Annual Rock Sale slated for next Saturday

IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho Falls Gem & Mineral Society (IFG&MS) will be holding its Annual Members Rock, Gem and Jewelry Sale from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Bonneville County Fairgrounds.

There will be about 40 members of the club that will be selling what they have collected and made from that material.

If you are into rocks and/or love beautiful jewelry, this will be a chance to see what serious collectors are doing with their findings.

There will be a $3 admission fee for visitors over 12 years of age while those younger than 12 will be admitted free.

The club members have been busy going on field trips almost weekly to their claims and other known (and secret) deposits to collect their material.

There will be gemstone collections such as precious opal, seam and moss agates, petrified wood, obsidian and jasper.

Rare gemstones, finished jewelry, and rough and polished rocks will be there along with mineral and fossil collections.

Some members of the club are artisans and will have handcrafted items, including fire opal jewelry and knapped obsidian knives and points.

Some of the sellers will have mostly Idaho rocks while others will feature material from around the world.

The sale will be a great place to find material that you might like and to get a hint of information on where you can find it yourself.

If you have a question about a stone that you have, the sale will be a good place to get an idea of what it may be. Several of the members are geologists and could help to identify it.

Members of the club love to talk about rocks.

There will also be a company at the sale that will be selling tools used in making jewelry and silversmithing.

If you are interested in joining IFG&MS, you can join at the sale. One of the perks of joining is that you can attend the field trips to find rocks. Recently the club got access to collect fire opal at the Spencer mines and also went to Wyoming to the Blue Forest to collect blue petrified wood.

The club also has claims in Idaho and Montana to collect high quality agate and jasper for making jewelry. The club is also exploring the possibility of filing for other claims.

Club members also join together in small groups to hunt the federal public lands and get permission to hunt on private property.

I recently joined with two gentlemen to hunt two spots in difficult terrain to find some beautiful gem quality green moss agate.

A week later, we worked at the top of a mountain to find amber tube agate, black agate and some beautiful red and white jasper/agate.

The rock sale on Oct. 4 will be a great place to spend some time planning new family outings and learn a lot about rocks and what it takes to polish and make them look beautiful.