Star Sapphire Sunday in Canton North Carolina

I was doing some Internet research on North Carolina mines trying to figure out what kind of treasure hunting I was going to do this past weekend and came across a mine I wasn't familiar with called the Old Pressley Sapphire Mine.

Here's what they say on their site:

Located in Haywood County, near Canton North Carolina, the Old Pressley Sapphire Mine is one of the oldest operating mines in western North Carolina. Made famous by the discovery of the 1445 carat "Star of the Carolinas," the mine contains abundant quantities of Sapphires, moonstones, and other precious minerals in sufficient quantity to make rock collecting both pleasurable and profitable.



Being the Treasureholic that I am, I had a friend come into town and convinced her to go with me to Canton to check out the mine and see what we could find.



When we arrived, there were several people there and one person was already "in the hole" searching for sapphires.



We grabbed our buckets and spades and headed over to the mine area to find a spot that looked promising and introduced ourselves to Treasure Joe who was knee deep in dirt searching away.



The owners of the mine George and Brenda McCannon were wonderful hosts and they gave us a tour of the collection of some of the stones that have been found at the mine. The sapphires at Old Pressley are generally embedded in feldspar and are mostly blue in color. Some of the found stones that I saw had top corn flower blue hues and some crystal clarity!



Hospitality was high at the mine and Treasure Joe (one of the repeat guests) was so kind! Before I knew it, he shared his foam pad and his umbrella with me so that I could search in cool comfort!



If you're ever close to Asheville, North Carolina, make sure to check out the mine and see if you can find a Carolina Star to take back home!

Thanks to George and Brenda for the use of the Star Sapphire photo!

Diggin' For Diamonds!

Do you love diamonds? Would you like to find some? With a little hard work and some luck, you can find some in Arkansas!

One of my very favorite treasure hunting places is The Crater of Diamonds State Park. The Park is the only diamond producing site in the world that is open to the public.

Park visitors pay a nominal fee to prospect in the park's diamond search area, a 37-acre plowed field that is located smack on top of the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic pipe. 95 million years ago, the pipe brought diamonds and semi-precious stones up to the surface and you can still find them there today!

Diamonds of all colors of the rainbow can be found at Crater of Diamonds, but the three most common colors unearthed by park visitors are white, brown and yellow.

The Arkansas Diamond Mine is also a rock hound's delight since, along with diamonds, over 40 types of rocks and minerals can found there. These rocks and minerals include lamproite, amethyst, banded agate, jasper, peridot, garnet, quartz, calcite, barite and hematite.

In 1906, John Huddleston, the local farmer who owned the property at that time, found the first diamonds on what is now the Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, and the news of his find started a diamond mining rush.

According to the history of the Crater of Diamonds State Park, after a series of ill-fated mining ventures followed by tourist attractions, the site became an Arkansas state park in 1972.

On my recent visit, I spent two and a half days searching for diamonds. I was told by the staff that the best way to find diamonds was to surface search. Basically, you walk around with your rake, shovel, hand claw or stick and look for a very bright, shiny, glint or reflection that's catching the sunlight.

I searched like a wild woman and didn't come up with pay dirt on that trip, but I'm headed back soon! If you've been there, I'd like to hear about your trip! Please email me with the details! treasureholic@gmail.com

WATCH the Today Show Video (Link below - it's GREAT!) that highlights a recent significant find that an Oklahoma State Trooper made at the park and you'll have diamond fever just like I do!

Happy Hunting!

http://www.arkansas.com/special-announcements/second_diamond.asp

4.21-carat, Canary Yellow Diamond Found at Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds State Park by First Time Visitor From Oklahoma - Today Show Video

The Treasure Hunting Gene

In my last post, I mentioned that I felt sure that Treasureholics share a Treasure-Hunting gene.

I know it has to be that way because my Mother, has "it" bad. She's passed it down to me, and there is no doubt that it has to be a dominant gene!

When I look around, there are thousands of others just like me and perhaps you are one of them. Believe me, we have plenty of company--at garage sales, auctions, flea markets, metal detecting meetings, find your own gem and gold mines, pawn shops, swap meets, estate sales, trash piles, dumps, and antique malls.

We are all fighting for the same parking place at 6:00 am in front of the most promising garage sale driveway hoping to be the first one to snag the best items. We're looking for something that the owner has priced for 50 cents that will sell for a hefty profit on eBay or to an individual.

Some of us didn't even wait until the day of the sale and knocked on the door the night before asking if we could scan the items and be the first one to preview the treasure.

As I'm snagging neat stuff, I'm going to write about it and tell you what I've done with it after I've hauled it home. If I've sold it, I'll let you in on the sales price and tell you what the person who's bought it is going to do with it.

I'll bet you can glean something out of it that you can take to the bank and email me treasureholic@gmail.com to tell me about your find.

Happy Hunting!