Part III: Real Plush Oregon Sunstone

[YourGemologist]

17 July 2009

ISG at Plush Oregon 2009 Part III: The real Plush Oregon Sunstone!
Here is the real Plush Oregon Sunstone direct from the Oregon desert!


Around eleven million years ago the earth opened up in what is now southeastern Oregon and disgorged huge amounts of lava that covered the landscape over and over with multiple events. The flows spread out far and wide and occurred in different places, at different times, and with slightly different chemical structures creating unique layers of basaltic rocks. Inside that basaltic rock is a plethora of feldspar crystals that formed with an extremely unique feature of being colored by copper. This is rare. Very rare for copper to be inside feldspar crystals. Rare to the point that some Chinese dealers have diffused copper into Mexican feldspar crystals and salted mines in Tibet in an effort to mimic the Oregon mines to try to cash in on the rarity and value of the Plush Oregon Sunstone. Well, after our trip to the Plush Oregon Sunstone mines it was obvious to all of us that stories of this supposed mine in Tibet are all hogwash. Total balderdash! The only true copper bearing sunstone that has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt is the Oregon sunstone, and most notably the Plush Oregon Sunstone.

There are two theories regarding how the Plush Oregon Sunstone got its copper.

The “Already Formed” Theory

The first theory proposes that the feldspar crystals were already formed and full of copper when they rode the lava flows out onto the Oregon high desert. This meant that the copper in the crystals came from deep within the earth and formed in the feldspar crystals deep down before being pushed up by the lava flowing to the surface. Once there, and over millions of years, the copper began to leach out of the crystals with some of it turning green due to oxidation of the copper during the process, and the outer parts of the crystals turning colorless as the copper on the outside was lost completely.

The “Formed After Arrival” Theory

The second theory is that the feldspar crystals formed in the basaltic rocks after the lava flowed across the desert and started to cool. This theory holds that the lava itself contained the vast amounts of copper required to form the Plush Oregon Sunstone, and that as the feldspar crystals grew in the cooling lava they engulfed the pre-existing copper that was in the lava as part of the crystal growth.

A fairly good case can be made for each of these theories, but this is well beyond the intent or scope of this report. But after digging in the trenches and personally taking out the rough from the various mines, I have to admit that I lean toward the “Already Formed” theory. If the lava was rich enough in copper to fill some of the shiller crystals that I dug out and saw dug out, the whole Oregon desert should be shining in shiller in the sunset. But we will leave this to the geologists to figure out. For our purposes the important thing is that the Plush Oregon Sunstone exists, it is beautiful, it is unique, and it can be found no place else in the world!

Crystal Formation and Color Formation

The red, green, rarely blue, and shiller colors of Plush Oregon Sunstone is due to the presence of copper. After crystal formation the copper gives primarily a shiller effect as seen in the image at left. Note that most of these specimens from the Double Eagle #16 mine are red with the exception of the crystal in the center right that shows the classic copper shiller color. This is due to the high concentration of colloidal copper that was assimilated into the crystal during formation. (see magnification slide below from a 2007 ISG evaluation report.)

Over millions of years the copper can turn from the shiller to the red color as it is assimilated into the crystal structure, and then as it is leached out of the crystal the outer edges turn a green color as the copper oxidizes. An example of a Plush Oregon Sunstone crystal can be seen at left that demonstrates this process in all stages within the one crystal. This beautiful crystal is from the Dust Devil Mine of Plush Oregon.

And finally the copper is lost to the surrounding rock and the outer layers become colorless. This is the general theory of the process that occurs to create the various colors of copper. We believe that the theory can be supported by LA-ICP-MS of the host basaltic rock surrounding a color crystal pocket as there may be a concentration of copper in the surrounding rock due to the leaching out of the copper. We are preparing a study on that concept at this time and will report to you all on this in the near future. A high magnification image is shown below taken in the ISG lab that demonstrates this process occuring in a single crystal from the Dust Devil Mine. There is no doubt that some will argue with the concept and we welcome any feedback supported by scientific data that we can present later.

The copper shiller color is fast becoming the most popular Plush Oregon Sunstone in the jewelry industry. It is totally natural, very durable, in good supply, and unique in the world of gemstones. The deep red, green and blue colors are considered very rare and expensive. Blue above all. But these are indeed a rarity and very expensive. Rarely will a Plush Oregon Sunstone turn all green as the oxidation process engulfs the entire crystal, which makes for matching green stones virtually impossible. The result is that each Plush Oregon Sunstone is unique unto itself. Finding a jewelry ensemble with matching stones is a very unique find indeed as the rate of leaching and oxidation of the copper makes every single crystal an individual creation. No two Plush Oregon Sunstones are alike. And no two copper bearing sunstones can ever be alike….if they are natural.

Plush Oregon Sunstone Grading Scale

There is a quality grading scale being developed by several of the mine owners. This is based on the rarity and quality of color, depth of color, and other factors related to the value of the gemstone. You can see some variations of red in the images below as part of this chart development. The ISG has been provided with a Master Plush Oregon Sunstone Grading Set by John and Debbie Aldrich of the Double Eagle #16 and we will be assisting in the development and publishing of the master grading list of Plush Oregon Sunstone in the coming weeks.


Special Donations to the ISG

I have to admit I had never spoken with the Plush miners until the 2009 ISG at Tucson event. But these folks have just been wonderful about providing some of their best specimens to us for study. We recently received two outstanding specimens that I wanted to include in this report just to show the exceptional diversity of the Plush Oregon Sunstone.

Very rare teal blue from Double Eagle #16
The dichroic red and teal blue sunstones are extremely rare, particularly in large sizes. Opening the parcel of master study stones from John and Debbie Aldrich from the Double Eagle #16, I also found that they had donated to the ISG community a 20 carat beautifully dichroic Teal Blue and Red Plush Oregon Sunstone that is unlike anything I have seen. The color is extremely rare and in this size it's even more so. When you turn the stone you get the dichroic effect that is just……well, look for yourself in the slides below! It is difficult to believe that this is the very same stone in both images unless you hold it in your hand. The colors even varied slightly from the type of lighting used for the photography. Above left is incandescent overhead lighting, with the slide images below in fluorescent overhead of our Meiji Techno microscope. Just a wonderful study specimen for the ISG community from the Double Eagle #16 in Plush Oregon.

The Man in the Sunstone from Dust Devil Mine

After 38 years in this business, it's difficult to impress me with something new and special. Pretty? Yes. New and special...rarely happens. But Don Buford of the Dust Devil Mine has me totally hooked on the designer cuts of Plush Oregon Sunstone. He has provided the ISG community with incredible Plush Oregon Sunstone specimens from some of the top gemstone cutters in the world including John Dyer, Dalan Hargrave, and Buddy Shots. We featured these folks in a previous edition of this newsletter. However, at the end of our trip to Plush, I was shown the specimen below cut by Krista McMillan of Ontario, Canada . I was just mesmerized, which after 5 days in the desert was pretty tough to do. No way that we could afford this exceptional creation, so Don (who is Santa Claus’s younger brother for those who do not already know that…it's true!) tore off the price tag and handed the sunstone to me. Brought a tear to my eye, literally. One of the truly special carved gemstones I have seen in years, and given to me by one of the truly special people I have met in years.

The important thing about Plush Oregon Sunstone is just how much it can do with a beam of light. This carving is in the banner of this newsletter and two more images below. All the same Krista McMillan carving of a dichroic Plush Oregon Sunstone, but using different light sources and playing around with different photo locations in the office. What fun this is to work with and to have here in the ISG Student Reference Collection.

We have only begun telling the story of the Plush Oregon Sunstone, but time and space is running out. We want to thank Don and Patsy Buford and the folks at the Dust Devil Mine, John and Debbie Aldrich of the Double Eagle #16, and Chris Rose and Jessica of the Spectrum Mine for their hospitality, support, and friendship shown to our group. There are several other excellent mines and miners in the Plush Oregon valley that we hope to meet in the near future, and even more information to be provided about this exceptional and rare Plush Oregon Sunstone. But we wanted everyone to see what we found when the ISG went to Plush Oregon in June of 2009.

We found real authentic Plush Oregon Sunstone. And it’s like nothing else on this earth!
Robert James FGA, GG
President, International School of Gemology

We want to thank John and Debbie Aldrich of the Double Eagle #16 Mine for the rough specimens seen throughout these reports (along with almost a kilo of study specimens donated to the ISG), Don and Patsy Buford for many of the wonderful red and green specimens shown above, the many designer stones donated to the ISG, and all of the hospitality shown to us during the trip. (and yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!) Thanks to Chris Rose of the Spectrum Mine for sharing his mine, facilities, and geologist expertise with us on the formation of the Plush Oregon Sunstone fields, and Jessica at the Spectrum Mine for working so hard to make sure we all found sunstone while at Plush. Thanks also to the staff of the Dust Devil Mine for keeping us fed and watered during the trip, to Doug and Darryl and Marty and all of the folks at "the wall" of the Dust Devil Mine for spending so much of your time to help our ISG group be successful. Thanks to Karla Proud for sharing your knowledge and design expertise. I hope I am not missing anyone. If I did please know we appreciate everyone at Plush Oregon who made this trip a success.

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©2009 International School of Gemology . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

All images are taken using the ISG Student Reference Collection of gemstones in the ISG office. We do urge and support sharing of this information in its entirety, with copyright notices intact, to others who are interested in the study of gemology. Jeweler’s Associations are welcome to distribute to your members.



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[Morning Dove]

Ooooooo ... that teal is gorgeous!

[VP2006]

Nice report Robert. Thank you and Write On!!

VP

P.S. The beat goes on:

Recent work from one of the original Andesine Consecrators: http://elements.geoscienceworld.org/...stract/5/3/147

And used as reference by yet other frankenstone sanctifiers before the ink is even dry on the first guy's work.

Wow, nice work gem-gods.
CYA away!!!!
VP

[Coyotegems]

Very nice report Robert, thank you.

It's so nice to see such interest in our unique American gemstones... world-wide there is increasing popularity. I've always liked Oregon Sunstone, it's almost only a hop skip and a jump away from me to go dig there.

Good pictures! Love that teal

David

[Gringa Gems]

Originally Posted by VP2006

Nice report Robert. Thank you and Write On!!

VP

P.S. The beat goes on:

Recent work from one of the original Andesine Consecrators: http://elements.geoscienceworld.org/...stract/5/3/147

And used as reference by yet other frankenstone sanctifiers before the ink is even dry on the first guy's work.

Wow, nice work gem-gods.
CYA away!!!!
VP

Are they calling that publication a scientific journal? These people have no shame. Those papers in "Element" look fit only for introductory texts at the undergraduate level. Haven't we already had enough dumbing down in the sciences?

p.s. Roni, what was that conversation we were having about inbreeding?

[VP2006]

Originally Posted by Gringa Gems

Those papers in "Element" look fit only for introductory texts at the undergraduate level.

GringaGems you hit the nail on the head with that statement. I completely concur with your current frustrations and Elements is a bit of a glossy journalistic work but I wouldn’t lump it in with the lesser “magazine” so ripe with blatant incest and inbreeding we discussed earlier. Elements is written to suit a semi-advanced audience and typically the subject matter is extremely pertinent and on the cutting edge of many various Earth Science topics. Elements is lightyears ahead that "other" as far as actual scientific curiosity goes.

I’ve just finished re-reading the entire Gem Edition; there are subtle between-the-line statements in several of the articles that would have been easily unseen for the unacquainted editors of Elements. They even took a swing at my favorite S.O.G. I seriously doubt that the editors would approve of the incipient wagon circling contained in this edition if they realized what has transpired recently within the gem industry.

The gem-gods are very busy rewriting history and downplaying their past mistakes. Elements has simply become their latest pawn. The ongoing sad mind-set amongst gem researchers will surely leave the barn door open for bigger and better future gem-debacles.

What a sad state of affairs.
Glad your here.
VP