it is really like to mine for gemstones in Idaho. Out of 10 days at Emerald Creek, it rained for 9, limiting their digging to only 4 days. Cold rain, nickel sized mosquitoes, and knee deep mud were no match for our intrepid foursome. In four very busy days of digging a small bucketful of our state’s gemstones were dug out of the ground, screened, washed/sluiced, inspected and then taken home.

What We Do With Star Garnets
So what have we been doing with these unique to Idaho gemstones? We have tumbled some, polished them to a gleaming dark purple, and shaped some into incredibly beautiful stones. A fair share of the best star garnets we mined in 2009 have already been set into custom made jewelry right in our Stoecker Jewelry workshop in Mountain Home, Idaho and sold. But…

Some for Sale
But we have a large handful of some incredibly beautiful loose star garnets from that trip left to sell. This is the perfect opportunity to choose the stone of you dream, get it set into custom jewelry for yourself or your best friend.

Mine Your Own Idaho Star Garnets?
If you would like to mine your own Idaho Star Garnets, come on down to Stoecker Jewelers and talk to us. We’ll give you some advice on where to go and what equipment you’ll need. And when you get back with your very own star garnets that you’ve wrestled out of the mud, we’ll explain your best options to turn them into something more beautiful.

– Place: Emerald Creek Garnet Area near Clarkia, Idaho

– When: Memorial Day weekend until around Labor Day depending on the weather/conditions.

– Cost: $10 a day

– Link: http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/ipnf/recarea/?recid=6927

Thanks,

 

Michael Stoecker