Build Your Collection
A how to guide for collecting rocks used in making jewelry. This guide will tell you how and where to find them.
Here you will learn some of the secrets that I've used as a prospector to find valuable material in the field for twenty-five years.
By reading some of my other lenses, you'll discover how easy it is to make enough profit selling what you find to pay for your field trips.
Here you will learn some of the secrets that I've used as a prospector to find valuable material in the field for twenty-five years.
By reading some of my other lenses, you'll discover how easy it is to make enough profit selling what you find to pay for your field trips.
Where You Can Find Semi Precious Gems
Places You Can Collect for Free (and some for a fee)
In order to ensure success it is important to know:
What you're hunting,
How to recognize it, and
Where it is legal to collect it.
Finding rocks and minerals can be as simple as going to the beach or to a quarry.
But finding semi precious gems in nature can be challenging..
You can succeed at locating semi precious gemstones by learning where other people have looked.
Prospectors use their knowledge of jewelry, geology, and mining practices to make decisions about what to hunt.
Fortunately, mines are identified on county road maps. This makes it easy to begin planning a field trip that will make any rock hound happy.
Many of these areas are on Federal Land. Those locations have some restrictions about where you can collect. Those restrictions may include
how you get to the collecting area,
how deep you can dig, and
how much you can take with you.
Some locations for collecting valuable material are located on public property like beaches, stream beds, or road cuts in hill.
Still others are on private property.
In any case, you will want to get permission to collect. Usually, you can do this when you ask locally find out what is available and how to identify it.
Begin by
Using field guides to tell you what types of rocks and minerals are in the different regions of the country,
Using maps to tell you where the mines and quarries are, and
Asking at geology departments at schools and colleges or talking with the people who work in rock shops or those who participate in rock and mineral shows.
Learn what's legal to collect on Federal land.
Go to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) web page. It has a database you can use to learn where you can collect on Federal land and what you can find there. Just type "collecting" in the search window on that page.
Once you've chosen the type of stones you'd like to collect, learned what they look like in nature, and located likely places on the map, it is usually simple to find a good spot and get permission to collect.
Just consult maps of the area to identify locations of
mines,
quarries,
beaches,
rivers,
streams, and
road cuts
that are in the area and likely to expose the stones you want to find.
Be sure to read my lens "How to Know if What you Found is Worth Keeping: Know the value of your collection."
Happy hunting!
What you're hunting,
How to recognize it, and
Where it is legal to collect it.
Finding rocks and minerals can be as simple as going to the beach or to a quarry.
But finding semi precious gems in nature can be challenging..
You can succeed at locating semi precious gemstones by learning where other people have looked.
Prospectors use their knowledge of jewelry, geology, and mining practices to make decisions about what to hunt.
Fortunately, mines are identified on county road maps. This makes it easy to begin planning a field trip that will make any rock hound happy.
Many of these areas are on Federal Land. Those locations have some restrictions about where you can collect. Those restrictions may include
how you get to the collecting area,
how deep you can dig, and
how much you can take with you.
Some locations for collecting valuable material are located on public property like beaches, stream beds, or road cuts in hill.
Still others are on private property.
In any case, you will want to get permission to collect. Usually, you can do this when you ask locally find out what is available and how to identify it.
Begin by
Using field guides to tell you what types of rocks and minerals are in the different regions of the country,
Using maps to tell you where the mines and quarries are, and
Asking at geology departments at schools and colleges or talking with the people who work in rock shops or those who participate in rock and mineral shows.
Learn what's legal to collect on Federal land.
Go to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) web page. It has a database you can use to learn where you can collect on Federal land and what you can find there. Just type "collecting" in the search window on that page.
Once you've chosen the type of stones you'd like to collect, learned what they look like in nature, and located likely places on the map, it is usually simple to find a good spot and get permission to collect.
Just consult maps of the area to identify locations of
mines,
quarries,
beaches,
rivers,
streams, and
road cuts
that are in the area and likely to expose the stones you want to find.
Be sure to read my lens "How to Know if What you Found is Worth Keeping: Know the value of your collection."
Happy hunting!
Quesea's Picks Tumblers, Guides and Collections
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Garnets and Geodes
One field trip led to this wonderful collection.
What Rockhounds Want to Know
This is your chance to tell me what you want to know and let me do the research for you!
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Roadside Geology Guides
Invaluable Resources for Finding Semi Precious Gems
You can count on these guides to roadside geology to teach you what to look for and where to find it.
I've used them in combination with county maps for years and had great success. You can too!
I've used them in combination with county maps for years and had great success. You can too!
Roadside Geology of Virginia (Roadside Geology Series)
Amazon Price: $12.00 (as of 01/01/2010) 
Roadside Geology of Colorado (Roadside Geology Series)
Amazon Price: (as of 01/01/2010)
Roadside Geology of South Dakota (Roadside Geology Series)
Amazon Price: $13.60 (as of 01/01/2010)
Roadside Geology of the Yellowstone Country (Roadside Geology Series)
Amazon Price: $9.60 (as of 01/01/2010)
More Roadside Geology Guides
Here are a few more guide you'll find helpful.
Roadside Geology of Wyoming (Roadside Geology Series)
Amazon Price: $12.24 (as of 01/01/2010)
Roadside Geology of Idaho (Roadside Geology Series)
Amazon Price: $15.00 (as of 01/01/2010)
Roadside Geology of Arizona
Amazon Price: $12.24 (as of 01/01/2010)
Roadside Geology of New Mexico (Roadside Geology Series)
Amazon Price: $12.24 (as of 01/01/2010)
First Rate Gemstones
Great Finds on eBay.
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Petrified Wood
Great Deals on an American Classic
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byBiggs Jasper: Among the very best!
Biggs Jasper is a favorite for making bolo neck ties or belt buckles.
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submit
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- GoodBug GoodBug Dec 1, 2009 @ 12:06 pm
- I've always thought it would be a great way to retire - have a camper van and travel about looking for rocks and gems.
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Reply
- skiesgreen skiesgreen Jul 30, 2009 @ 5:37 pm
- Nice topic and well presented lens. It is easy to read and not hyped up. Just a good down to earth account of a very popular activity. Well done 5 stars
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- Jimmie Jimmie Jun 16, 2009 @ 7:23 am
- I love rocks! We live by a river, and lots of the people here also enjoy looking for interesting rocks. Today I saw one that looked like a skull. Creepy!
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- QueSea QueSea Feb 2, 2009 @ 6:37 am | in reply to Intuitive
- What a wonderful way to share a hobby. Your family must have enjoyed the tradition. I found a very large piece of rose quartz on one trip. It was large enough to give each of the women in our family a sizable piece, big enough to use as a doorstop (smile).!
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- QueSea QueSea Feb 2, 2009 @ 6:33 am | in reply to debnet
- I'm glad you like. When I get the chance, I'd like to visit the UK. I understand that fossils are a big thing there.
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- QueSea QueSea Feb 2, 2009 @ 6:31 am | in reply to MindGuru
- One of our best memories comes from a trip to Colorado. We followed the Arkansas river back into the mountains quite a ways in search of rose quartz at a aquamarine mine. It was a very successful trip.
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- QueSea QueSea Feb 2, 2009 @ 6:28 am | in reply to AlishaV
- Thanks for the compliment. I like the Mojave Desert. Do you have a favorite place?
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- AlishaV AlishaV Jan 31, 2009 @ 3:16 am
- Great lens, I love to rockhound too.
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- MindGuru MindGuru Dec 22, 2008 @ 10:46 am
- Great idea for fun! Where do you go? What kinds have you found? I'd be interested to hear your story to help fill out some of the details on how you locate good sites and recognize the stones. I look forward to coming back for more.
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- debnet debnet Dec 21, 2008 @ 2:54 pm
- Very interesting...thank you!
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by QueSea
My greatest lesson in life has been that no one stands alone. Of course, along with that came the understanding that the quality of what we do matters... (more)
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