Wyoming Jade Options

[CP]

Wyoming jade was discovered in the mid 1930's by my grandfather L. B. Curtis and his partner Mr. Marion outside Lander. Sometime shortly following was a rush to file claims for jade around Wyoming which was referred to at the time as the "Wyoming gold rush". They gave up those original claims years later due to claim jumpers cleaning off most of the accessible material according to the family story passed down.
As you can imagine I've always had rocks in the house since I was a youngster (grandpa made sure of that ) and it's no wonder I ended up doing what I do.
Luckily Denise and I have the last of his original jade material collected at his claims back then and we thought we'd share a few pics of some of the rough and worked pieces. With colors varying from black (which is actually a very very deep green if cut thin enough), to bright greens with swirled patterns that sheen at angles.

This first pic shows a rough piece that grandad rubbed an edge of (black) with a heart and 2 cross pieces he'd cut and shaped but never finished out. Denise says she'd like to finish them out and I know she'll do a spectacular job too!




This pic shows several matching slabs of the darker green jade which shows it's deep green hues but not quite black.




Denise made this guitar pick out of some of the black jade which is an awesome pick. This one is the second made, first one is still the favorite of the player who tested them for us. At 1.7 mm it's still tough to pick up the green hue it's soo dark even with bright back lighting. As you can see, laying flat in hand, it looks black as midnight. Good work honey!




We'll add more pics of Wyoming jade we've worked as time goes and there are a couple of you here in the forums who've gotten pieces of this material from us too. What did you make from it? And don't forget, you've got material from the original discovers collection.

Some folks say they have a hard time polishing jade too, and I can say it's true for the darker colors........whew! Seems like for ever to get through the prepolish stages on it sometimes. But boy does it finish out nicely when the polish hits! Now if I can just get a picture of this solid black stone against a good background.....so much light, so many reflections...........

CP

[jim]

Here is a piece of big Dan's ''black'' jade. I have had it on the shelf so long that I couldn't remember where I got it. I brought it up the other day to Dan. Thats when he reminded me of where it came from. I finally cut the piece Saturday. In the pic the rough slabs have a green tint to them. In hand it's not so visable. The finished cab looks black. Notice the fracture in the slabs. The cab also has the same fracture across it. It must be a healed fracture because none of it has come apart while working it. You have to look real clse in the cab to see it.

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[Denise]

The Jade from your grandpas mine is beautiful Dan! I love how the green color varied in pieces.
I can definately see why he had several rubbed. Hard to tell what you have sometimes untill you really look.

Looking through the stuff he was working, there were several crosses that had been broken in the working process.

I was surprised to find those two trimmed out and not broken. He did a fantastic job trimming them out!!! Crosses are very hard to trim!!
I bet he would have loved to see them finished out.


Thanks for sharing some of the history behind this beautiful material with us!

[jim]

I just finished wrapping the cab in the pick above. Not great but not too bad.I used some of the old wire I had. It's time to get more.

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[RichDColorado]

CP - Those jade crosses and heart are absolutely beautiful and I'm sure are treasured family pieces. I go to Wyoming on business from time to time and the last trip I carved a few hours one afternoon near Atlantic City, South Pass City and Miner's Delight. Very interesting area - have you been up that way? I noticed that GPAA has a claim in that area so I'll have to make a little open time available when I'm that way again.

[CP]

Sure is some colorful stuff honey and I'm sure you'll be able to work with it carving and finishing the precuts. The history of the material is also a very unique one and I'm happy to pass it along, as with any minerals or lapidary art work, the history of it's origin, processing, etc always makes the piece more interesting when known.

Thank you Rich and yes sir they are treasures! I'm sure grandpa would be really happy that we've continued working with his material.

Unfortunately it's been years and years since we've gotten up to Wyoming, but next time we do we'll definately have to take some time to venture around a bit.

Nice cab and wrap there too Jim.

[mirkaba]

Howdy............ I've been lurkin around a while and seing as you have a cabbin' contest coming up and a great jade thread going I thought this would be as good a time as any to jump in. My name is Bob and I chase gold up here in Montana. I also do a little lapidary and rock huntin'. Your Granpas jade is pretty neat. It would have been great to hang around back then, Probably some rock that would knock you out of your socks. Any way I have been working on a couple jade projects lately and have a pic. 2 are Wyoming and 2 are not jade at all



Hope to chat some more and throw a rock in the cabbin' contest...................Bob

[CP]

Hi Bob, welcome to the forum, glad you've joined in.

We will also be looking forward to your entry in the cabbin' fever contest too, and good luck. Nice group of cabochons there, thanks for posting them. Glad you like the jade thread too, we hope this one will continue to grow with more jade pics and carvings over time. Yes the old days must have been really something to experience for sure. One piece found on grandpa's claim back then weighed in at some 2400 lbs and was large enough to have the family picnic on!

Montana has some great minerals and specimens too, we all look forward to seeing and hearing more of your work or adventures obtaining them.

CP-Dan

[CP]

Hi everyone,

For those of us who like jade and work it in the lapidary shops, this link has some great information on Wyomings state gemstone.
From the Wyoming State Geological Survery website page for jade you can find some cool history, geology, and formation info.
Wyoming State Geological Survey - Jade information

Who else has jade lapidary projects going? Everyone loves to see the projects during and after completion.

CP

[Denise]

Here are a couple of thick huge Wyoming Jade slabs. Not sure whats going to become of these yet, but you can sure tell the difference in color in them.

[CP]

Nice slabs honey!
Going to have to get these out and cut something out of them for sure soon.