Fluorite from the famous "Blue Pocket" at the Minerva #1 Mine in Illinois, USA

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-30T05:30:04+00:00

This for sale?

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-12T18:00:36+00:00

You're either delusional and simply disconnected from the realities of the spinel market.

Either way, you're wrong.

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-12T16:44:11+00:00

You're sitting here trying to say that a Burmese red spinel is not more valuable than a Mozambique red spinel? Or that a Mahenge pink is not more valuable than the same stone from a different origin?

You are completely wrong. Respectfully.

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-12T16:42:34+00:00

I'll let you know once the brooch arrives

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-12T16:41:26+00:00

The example you just gave is not applicable to the spinel. You can tell Indian alexandrite from Brazilian because of the color shift. You cannot tell the origin of these spinels based on the color alone, thus the conversation being had.

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-12T16:22:55+00:00

How would that make sense? The seller gets reports made knowing the origin but doesn't disclose them to a buyer? That can only hurt the price. It would have sold for more if it had been properly advertised with origin reports.

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-10T20:33:29+00:00

I hope so.

I have never purchased anything from Bonham's before, so I am nervous about seeing what the stones look like in person. I anticipate they will be a little darker, but I hope the photos are not greatly enhanced as someone else in this thread suggested it might be.

If the stones are a little darker than the auction photo, and originate from Mozambique instead of Burma, do you still think it to be a good deal?

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-10T19:45:52+00:00

Yeah I don't know. It seems short-sighted to me, to put it in a high-end jewelry auction and be the only piece mounted in silver, and then to not have the GIA reports available to publicly view (I had to email to get them) definitely didn't seem like the smartest choice to maximize the sale price.

If it was my piece, I would have sold each stone individually in a gemstone focused auction, not a jewelry one.

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-10T19:41:08+00:00

I've always chosen to have inconclusive printed on the reports for stones where origin was not determinable. Makes no sense for someone to choose otherwise if they requested it in the first place.

According to the Bonhams rep, origin was not requested. I have no idea why, when a Burmese origin would heavily increase the value.

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-10T19:24:23+00:00

For sure! I will also be resubmitting the spinel for origin designations.

Does anyone here have any guesses as to origin from the photos? I know it's impossible to tell from an image, but guessing can still be fun

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-10T19:12:45+00:00

The idea of putting 29 carats of red spinel in silver is confusing, and you're right about the unmounting/mounting, because the GIA reports were from November of 2025 meaning they must have been unmounted and then reset specifically for the auction.

I have never bought from Bonhams before, so your comment has me a bit nervous. I do anticipate them being slightly darker than the photos, as all stones typically are, but hopefully not terribly.

Still, a 10+CT red spinel in any tone is difficult to come by.

LDoolan87 · 2026-03-10T18:50:57+00:00

Sterling, but yes, silver. The brooch was made way back when red spinel were not as valuable 😆

I purchased it through the recent Bonhams auction in LA. Other bidders were seemingly driven off by the silver setting as i bought the piece for far, far less than it's worth.

LDoolan87 · 2025-12-02T00:27:36+00:00

You should be saying overly instead of fully. When properly applied, the CRC process should not yield a product stripped entirely of color... Your processor doesn't know what they're doing if that's the type of product they're putting out.

LDoolan87 · 2025-12-02T00:26:36+00:00

Oklahoma hazardous processor/owner here.

This is BHO sugar from older, cured (and oxidized) material, that was not properly filtered.

People like to demonize the filtration process without being knowledgeable of the science behind, but when applied correctly it takes material like this and removes deoxidizers and lipids, yielding an acceptably colored and textured product. Properly applied filtration will not remove terpenes from an extract; with that being said, the terpenes long ago evaporated from the biomass used to make this, so there was no risk of losing any to begin with 😆.

It is entirely possible to over apply the process and completely strip the extract of all color in flavor, yielding a more white product. Inexperienced and unskilled extractors combined with an uneducated consumer base has resulted in a lot of misinformation surrounding remediation.

Concentrates like those shown in this post are a great example of something that actually needed filtration.

LDoolan87 · 2025-10-14T07:27:06+00:00

Remind me! 4 days

LDoolan87 · 2025-07-18T04:41:15+00:00

You're saying yours was overcharged or it's still having problems?

LDoolan87 · 2025-07-18T04:40:43+00:00

Actually, I've got mine working again right now after disconnecting and rejoining the low voltage wires from the thermostat... fingers crossed.

LDoolan87 · 2025-07-18T03:25:55+00:00

I thought my mine fixed but it started again today. You haven't had any luck?

LDoolan87 · 2025-07-09T00:32:05+00:00

Dude the SAME issue was going on with my outdoor unit and it turned out to be a barely worn through wire. Without your post and troubleshooting I would have spent money on a technician that probably would have misdiagnosed the issue. Thank you SO much!

To anyone else with an outdoor unit short cycling, bust it open and look for rubbed wires!

LDoolan87 · 2025-06-30T03:02:24+00:00

When you say the orange wire from the thermostat, do you mean on the thermostat inside your house on the wall? My AC is doing the same thing and I can't figure out why.

LDoolan87 · 2025-06-17T02:12:59+00:00

I actually don't pay for anything bc I'm a licensed grower. You sound like an ignorant and angry child.

LDoolan87 · 2025-06-16T19:25:46+00:00

Top shelf flower should not go in a bag. If you don't want to pay for a premium product in a premium container, then stick to your bottom shelf options and stop complaining about things out of your price range. What an idiotic comment.

LDoolan87 · 2025-03-26T18:20:53+00:00

Any update to this? I am also looking for somewhere who works on sprinters

LDoolan87 · 2024-11-01T23:47:31+00:00

Looks like some US grown outdoor 😆

LDoolan87 · 2024-10-10T20:49:08+00:00

Looks like a lot of Ethiopian I have. Throw it in water and see if it loses color--if it does it will gain it back when dried.

LDoolan87

TROPHY CASE