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Rutilated Quartz
 Rutilated quartz, aka Venus' Hair Stone, Cupid's darts, and Fleches d'amour (arrows of love) is a type of rock crystal containing long, fine needles of golden rutile crystals. The best specimens are very clear with highly patterned gold needles, usually from Brazil.
Venetian Glass
Often imitated but never duplicated, genuine Venetian beads are hand-made in Italy from Murano glass and renowned throughout the world for their superb craftsmanship and distinct styles. For many centuries, generations of Venetian glass artisans have passed their ancient handcraft of working glass down from master to apprentice. Today in Venice, the art of hand fusing molten glass into beautiful multi-colored beads continues in the strict traditional manner; using only copper wire, colored glass and a simple gas flame (lamp). The iridescent foil bead is particularly prized (24K gold or sterling foil is layered around a clear glass core and then surrounded with tinted or patterned glass). Often 24 KT Gold and Copper dust are imbedded in the glass or sprinkled on the surface for an appliqué effect.
Tiger's Eye
 Tiger's eye is a yellowish-brown to reddish-brown gemstone that has a silky luster with bands of alternating color. Viewed from the opposite direction, the colors are reversed. Tiger's eye is usually highly polished to display the stone's chatoyancy (light reflected in thin bands within the stone). Most tiger's eye is mined in South Africa, but it is also found in Australia, Brazil, Burma (Myanmar), India, Namibia, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and the USA.
Mother of Pearl
 Mother of pearl is the iridescent coating on the inside of oysters and other shells. It closely resembles pearls
with its sheen and thick luster.
Peanut Wood
 Petrified Peanut Wood is a rare type of petrified wood from Western Australia that comes from trees which grew 70 million years ago in the Cretaceous period. Peanut wood refers not to the type of tree, but to the appearance of the peanut shaped light color markings against the blackish background of this petrified wood. It was created when wood washed into the ocean and became a home to small marine clams. Eventually the wood sank to the ocean floor, where it filled with sediment and slowly petrified. This process created a uniquely beautiful petrified wood with a glossy shine and marvelous patterns when polished.
Sugilite
 Sugilite is one of the newest and rarest gemstone minerals. It was first discovered in 1944 in Southwest Japan by Professor Kenichi Sugi (for whom it was named). Since then a few deposits have been discovered in other countries but the finest quality stones come from one mine in South Africa. Sugilite is prized for its rich shades of blue-red-violet-purple and unique patterns. It has been compared to a liquid purple gel in which other minerals have been mixed, stirred, cooled and swirled so that each stone has its own unique pattern.
More coming soon ...
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