https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1 daily 0.75 2021-12-23 https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-one-pzgcz monthly 0.5 2021-02-27 https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-two-3mesp monthly 0.5 2021-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/7c85444b-26d9-4ebe-911d-d321f4b5756a/IMG_5140.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 2, The Ozark Plateaus - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/2bf9f2cf-4ae2-40f0-825a-67e44303f9eb/Onyx%2BCave.jpg Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 2, The Ozark Plateaus - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/1436b162-f8e1-4ba4-b464-ac3c3d4991e5/Sinkhole%2Bat%2BLeatherwood%2BPark.jpg Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 2, The Ozark Plateaus - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/1614385947001-C9VTIVLD6FN4TJMX8SKV/Ozark+Plateaus+Eureka+Springs.png Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 2, The Ozark Plateaus https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/1614385986129-VKSFQLVT6DPJUEQRKCB5/Ozark+Plateus+relief+map.jpg Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 2, The Ozark Plateaus https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-three-xsgkt monthly 0.5 2021-02-27 https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-four-lngrf monthly 0.5 2021-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/43dadb7f-ae63-4e29-ba62-eab44dd4bfac/fenestrate%2Bbryozoan%2Bfossil.jpg Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 4, The Boone Formation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/90f8d002-c750-442c-8c04-e972dd8d3cef/Spirifer%2BBrachiopod%2BFossil.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 4, The Boone Formation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/42ebda45-c28d-4a23-bd1a-030ffb28cfd9/Druzy%2BQuartz.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 4, The Boone Formation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/99103385-4663-4f18-a471-bf031a1e3270/Burlington%2BKeokuk%2Bcrinoid%2Bfossils.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 4, The Boone Formation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-four-lngrf-awz7p monthly 0.5 2021-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/43b3fd46-7715-4436-9656-1eaa9e2e834b/449.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 5, The St. Joe Formation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/a798ab2a-c9f3-415a-a3a4-a6e1eae1d3a2/Spiriferida%2BBrachiopod%2BEureka%2BSprings.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 5, The St. Joe Formation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/7fe119ab-8fe8-440d-bab4-d9ac1abba19f/Burlington%2BKeokuk%2Bcrinoid%2Bfossils.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 5, The St. Joe Formation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-four-lngrf-awz7p-4tx3f monthly 0.5 2021-02-27 https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-four-lngrf-awz7p-4tx3f-xdn4n monthly 0.5 2021-02-27 https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-four-lngrf-awz7p-4tx3f-xdn4n-4jb6z monthly 0.5 2021-02-27 https://www.grindstonemountain.com/geology-of-eureka-springs-1/blog-post-title-four-lngrf-awz7p-4tx3f-xdn4n-4jb6z-rjje6 monthly 0.5 2021-12-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/ac7490ea-03f8-43ef-8d2a-db78cc3b2bab/Large%2BStromatolite.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 9, The Cotter and Jefferson City Dolomite - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/6d228ae4-4889-4b5f-874e-c71ec76403d8/Iron%2BPyrite%2Bin%2BEureka%2BSprings.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 9, The Cotter and Jefferson City Dolomite - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/ecd87b77-9d6d-45b8-bc73-4384ee136d71/Stromatolite%2BFossil%2Bat%2BLake%2BLeatherwood%2BPark.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 9, The Cotter and Jefferson City Dolomite - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/788a9f36-0b0a-43d7-b233-fd6e94a0f5e9/Ordovician%2BStromatolite.JPG Geology of Eureka Springs - Chapter 9, The Cotter and Jefferson City Dolomite - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/about daily 0.75 2025-12-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/c80b04d1-550f-42de-a280-4bee31a8b032/Robert+Beauford+silversmith.JPG Contact - Thanks for Visiting the Website If you’d like to support what we do, please visit the Etsy shop! https://www.etsy.com/shop/GrindstoneMountain https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1940s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/2cce5bd8-3ae7-42f6-8274-26e6cdad452c/1940s+Harley+Davidsons.jpg 1940s Photographs Men riding a 1939 Harley Davidson and several 1940-1946 Harley Davidson Motorcycles with spectators watching. A man standing center back may be wearing a Navy hat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/b2c6f7ba-3e51-4452-b718-733cdf3aa5ad/1940s+Kid+on+Pony.jpg 1940s Photographs 1940s Boy on Pony. This photo was probably taken by a 'traveling pony man,' a door-to-door photographer that would pass through neighborhoods in the 1940s and 1950s with a pony and cowboy/cowgirl costumes, taking pictures of children on the ponies and selling the photographs to parents. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/5c8768f0-4072-4198-8902-6c447d636d95/1940-1946+Harley+Davidson.jpg 1940s Photographs Three women riding 1940-1946 Harley Davidson motorcycles on what appears to be a racetrack. One of the women (left) and the man standing to the left look as if they may be wearing military or similar clothing. Their ties and tie bars match. The woman in the center is wearing a ribbon on her shirt, and the woman on the right has a feathered hat https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/544029e4-c802-4803-be52-c4b53cb959a6/Christmas+1949.jpg 1940s Photographs "X-mas 1949 Nyssa, Ore." is written on the back of this Christmas scene. There are so many wonderful details here, the tinsel on the tree, the girl with her new doll, and the wrapping paper carefully folded and set aside. Perhaps what strikes me most is how much it is like Christmas was for me in the 1970s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/d6a6e7f7-1df9-4f0c-96d6-fd20414c9046/1940s+Black+Women+on+Porch.jpg 1940s Photographs 1940s photograph of two women resting on a porch with laundry and cleaning equipment stacked around. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/5e2469eb-c30e-4bdb-be81-40471e7dc564/1940s+Ford+Tudor+Police+Car.jpg 1940s Photographs Photograph of a police officer with two children in front of a circa 1946-1948 Ford Tudor Police Car. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/24289061-4e5e-41ff-a28f-9f0a67ffbb90/1948+Plymouth+Special+De+Luxe+with+Bear.jpg 1940s Photographs Photograph of what appears to be a 1948 Plymouth Special De Luxe in a line of stopped traffic. 2 kids are on top of the automobile, apparently feeding a bear. Multiple people have exited their vehicles to look on or take pictures. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/db1dcdfd-f54d-4ad6-86c5-de21755b3631/1940s+Camp.jpg 1940s Photographs Photograph of 4 women and 4 men in front of a tin-roofed shed. Sleeping cots are visible under the awning, and a window is raised in the side of the shed. 1940s cars are parked behind them. There is a propane tank to the left, and a small wooden tower behind the cars. One man is holding up a set of deer antlers, and another has a pet raccoon on his shoulders. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/0e45de51-bb26-47c3-ba2e-21e48f719a0d/1940s+Raccoon.jpg 1940s Photographs Detail of raccoon on man's shoulders from previous photograph. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/321ff101-9552-404c-95b2-2fff88e6452e/1946+Corn+Field.jpg 1940s Photographs "Vera June, 1946. In her Corn Patch" Late summer photograph of an older woman standing in a field with tall corn around her and beans (possibly purple hulled peas) in front of her. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1930s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/ba0abcc2-cd8d-4242-a3a6-a05dfad28a2d/maybe+1930s+baby+carriage.jpg 1930s Photographs 1930 (tentative date) Mother and child with baby carriage photograph. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/8f2d47fa-715e-4da8-9208-be67af054977/1931+Photograph+Family+Home+and+Car.jpg 1930s Photographs "Made Oct - 18 - 1931 Scene our home Dublin Tex" is written on the back. This type of photo, which I dub 'Here are my house, my car, and my people' becomes a popular theme as soon as small, portable cameras become widespread, a little after 1900, and remains popular up to the 1940s. I love these efforts by people to capture their life in a shot in the broadest sense of who and where they are in the landscape. It's very much like the classic portrait, but showing the 'face' of the family instead of the individual. Part of what drove this trend towards shooting the family in the front yard was how people thought about photography in general, as a vehicle for portraiture, but part of it also arose from poor interior lighting making inside photography in ordinary homes more difficult, and thus scarce, until the mid century. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/9d10e619-12ed-450a-9e02-b5a60f62c523/1933+Allen+and+Ralph+Moore.jpg 1930s Photographs 1933 Photograph of Ralph and Allan Moore, taken 3 years into the Great Depression, and just a few months before the drought that precipitated the Dust Bowl. The porch and swing on a rustic cabin or farmhouse in the back, the bare ground, their neatly combed hair, and the sturdy home-made clothes create a wonderful context for their infectious smiles, saying 'Life and Joy Go On.' The older boy's pants are rolled up. They are either a hand-me-down or someone has left room to grow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/753e4728-8189-42f7-bee5-98247b25e34c/1939+Little+Girl+with+Black+Eye.jpg 1930s Photographs Little girl with a black eye, 1939. Every time I see the determined and completely unapologetic look on this kid's face, I think that the very unusual up-angle of the shot is not an accident of history, and imagine her saying 'Yah, but you should see the other guy.' https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/e7a01386-6ab5-4304-bc70-6a11518fd0ce/IMG_8708.jpg 1930s Photographs Photograph of woman working in what appears to be a bank office at Midland National Bank in Midland, Texas. The calendar on the wall behind her gives the date Saturday, October 14, 1939. A map of Texas on the wall to the right reveals the partial heading "[...]s & Myrick [...] all its branches," and a sheet of paper below it seems to say "Midland Texas." Above the calendar is a plaque that appears to say "Midland National B[...] Midland, Tex[...]." The back of the photo has a note, "To Bing(?): Wow ain't this keen? Ola(?) Oct. 1939" https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1920s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/d38a464b-c223-4b43-96f8-b946e69e7df8/Mr.+Jewel+and+Old+Cow.jpg 1920s Photographs Pre-1920s to 1930s, "Claud & Mr. Jewel with the Old Cow" photograph. A kneeling man is milking a cow into a bucket, while another man stands nearby. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/b2964386-37b2-4699-b0a9-1c9e497159a3/1920s+Coaster+Wagon.jpg 1920s Photographs 4 Children, 2 boys and 2 girls, are playing with a wooden toy 'Coaster' wagon. There were several brands of these made over a number of years, but the hubs of the wheels on this one are pretty consistent with 1920 to 1923 or so. Two of the children have bare feet. It looks like there may be a garden to the back left, and fenced pasture or similar to the back right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/80deefe4-efe7-41b8-85de-83dc9f08ecd1/1927+Wedding+Model+T.jpg 1920s Photographs 1927 photograph of what is almost certainly a newly married couple. He is wearing a corsage and she is carrying a bouquet and wearing a white or light colored dress with a flower in her hair. They are standing in front of a Model T. It appears to be a 'touring' model from the 1920s. There are two notes on the back. "Lena(?) and Otto Burger" is written in pen. In a different hand, written in pencil, is "aunt Mary and uncle Wilbert." A Border Fox Tone photo developer stamp specifies San Antonio and 1927. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/a438b759-d045-454d-9370-0dacaf281407/San+Antonio+1925.jpg 1920s Photographs Photograph with 2 men, a skinny dog, and a mule, from San Antonio, Texas, in 1925. Photo developers 'Border Fox Tone' stamp on the back specifies 1925 and San Antonio. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/1791517d-fe94-4df0-9f36-a8c768d50803/1925+Black+Baby+Doll.jpg 1920s Photographs 1925 photograph of a kneeling man and woman with their young daughter posing at the edge of a cotton field. The little girl is holding what appears to be a composition or porcelain black baby doll. Below the image is written "Ethel and Billy." On the back, it says "Taken at Country Club, Raleigh, N.C. 1925" and "To Annie" The photographers imprint on the back says "Finished by Siddell Studio Raleigh N. C." Siddell Studio operated in Raleigh from at least 1918 to 1969. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1910s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/f57b4fbd-eda5-492e-9da7-6a372bb16d9c/1911+photograph+Ward+Family.jpg 1910s Photographs Identified from notes on reverse: Bert (32), Cora (28), Laverne (7), Levert (5), and Elroy (3) Ward. Photograph dated July 1911. Note that the two younger boys are wearing photo buttons/pins. The pin on the boy to the right shows a man, and the one on the left shows a woman. Neither are the adults shown. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/2c9a5aad-edda-4094-abd1-a193243ffad3/1911+Memorial+Photo+Pins.PNG 1910s Photographs Levert and Elroy Ward with Memorial Photo Pins July 1911, detail from Ward family photograph to show the boys wearing photo pins of an unknown man and woman. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/bc9b46de-8d8e-43ad-ac31-1681c097f86d/1910+Horse+and+Carriage.jpg 1910s Photographs 1910 Horse and buggy photograph. "Jess Admire & 3 Dodds kids Jess 22 years old Byron is 6, Burnice is 9 John 3, taken in 1910." The date is a bit illegible, and may read 1915, but I'm pretty sure it is 1910. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/d08d3cf5-c688-4b40-81e1-b22fe1aaac48/1917+Model+T+Fords.jpg 1910s Photographs Four well-to-do women, photograph probably taken between about 1917 and 1920. 1917-1923 style Ford Model T cars are shown behind them and the fashions, jewelry, and accessories are consistent with the 1910-1920 period or earlier. Interestingly, all of them are wearing spectacles. Identification on reverse: Emily Carter(?), Lydia Townsend, Alice Burton, and Ida Aultman https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/a9c2745e-277b-49a2-a130-baf64bb67973/Circa+1910+Chicken+Yard.jpg 1910s Photographs Circa 1910 'Laura' and 'Gerald' with chickens in front of a small house. The house seems to have two front doors place side by side with knobs on opposite sides so that they swung towards the middle, suggesting they opened towards an interior wall that divided the small cabin in two. The chickens are clustered at the opening of a low circle of chicken wire that would have been used to corral, protect, and feed young chicks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/0092c0e1-6368-4fe9-9494-1dcab3ec8d4e/Circa+1910+Sod+House.jpg 1910s Photographs Circa 1910 prairie sod house with a man and boy. The man is 'Herb.' The man is feeding a young pig from a bucket. One or two more pigs are visible next to the fence of a recently constructed corral or pen abutting the house. Additional boards are leaning against the fence. The sun is low, and the door likely faces south (the North would collect blowing snow on the plains, and the east side pen would be more sheltered than the west from plains storms), which would make this a spring or autumn evening from the direction of shadows. (That last bit is a guess, though the sun is low.) https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1900s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/89078fcd-5f77-4eff-ae19-d574d00fca9e/1900-1910+Office.jpg 1900s Photographs Photograph of 1900 to 1910 Office, based on circa 1900 telephone. There are chalk boards on the left wall, but this is not a classroom. All of the documents and books are different, there is a medical symbol on the back wall, and a safe at the right edge of the image. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/37083888-abeb-4661-8c1a-1a41e66753cb/1900-1910+Telephone.jpg 1900s Photographs Circa 1900 telephone, detail from 1900 to 1910 office photograph. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/75215726-8b9f-4ac8-a97c-074b186d9933/IMG_8372.jpg 1900s Photographs November 8, 1910 photograph, probably of school students with a teacher. There are several unusual things about this image. Nearly all of the children are smiling. Most have hats and all have shoes and clothes in reasonably good repair. Some of the clothes are quite fancy for such an image, and under magnification, the taller girl to the right of center appears to be holding a pencil. This was printed on an AZO 'real photo postcard' with reverse printing consistent with the period 1904-1918. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/3321131e-df58-417f-9f38-b9a647d9240b/1900-1910+Horse+and+Carriage.jpg 1900s Photographs 1900 to 1910 photograph of an elderly woman and young girl riding in a horse-drawn carriage. The woman holds the reins with a casual familiarity. This is an albumin print on cabinet card sized photo paper mounted on a larger card with an embossed ornamental rim. Both the front and back of the card are tinted a dark brown. It is currently 7 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches, though it is trimmed on all edges. My best guess based on the albumin print, mounting card, and clothing would be late 1890s. A note on the back says "Grandma Basham and granddaughter Etha(?) Leak the horse old nickle," and in another hand, "Grandpa and grandma were married in 1852, moved to their old place 1879." A marriage in 1852 suggests a birth year as recent as 1832, which would necessitate a date of the photo after 1900 to accommodate her age (she is older than 68). https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1850s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/79045347-56b4-4799-b85c-2b35976379f9/1850s+Cased+Tintype.png 1850s Photographs Cased 1/9 plate (2" by 2 1/2") tintype photograph, dating from about 1858-1859, portraying a lady with a very ornate hair decoration and gold hand tinted ornament at her neckline. The photograph is displayed in a smooth brass mat with a single stamped ornamental bead line around the beveled oval opening. The mat is held to the tintype with an intricately decorated brass foil preserver with reinforced corners, and this frame is contained within an embossed leather and wood case with a red embossed velvet insert. This combination of elements seems consistent with a year of origin around 1859. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/ba95be73-ae67-4d21-8363-6bacf08090a0/Relievo+Ambrotype.png 1850s Photographs Cased 1/6 plate (2 5/8" by 3 1/4") relievo ambrotype photograph dating from around 1859 to 1861 portraying a lady in a summer dress. She also wears two rings on her right hand. The photograph is displayed in an ornate stamped brass foil-like mat, which is held to the tintype with an intricate brass foil preserver. The latching hinged case is embossed leather and wood with a red silk facing pad in the lid. The relievo ambrotype technique involved the removal of all of the varnish except that which was immediately behind the subject, producing a relief (relievo) or floating effect, raising the image above the background. This photograph is produced on double layer glass. The wood and leather case is earlier than the photo, typical of the 1840s to early 1850s. It may have been reused. The relievo technique is most common from about 1857 to 1861, and does not pre-date 1854. The ornate stamped brass foil-like mats range from about 1859 to 1864. The woman's dress and hair are typical of the late 1850s. Combined, these elements suggest a date of about 1859 to 1861. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1860s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/b0ebcce9-6079-4725-b914-a33635846890/1860s+Carte+de+Visite.jpg 1860s Photographs Carte de Visite photograph from the late 1860s of an elderly lady in a full length seated pose. Carte de Visite (Visiting Card, or CDV) albumen print on a 4" by ~2 3/8" card with a backing thickness of .02 inches. The backing has square corners, straight and ungilt edges, and no border. There is no photographers stamp on the reverse. All elements suggest the photograph generally dates 1862 to 1869, but the thicker backing card is consistent with the end of that period, giving a likely date of ~1869 or possibly a little earlier. This lady looks like she is in excess of 80 years old, meaning she would have been born around 1790 or earlier! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/ad769e69-e1e4-4442-98ac-cba5d821bc60/1868+Carte+de+Visite.jpg 1860s Photographs Carte de Visite vignette 'head pose' of a young lady from the late 1860s. Carte de Visite (Visiting Card, or CDV) albumen print on 3 3/4" (trimmed top) by 2 7/16" card. The originally square corners are cropped, suggesting it was once in an album. The edges are neither gilt nor beveled, and there is no border, which is consistent with the 1860s in general. But the girl's hair style is consistent with the end of the decade, the late post-war 1860s, more playful than the previous years. The card (backing) thickness (.02") is also consistent with the very end of the decade, suggesting this photograph was made in about 1868-1870. Photographer stamped on reverse: R. M. Gano 86 Federal St. Allegheny. R. M. Gano is a known photographer who worked in the 1860s and 1870s from addresses at 66 1/2, 68, and 81 Federal Street in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania - possible full name, Richard Monroe Gano. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/d23803c7-69ce-47ab-8ae4-bb0e0c817551/Civil+War+Era+Carte+de+Visite.jpg 1860s Photographs "Aunt Katie Mothers Sister" Carte de Visite - Seated pose in studio setting of a young lady from the mid 1860s. I cannot make out the design of her unusual necklace. Carte de Visite (Visiting Card, or CDV) albumen print on 3 3/4" (trimmed bottom) by 2 3/8" card. These dimensions suggest the period 1862 to 1869. The originally square corners are cropped, suggesting it was once in an album. The edges are not gilt or beveled, and the front shows an ornate Cartouche frame, highly suggestive of the period 1864 to 1867. The girl's hair and dress are also very consistent with the mid 1860s. The card (backing) thickness is a little under .02". All elements are consistent with a date of 1864 to 1867, about the time of the Civil War. Photographer stamped on reverse: "Frank Green, Artist, No. 59 South Clark Street, Opposite Sherman House. Chicago. P. O. Box 2719 --- The Negative from which this Photograph was taken will be preserved, and others can be ordered at any time" Frank Green is a known photographer who worked at the printed address from 1864 to 1866. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1870s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/7c484c26-9aa0-476b-a5d3-ed32f44aada3/1870s+Carte+de+Visite.png 1870s Photographs Full length standing Carte de Visite photograph, 1873 to 1881, of a young woman in a photography studio setting holding a book. Under magnification, it can be seen that she is wearing earrings and appears to have a large ring on her left hand. The dress and style of the card are consistent with the 1870s or 1880s in general, while the hair style is more typical of the later 1870s to early 1880s. The studio imprint on the back is of Dorus G. Freeman (b. 1848), who is a known photographer working in Buffalo, NY, from 1873 to 1881. From 1882 to 1931, he had a studio in Blissfield, Michigan, with the exception of a brief period in Springville, NY, around 1900. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1890s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/fd96a99b-a737-47cb-a6cd-1c2ba638cc22/1890s+Cabinet+Card+Klotter.png 1890s Photographs Cabinet card photograph (1891-1894) of a young couple in a portrait studio setting. The woman is wearing a very characteristic 1890s dress and jacket with moderately puffed leg of mutton shoulders and a more relaxed bodice than one generally sees in the previous decade. She wears 2 rings on the first and third fingers of her left hand, and holds a rose corsage in her right. The edge of a ring is just barely visible with magnification on the man's left hand as well. The couple are also wearing matching small corsages, suggesting this could be a wedding photograph. The photo is mounted on a pastel yellow card, a style generally popular in the 1870s and 1880s. The uneven scalloped edge of the card suggests the period from 1887 to 1894. The photographer imprint indicates Charles Klotter, a known photographer that worked in St. Louis from 1881 to 1898, and at 2709 N. 14th Street in St. Louis from 1891-1895. This combination suggests this photograph originated between 1891 and 1894. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/67945e2a-e9c4-404f-b179-c69050742d61/Pecos+High+Bridge+1892.png 1890s Photographs 1892-1910 albumen print photograph in 4" by 5 1/2" inch horizontal format showing the Pecos Viaduct bridge in use by a steam locomotive. The bridge is more often called the Pecos High Bridge. The Pecos High Bridge was completed in 1892, and was at that time the highest bridge in the US and the 3rd highest in the world. It was 322' 10 3/4" tall, and served the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway on the Sunset Route, the first southern transcontinental connection. It is quite a famous landmark, and there are many images of it in existence, many from the same angle as this photo. The spot is now a Texas scenic roadside park. Not only are there many pictures from the same spot, there are at least a number of existing copies of what appear to be this same photo, printed from the same negative. A stamp on the back of the image says "Pecos High Bridge 321 Feet High 2180 Feet Long." The image may have been sold to train passengers as a memento or by a regional photographer. The bridge was reinforced in 1910 and several times after, altering the appearance in each instance. This photo reflects the first (1892-1910) design. The albumin print is mounted to a simple 8x10 card (in very poor condition) with dark grey tint to the front and no tint on the back. The edges are beveled. The photo cannot pre-date 1892. The albumin print and simple mount would be very atypical after about 1900, though it is not impossible within the first few years of the new century. It would have been much more common in the 1890s, however, suggesting the image probably dates within the range 1893 to 1900. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/183d2916-2ff2-4813-b9d8-302f685125d2/1890s+Cabinet+Card+Montgomery+African+American.png 1890s Photographs Cabinet card (circa 1890 to 1896) gelatin or collodion photograph of an African American lady showing only her bust and head. Her dress is unusual. Both of her ears are pierced, and it looks like the left one may be pierced twice. She's wearing an ornate, twisting earring in the right lobe, and what looks like both a small stud and small loop in the left, as well as an ornament in her hair. The metallic gold foil of the photographer's stamp strongly suggests the early to mid 1890s, and other clues are consistent with this. The photographer's imprint indicates the Montgomery family of photographers, who worked in Yoakum, Victoria, Weimar, and Eagle Lake, Texas, from the 1890s to early 1900s. The Montgomery brothers included, at least, Joe (H?) Montgomery, J. F. (James Frank?) Montgomery, and Thad Montgomery. Some cards show 'Victoria and Yoakum,' and others show 'Yoakum and Eagle Lake.' A trace of a sign on the second floor of a building at 118 W. Grand Avenue in Yoakum says "Montgomery the Photographer." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/b584d16d-2be4-4f2d-bacf-0fe36c3d3ef3/Picture2.png 1890s Photographs Cabinet card photograph (1895-1899) of 3 young adults in a studio setting. The 2 young ladies wear dresses in the distinctive fashion of the 1890s, with pronounced mutton shoulders. The woman on the right has a ring on the 3rd finger of her left hand. The young man wears a tie tack through the knot of this tie, a habit of the 1880s and 1890s. It is decorated with the letter S. A watch fob is also visible attached to his top vest button. He is holding a book, which is probably a studio prop. There are a number of photographs on the table in front of the group. The photo is mounted on a 'pearl' (off white) front coated card with an uncoated back. The edges are evenly scalloped, which is most common from about 1895 to 1900. There is no imprint on the back of the card. The photographer imprint at the bottom front says 'Huff Sisters Stockton Mo.' Linnie Jane Huff and Nettie Huff operated a studio in Stockton, Missouri, for 54 years, from 1893 to 1947. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1880s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/58586554-950d-4b3a-8dc7-2780a70dc7b3/1880s+CC+Crabb+Cabinet+Card.jpg 1880s Photographs Cabinet card photograph (1887-1894) of a young lady with a rose corsage and fancy dress. She also has a decorative pin at the front of her collar. The uneven scalloped edge of the card suggests the period from 1887 to 1894. The slightly puffed shoulders of her bodice also suggests the very late 1880s or early 1890s, as does the style of the photographer's imprint on the front of the card, which is set apart form the image by a line, characteristic of that time. The photographer imprint indicates Charles C. Crabb, of Seymour, Indiana. Charles Crabb is a known photographer working in Seymour in that period. As a child, he was the youngest drummer boy in the Union Army, at 13 years old, and was later a remarkable inventor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/aa0adcd1-d567-496d-849b-6e8f1f00af82/Cabinet+Card+1889+Railroad+Hutchings+Photo+Car.png 1880s Photographs Cabinet card photograph (1889) of a young lady. The image shows only her head and upper torso, but reveals some lovely decorative details of her dress, as well as an unusual pin on her collar, upon which appears to be suspended a tiny lock. An old inscription, written on the back of the card with a dip ink pen, says "Katie Johnson, age 23 years, 1 month 26 days, weight 128 lbs. Feb. 9. 1889. Carrie" (This would make Katie Johnson's birthday December 14, 1865, 4 days before the US ratified the final end of slavery at the end of the Civil War.) A second note, written with a modern ball point pen, reads "Katie Johnson, age 23 yrs, Feb. 9, 1889 My aunt (great) - the sister of my grandmother [Reeves?]." The photograph and its mounting are in every way consistent with the date written on it. The photographers front inscription reads "Railroad Hutchings Photo Car." The Hutchings Railroad Photo Car was operated by 3 brothers, George Washington Hutchings, Samuel H. Hutchings, and Otis Lincoln Hutchings. The railroad car was a complete traveling photography studio, darkroom, and sleeping quarters. It traveled from town to town in Kansas and Nebraska from at least 1885 to 1896, making and selling photographs for periods ranging from several days to several weeks in the towns visited. The brothers also operated several stationary studios, and many existing photographs carry their various family mark. In Feb., 1889, the car may have been in Washington, Kansas. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/1840s-photographs daily 0.75 2021-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/3acaca9b-46a2-4654-b122-36fc646f323c/1840s+Daguerreotype.png 1840s Photographs Cased 1/6 plate (3 1/4" x 2 5/8") daguerreotype photograph of a very sharply dressed young man sporting a stylish pompadour and cravat, dating from about 1847. The photograph is displayed in a textured brass mat with a course, pebble-like surface and beveled edge around a nonpariel cutout. The mat is held to the daguerreotype by a brass 'preserver' (the outer metal bezel / rim) decorated with a simple linear design. Preservers are not used before 1847, and become more ornate with time, while heavily textured mats like this are not typical after 1847. The image and its frame are held within an embossed leather and wood case with a gold colored embossed velvet case liner. The bold texture of the brass mat, combined with the simplicity of the decoration on the preserver, suggests a date of origin close to but not before 1847, perhaps between about 1847 and 1850. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/4921270f-5363-49e9-8843-2004e5b60ed5/Anatomy+of+a+Daguerreotype.png 1840s Photographs I built this graphic to help you understand the language used to describe the photographs on this page. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/curriculum-vitae daily 0.75 2021-03-07 https://www.grindstonemountain.com/home daily 1.0 2025-11-30 https://www.grindstonemountain.com/home/ancient-coin-jewelry monthly 0.5 2021-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/a841e729-1c93-46e4-a26a-fe56526105ec/Maximinus+I.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry Classical numismatics is the study of ancient history through the lens of coins. It is something that I've devoted a huge amount of time and passion to throughout my professional career, and one of the things I most enjoy. The work I do with ancient coins is probably the single thing for which my shop is best known, and over the last couple of days, I've been adding some of my ancient coin jewelry to the online store. This coin really struck me today when I was moving it to the online shop. It was struck 1,800 years ago, during the reign of Maximinus the First, between 235 and 238 AD, and depicts Providentia. I've always thought of Providentia as a minor Roman Goddess, one of a sort of minor pantheon of figures that were occasionally given lip service in ancient pagan celebrations. But I was wrong. I've consistently underestimated this figure. Providentia personified foresight and preparedness. To the ancient Romans, she was not a mythical figure, but a real entity of the most pragmatic sort. She lived in the actions and thoughts of people who devoted themself to wisdom. The foresight they were referring to here was not a metaphysical or esoteric sort of vision or prediction. She literally represented the ability to foresee the future based on your rational understanding of the past and your perception of the world around you in the present, to understand what was going to happen, and to take coherent action in advance to prepare for it. We know this because she was paired as a cardinal virtue with memoria (memory) and intelligentia (understanding). There were no funny little stories about her foibles or misadventures the way there were with some of the more famous deities. They considered forethought and preparedness far to serious for this. Instead, both the goddess and the absolutely practical idea that she represented were considered core components of leadership and success. She was, according to Cicero, the very foundation of Wisdom, rendered divine not by cultural tradition but by her fundamental importance in living a healthy, virtuous, and successful life. To the Romans, planning was divine. I think there could be no better reminder for our age. I deeply appreciate all of you that have supported my new online shop so far. There are no words that can really convey just how much it helps or how deeply I am moved by your patronage. Thank you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/38d4abc0-49af-46ff-9b35-e650649fc009/119214422_10222655335553328_823191610089507451_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry There's a corny old joke about someone finding an old coin and saying "Look! It's over 2000 years old!" The 2nd person says "How do you know that?" And the first person says "Well, look! It says it right there! '50 BC'" But there really are coins with dates on them going back several hundred years before our calendar starts. Here's a fun example from the original 'Metropolis,' the city of Antioch. This is an early example of a dated coin. It is inscribed ΓKΣ, 3+20+200, or the year 223 by the ancient Macedonian calendar. That translates to 90 to 89 BC by our modern calendar, since our years don't start and stop at the same time as theirs did. They were counting upwards from our year 312 BC (BCE), and started their year in October, their (Moon'th of) Dios, or 'Moon of Zeus.' Both the head on the front of the coin and the seated figure on the back of the coin depict Zeus, the King of their pantheon of Gods. The date is on the back of the coin, below Zeus' throne. The city of Antioch is, of course, also remembered for the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, an important relic of the Siege of Antioch during the First Crusade. (Monty Python, Holy Grail reference.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/6f644aa5-84bf-4524-be79-8f52c5348bb9/Nerva+Denarius.png Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry Here's another cool coin. This one is a 1,900 year old Roman silver denarius. It was minted in 97 AD, under the emperor Nerva, near the height of the Roman Empire. This coin was a customary day's wage, worth about $60 in purchasing power. In its time, it was the standard daily pay of an ordinary soldier of the legion or of a skilled laborer or crafts-person. The reverse side of the coin is the cool part. It shows a set of religious implements used in pagan Roman rituals. From left to right, these are the simpulum, aspergillum, jug, and lituus. The simpulum was a long handled ladle used to drink or pour out wine or other liquids as an offering. (The practice has largely died out, but think of someone pouring out a 'toast to the gods' in contemporary fiction. This is a cultural derivative of the practice.) Sometimes the wine or oil was poured onto an animal (anointing) that would later be sacrificed (which often amounted to the animal being barbecued and eaten - with some ceremony). Simpler rituals used a cup (grail / chalice) or bowl (patera) for the same purpose. Next is the aspergillum. The aspergillum was a brush on the end of a stick, used to sprinkle people with perfumed water or some other version of holy water. The horsehair aspergillum and other versions of sprinklers were borrowed forward into Christianity, along with the tradition of sprinkling holy water, almost completely unmodified from classical Roman paganism. Aspergillum are still used in some sects, and some orthodox versions even still use horsehair brushes! Also, this is where we get the word for the vegetable asparagus, because they look like little paint brushes. Next is a jug. It's not that fancy. It held the oil, wine, milk, or whatever liquid was to be offered. And finally, on the right, is the lituus. This object also still exists, borrowed forward into Christian symbolism. To see one, Google image search the word 'crosier.' A crosier is a lituus. But the ancient function of the lituus has completely disappeared from modern culture, and a 'crosier' is now just a symbolic religious staff. In ancient Roman times, it was held out by a particular type of pagan priest, an auger, who used it to define an area of the sky in which they observed the direction of the flight of birds. From the details of what happened within this observed space, they provided guidance in military and other major decisions. Auger means 'teller,' or 'one who tells.' We know quite a bit about this ancient divining and fortune telling tradition from two existing early Roman texts, the Commentarii Augurales and the Libri Augurales. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/3d123300-fb20-4531-98b5-532f5b6f35ab/Massinissa.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry Here's something you don't see very often. This is an ancient bronze coin minted in the North African Kingdom of Numidia. It was minted between 203 and 118 BC under King Massinissa or his son, Micipsa. This is one of the only ancient coins to depict an ethnically African black leader. (Egypt only started minting coins after it was conquered by Ptolemaic Greeks, and Carthage largely depicted gods, goddesses, and commercial or military symbols on their coins.) Numidia was an ancient North African kingdom that controlled much of the southern Mediterranean shore and inland regions west of Carthage's largest cities, in much of the vast region that now spans from Libya to Tunisia. Though the Numidian Civilization was a major Mediterranean power, they are not often mentioned in history books. Their significance is, however, pronounced. During the reigns of Massinissa and Micipsa, they were strong allies with Rome, and were known as the 'Breadbasket of Rome' for their agricultural output. It is a solidly established historical fact that if the Numidians had not sided with Rome against the Carthaginians in the 2nd Punic War, Carthage would have defeated Rome instead of the other way around, and all of subsequent world history would be radically different. Numidia was famous for its horse breeding and horsemanship. The military capability of Numidian cavalry strongly influenced the development of cavalry in the Roman Army, and Numidian mercenaries played a direct role in a number of major historical military engagements as well. The word Nomad derives from the Numidian culture's name, partially in reference to their flexibility and proficiency as a horse culture. Though the Numidian civilization was tribally and linguistically diverse, the Berber people of modern North Africa comprise one of the major known descendant populations. In the post-Roman to modern era the economic power of Numidian and remnant Carthaginian civilization, as well as the economic potency of Egypt, declined as both the size and aridity of the Sahara desert increased steadily over the centuries, erasing towns, rivers, and entire agricultural regions https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/aeac33bb-1944-4bb2-8fbf-4c1719802fac/470339_3826405339913_977494539_o.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry I make several different types of jewelry with ancient coins. It's one of my favorite things to do. I was an archaeologist before I was a jeweler, and I get very, very nerdy about the history. I've been working with them for 25 years, and I'm still just stunned and grateful to be able to hold something this old in my hands. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/0f1c9a66-056d-433c-8f40-90882d6d3060/Ptolemaeus+son+of+Menneus.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry This coin was minted under Ptolemaeus, son of Menneus, in a small Greek kingdom called Chalcis, in what is now Lebanon, between 85 and 45 BC. This image, from the back of this coin is the Dioskuri, twin half-brothers in Greek mythology named Castor and Pollux. Greek mythology described the brothers as having the same mother, Leda, but different fathers. Castor was the son of Leda's husband, a Spartan king named Tyndareus, and Pollux was the son of the God, Zeus, who seduced Leda by turning himself into a swan... hey, it's Greek mythology so, um.... Anyway, she laid two eggs afterwards. Zeus later transformed the brothers into the stars, Castor and Pollux, which we have come to know as the twin stars of the astrological constellation, Gemini. Gemini is the Latin word for twins, and that's where we get the zodiac sign. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/d26504e0-80af-4f1a-b1f6-a28ce2373121/Diocletian.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry I made this pendant with a 1,700 year old original ancient Roman bronze coin minted during the reign of Diocletian, from 284 to 305 AD. This specific example was more precisely minted between the year 302 and 303 AD. Diocletian is shown on the front of the coin, facing to the right. The back of the coin shows a standing male figure, the 'Genius of Rome's People,' pouring out an offering from a patera (a bowl used in making an offering) and holding a cornucopia (a symbol of abundance). The 'Genius' figure was a traditional stylized personification of the greatness of the human spirit or potential. By its use on this coin, the emperor was suggesting that Rome's population was particularly fantastic, and venerating their collective 'spirit.' The cornucopia and patera (offering bowl) further suggest that the wealth of the Roman people derived from their personal greatness of spirit and from their piety towards the traditional Roman gods and goddesses. The figure is naked and anatomically correct. Diocletian ruled just after the end of the 'economic crisis of the third century,' a sort of prolonged and particularly severe 'Great Depression' in the empire that accompanied a long string of civil wars. The people has suffered tremendously in preceding decades, and a little pumping up of their ego and encouragement of pride in their collective and unified identity might not have been misplaced. Diocletian had brought an end to the economic crisis and civil wars through a somewhat selfless attitude towards rule, some real administrative and military talent, and more dedication to the task of improving the empire than had been shown by a leader in easily 50 years. He was a competent ruler and is one of the most significant figures in the western history of economics, having re-stabilized the Roman Empire to such an extent that he halted its absolute collapse and built enough stability to hold it together for another 150 years, but his legacy is very mixed. Diocletian blamed Rome's economic challenges on a lack of piety towards the Roman gods by the newly popular 'cult' of Christianity that had been spreading in Rome, and enacted the 'Great Persecution' in 303, the year this coin was minted. The 'Great Persecution' was the last and largest persecution of the Christian religion in the Roman Empire, a time of unparalleled violence and legal exclusion towards the sect. It was reversed by edicts issued in 311 and 313, the second of which was Constantine the Great's famous Edict of Milan. Within 20 years of these edicts, Christianity was a legally recognized and equal religion within the Empire. Within 30 years, it was the dominant religion. Within 80 years, it was the only legal religion in Rome, and the same legal and physical persecutions that had been brought to bear against Christians were brought to bear against the empire's older religious institutions, nearly completely annihilating them within decades under the same arguments that Diocletian had used - ironically, that impiety towards the (new) traditional god by the now-minority pagan sects had resulted in economic and military problems. As Mark Twain once said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/ffd094ac-12f0-40da-b4dd-c52973465d89/Ptolemy+II.png Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry Another fun coin I posted to my online store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/MuseEureka This one was minted 2,300 year ago, in ancient Egypt, by the guy that built the famous Library at Alexandria. It was minted under the rule of Ptolemy II, between 285 BC and 246 BC. Ptolemy II was the son of Ptolemy I who was a friend, bodyguard, and commander under Alexander the Great. Ptolemy I inherited (took control of) Egypt upon the death of Alexander the Great, retaining a great deal of wealth and military power from Alexander's empire. He invested enormous sums in public improvements and city and national infrastructure in Egypt, establishing the Ptolemaic Dynasty, the last great dynasty of ancient Egypt, which lasted from 305 BC to 30 BC. Ptolemy II was very much like his father, continuing the public improvements and construction. He particularly concentrated on the development and promotion of arts and sciences in the new city of Alexandria, continued and completed the construction of the Museum and Library of Alexandria, which became the single most important center of learning in the ancient west for the next 300 years, and remained moderately significant for nearly 400 more years even after it was partially burned by the Romans. The front of the coin shows the king of the ancient Greek gods, Zeus, and the reverse shows the Ptolemaic Eagle holding a bundle of Zeus' thunderbolts. After years of wondering and sporadically looking it up, I still have no idea how we wound up with what seems to me to be a clear derivative of the Ptolemaic Eagle as our customary way of representing our national bird. (Y'all see the resemblance, right? It's not just me?) The nearest I can figure, an early American artist must have been interested in ancient art. Egyptian bronze coin of Ptolemy II Philadelphos, Alexandria Egypt Mint, 285-246 BC, obverse: Zeus / reverse: Eagle with Thunderbolts, reverse inscribed PTOLEMAIOY BASILEOS 'Ptolemy the King'. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/2ec25a6b-38f5-45a5-b83e-cddfa81540dc/1907348_10203481285894070_4895734396988168498_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/270334a0-1c5b-48b4-a057-6440fb9c3ea7/Celtic+Ring.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry I've listed several examples of one of my favorite jewelry designs on the new Etsy site over the last couple of days. I make these with a type of 2,200 year old Celtic artifact called 'Celtic Ring Money' in archaeological literature. The name is an old misnomer left over from the early days of European Archaeology. We now know that these bronze rings were never actually used as money during the Druid ruled La Tene era of Celtic history, but rather show use-wear consistent with a variety of everyday life functions, from horse tack to finger rings, shoe ties, or clothing attachments. Some piece of lost Celtic culture, however, results in them being frequently found in small piles or hoards. More recent cultural analogs and better understood pieces of ancient Celtic archaeology suggest that they likely left these small rings at particular locations in the same way we toss coins in a wishing well, and possibly as a direct precursor to our left over tradition. The ancient artifact in the piece is the bronze ring around the outside of the pendant. I set the artifacts around stones that are either just attractive or are symbolically significant in the jewelry design. The one that I've shown here is set with a fairly gorgeous triplet opal mined at Spencer, Idaho. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/b7d68b38-e7be-4efd-b648-bf97ca8fce59/Julian+the+Apostate.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry "Do not despise the study of mere words, or be careless of rhetoric, or fail to read poetry, (...) let this be your task, the base, the foundation, the roof." "Before we love, we must know, and before we can know, we must test by experience." "Some men have a passion for horses, others for birds, others again, for wild beasts; but I, from childhood, have been penetrated by a passionate longing to acquire books." - Julian the Apostate, last pagan emperor of ancient Rome, 360-363 AD. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/81910e90-e07e-4606-976c-293e82f3efac/Caracalla+Liberalitas.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Ancient Coin Jewelry I thought this was awesome. I was just doing some (never ending) coin research on this 3rd century (205 AD) Roman silver denarius, when I discovered that the little rectangular object held by the figure on the back was a Roman hand abacus, the world's first portable calculator! The figure is Liberalitas, a sort of demi-deity, and the ancient Roman personification of prosperity and generosity. She is holding a cornucopia in her other arm. The fact that one of her two attributes is a calculator suggests a certain reverence for maths and numeracy. The coin was minted under the famous tyrant, Caracalla, who is most remembered (maybe fairly - maybe not) for theft of public funds, massacring people he didn't like, and mismanagement. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/home/beauford-jewelry monthly 0.5 2024-12-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/8de83282-f678-4031-ac50-3042f2db74bc/Megalodon+Pendant+in+Process.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! November 27, 2025 - I've just finished this megalodon shark tooth pendant with a handmade chain and am working on something new, a group of pendants made with arrowheads and pottery shards. I was an archeologist before I was a silversmith, and I have a real love for the early North American art history embodied in these shards. They are ancestral Puebloan, the culture previously called Anasazi. I'm setting two of the arrowheads with antique clockworks, a commentary on time. The stones are variously turquoise, bumblebee jasper, labradorite, and chrysocolla, which is one of my current favorites to work with. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/a6fd8ec0-dd96-48e2-94d5-1b3cdf402bd4/Chrysocolla+and+Malachite+Pendants+by+Robert+Beauford.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! Dec. 15, 2024 - I just finished this group of pendants made with cabochons cut from intergrown crystalline veins of copper familiy gemstones, mostly chrysocolla and malachite, in their copper oxide host rock. I love this stuff. The colors are almost unbelievably intense, like tones you usually see in the most vibrant modern paints rather than in natural gemstones. This is some of the highest grade chrysocolla that I've worked with. I'll be posting all of these to my Etsy shop over the next week. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/758d3a09-6a17-4c23-ade0-4162845a4fe0/spiderweb+cloud+mountain+turquoise.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! Since I've been selling on Etsy, I've gotten better at photography and the website has begun to allow video to be added. So rather than making new jewelry in May, I've been going back through fully half of the 500+ items that I've posted, and am upgrading the image quality and adding video. I hope that you all enjoy the better pictures, and that they are helpful! Thanks, as always, to each and evey one of you for your support. (I've also started the early steps of a group of opal rings. They are a more difficult project, and take a while. I'll post that project when I turn my attention towards it fully, hopefully by the beginning of June.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/5475d501-b012-4a30-affa-b1db6ad6623c/Ancient+Coins.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! I finished making pendants with this assortment of ancient coins over several days in the second half of March, and all but 4 are listed on the Etsy page now. I didn't take a 'finished group' photo because I finished and added them individually to the site over a number of days instead of all at once. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/2abc4a1e-d1b9-44b5-9c92-10ffb4c95db8/Lapis+Rings.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! I finished this group of lapis rings on March 12, 2021. I really like how this set came out. I used larger stones than I often choose. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/aa681b68-4423-4f9f-8678-2101129baf7b/Bezel+Settings+for+Rings.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! The metal work is finished, and the rings have been pre-polished. They are ready for a couple of days of polishing and stone setting. March 9, 2021. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/0d965ea6-f225-4062-a156-b1bd323f7afe/IMG_8801.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! Next up, I'll be turning these 14 lapis lazuli cabochons into rings. I'm starting the project March 5th. If all goes well, these will be finished on the 12th of March, 2021. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/76a31e2b-6119-491f-9da2-7a3d29417c31/IMG_8853.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! The words 'Lapis Lazuli' translate from their ancient linguistic roots as 'Stone of Azure Blue.' The stone has been in use with such reverence for so long that the words in several languages evolved inseparable from the name of the gem, so that the gem itself is an adjective or even noun, the name of the the very concept of blue. Lapis Lazuli is not the color of the sky, the sky and waters are lazuli, lazur, azure... blue. And this makes sense, as there are few such vivid and stable hues in all of nature. Lapis was also what was meant in medieval uses of the word sapphire, from the Greek 'sappheiros' and Hebrew 'sappir,' until that word was borrowed, recently, to describe the stone we know by that name now. The material has been mined and used in jewelry and ornaments in the ancient Indus Valley, Persia, and elsewhere for at least 9000 years! It was used as a gem in King Tut's mask, colored walls and statues in early and classical Greece and Rome, and was crushed to make some of the finest and most expensive paints in the flourishing of Renaissance Europe. It was Michelangelo's blue in the Sistine Chapel sky. The symbolism of Lapis Lazuli is as broad and deep as it's history. Valuable, treasured, and occasionally sacred, in Asia, Africa, and Europe alike, it has been a symbol of ancient Annona, the goddess of love and war, Maat, the Egyptian goddess of truth, and was, for several hundred years, a near requirement in depictions of the Christian Mary, giving identity to the figure in much Byzantine and Renaissance art. It has, for at least a couple thousand years, been associated with luck, warding off the 'evil eye,' and in medieval Europe, was said to cure anger and stupidity. Would that it could, the world would be less blue by benefit of such an azure boon. But here, have your own, and happily wear it! You'll be in good company of goddesses and kings, of Mary, Maat, and Michelangelo! I've just finished the final steps of work making 14 new high-grade Lapis Lazuli pendants, and they are all now available in the Etsy store at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GrindstoneMountain https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/86c4f17e-abc0-48ba-a4c9-ac8a9b0f9a3d/Bezel+Settings+for+Lapis.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! The metal work is finished on the remaining lapis pendants, and I'm getting ready to set the stones. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/69959d67-5d99-4c63-8d77-c1b634d2be7c/155811745_1929427533888655_4139833568897895238_o.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! The metal work for the first 4 is finished, the pieces are oxidized, and I'm getting ready to start polishing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/416999bc-f914-4434-b713-c0726d01ecaa/Lapis+Cabochons1.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! Starting the metal work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/668a5377-67bb-4a3c-93b4-d81fce7a27f4/Lapis+Cabochons.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Click here to see what projects I'm working on right now! I'm going to turn these 14 lapis cabochons into pendants. https://www.grindstonemountain.com/home/beauford-finishedjewelry monthly 0.5 2025-11-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/3a6279e6-8f46-4de3-bb58-dceb051797e4/Opal+Rings.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford December 16, 2025 - New pretties I finished making today. No fancy theme this time. I just felt like making pretty baubles for fingers. The faceted green stone in the one with the turquoise is chrome diopside (one of my favorite stones) and the turquoise is from the Morenci mine. The rest are all opals. The two opals at the upper left are triplets from Spencer, Idaho. The one to the lower left is a boulder opal from Australia, and the two on the right are opal doublets from Lightning Ridge, Australia. I'll list all these on Etsy sometime this week. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/babbb79d-a4a6-49e3-ada4-6f0ad4818f9b/Anasazi+Pottery+Shard+Pendants.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford November, 2025 - These are a new idea. I used some Ancestral Puebloan (previously called Anasazi) pottery shards from about 1150-1280 AD along with a few other fun antiques, artifacts, and stones to create a fun series that is all about the passing of time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/528ddf8a-ebbd-456e-b22a-870d772d1d03/Turquoise+Necklace+and+Belt+by+Robert+Beauford.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford I just found this photo of a turquoise belt and necklace I made a few years ago. I really enjoyed both of these pieces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/4f873539-7b1e-4774-8c1d-4f363e80457e/Megalodon+Tooth+Pendant.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford November, 2025 - I made this one with a Megalodon tooth found by a diver in South Carolina and a piece of Azurite from the famous turquoise mines at Bisbee, Arizona. Megalodons were giant ancient sharks that could be as large as two school buses parked end to end! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/04dee442-d1ea-41a9-b514-331f018946fe/Chrysocolla+Pendants.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford October and November, 2025 - Chrysocolla in sterling silver pendants. This is one of my favorite stones. Like turquoise, it is one of the several gemstones that forms adjacent to copper deposits, and it is often found in the same mines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/deb5ce3d-3cdf-4f8f-8fa3-bc94e8f74232/Lapis+Rings.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford 16 Lapis Rings, March of 2021 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/a7eef174-dc0f-4efd-94e1-f5e8e3cd2fb3/10473_10201066850574696_739847497_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/ebc93dde-44ea-4cbf-919b-1e11f2afef9d/47425_4667448845475_498419805_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford Cambrian trilobites and a chondrite meteorite, the oldest material on earth. This one was about 'deep time.' https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/50272cf3-3c56-4aaa-bb2a-ba99771033c8/553326_10205404145404356_4408403693405356050_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/ef8b892d-bd53-43ae-96ee-3da4f6357a00/167677_1814264317645_4847971_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/67f6d81d-cc70-4ca4-8118-ab3347163ce0/221071_2029455897300_7453339_o.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford I enjoy mixing gold and silver. I like how the metals look next to one another. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/27e4da86-72cf-4c72-a4f7-bf13a5e1d1e6/1930795_1044471553307_8559_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford It's hard to go wrong with pyritized ammonite fossils. They are almost jewelry before you even start working with them! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/920229b8-c135-4f5f-a325-a70ab6104d32/179997_1814267077714_7715722_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/80e9cf58-f65d-4196-ae4f-3620a412fcff/IMG_8853.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford The words 'Lapis Lazuli' translate from their ancient linguistic roots as 'Stone of Azure Blue.' The stone has been in use with such reverence for so long that the words in several languages evolved inseparable from the name of the gem, so that the gem itself is an adjective or even noun, the name of the the very concept of blue. Lapis Lazuli is not the color of the sky, the sky and waters are lazuli, lazur, azure... blue. And this makes sense, as there are few such vivid and stable hues in all of nature. Lapis was also what was meant in medieval uses of the word sapphire, from the Greek 'sappheiros' and Hebrew 'sappir,' until that word was borrowed, recently, to describe the stone we know by that name now. The material has been mined and used in jewelry and ornaments in the ancient Indus Valley, Persia, and elsewhere for at least 9000 years! It was used as a gem in King Tut's mask, colored walls and statues in early and classical Greece and Rome, and was crushed to make some of the finest and most expensive paints in the flourishing of Renaissance Europe. It was Michelangelo's blue in the Sistine Chapel sky. The symbolism of Lapis Lazuli is as broad and deep as it's history. Valuable, treasured, and occasionally sacred, in Asia, Africa, and Europe alike, it has been a symbol of ancient Annona, the goddess of love and war, Maat, the Egyptian goddess of truth, and was, for several hundred years, a near requirement in depictions of the Christian Mary, giving identity to the figure in much Byzantine and Renaissance art. It has, for at least a couple thousand years, been associated with luck, warding off the 'evil eye,' and in medieval Europe, was said to cure anger and stupidity. Would that it could, the world would be less blue by benefit of such an azure boon. But here, have your own, and happily wear it! You'll be in good company of goddesses and kings, of Mary, Maat, and Michelangelo! I've just finished the final steps of work making 14 new high-grade Lapis Lazuli pendants, and they are all now available in the Etsy store at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GrindstoneMountain https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/58db8a9b-1435-4f05-ac16-04d1dd4ffb42/180050_1814265637678_6259147_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/9fef93d4-97b5-4193-80fd-3b2f0ee7cbb1/166689_1814265797682_3682882_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/d4aae32f-4c12-4c5e-9cb9-3e1d9b42a595/179629_1814265477674_7789507_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/4b24da18-cc7b-4293-b89a-9072ccf3d0fe/180221_1814266317695_3185750_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/aaada016-6a2b-4fa4-bd5f-17e9d1650190/1457596_10202510349421265_421441471_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford The brown stones in all of these pendants are chondrite meteorites, the oldest thing you can ever hold in your hand! I think chondrite meteorites are very nearly the most fascinating things on earth. First off, they fell from space and are the literal oldest thing that you can ever see and hold in your hand on this planet. They are over 4.56 billion years old. There are certainly older objects somewhere out in space, in other solar systems or in the vast expanses in between, but these are the absolute oldest objects that we have ever found on earth. They are older than the planet. They pre-date the light from the most distant star that you can see in the sky. They are 70 times older than the last big dinosaurs and 23,000 times as old as the first humans like us. They are a third as old as the big bang. And they are time capsules! They are nebula; bits of a cloud of dust gathered from at least 5 giant ancient stars that we think gave birth to nearly a thousand new stars, including ours, from the remnants they left behind. Each grain of rock or metal that clumped together to form them had its own history, swirling through space like smoke or ashes, while a star and planets were formed nearby. As our star began to settle, the nebula dispersed, and the other stars born from that dusty womb scattered across the galaxy, the chondrites cooled and slept. They waited. While some of the planets froze and hundreds of others collided, shattered, then fell into the growing giants, Saturn, Jupiter, and the Sun, the chondrites waited. While planets cooled and seas formed on Earth and Mars, while Mars dried out and became a desert and Earth turned green, they waited, sleeping in a vast orbit between Mars and Jupiter. And then, 4.56 billion long years after they cooled from the exhalation of stars and formed clumps of solidifying dust, they got kicked out their stable orbit out past Mars, in the asteroid belt, and looped in towards the sun. The rest is history. They crossed Earth's path, got caught in the planet's gravity, and fell. And we get to hold them - time capsules from the dawn of time, the afterbirth of stars, floor sweepings from the workshop in which planets are crafted, sparks from the anvils of the ancient primordial titans - cooled and fallen stars. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/7d391b6e-548d-40f5-8505-579aa6672121/180726_1814266237693_5487288_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/f8dd6225-7a6f-47c8-a60e-38c6041d940e/10626819_10204524368330479_4439610750765540998_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford I'm a huge fan of the steampunk aesthetic! I really liked how this set came out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/59054000-f9bf-4311-aa0f-119ac6022f41/533648_10201418092675529_565734176_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/df6af3aa-4993-451d-ac35-095170fef62d/534588_4667394764123_1087853824_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/504f688f-157c-4382-a139-1897d79aeb13/1010456_10201462816953608_694700581_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford I thought that this old vacuum tube was so cool looking it deserved to be in a piece of jewelry, so I made a steampunk piece out of it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/8a6ac68b-11dd-4e77-86c0-b2beba8d76b5/1930795_1044471673310_9179_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/9d05c068-9a4d-46a9-8f46-2860ece847a1/1930795_1044471713311_9471_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/9bea69a1-ef0d-4bf2-af14-899545bf8c96/1930795_1044471793313_9778_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford This sterling cross was about a 10 inches tall, and was very heavy. It was a wall hanging. It sold immediately. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/4447ce51-13b2-48d1-9d06-fdd2025eec71/10169382_10204907738234487_7715528599864496624_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/90f2f243-c589-4230-b467-4ad3a7075c35/10882171_10205136588555602_6345592598126717965_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/6767c429-77d4-4353-be6c-817fd236cf29/11114179_10206277201910223_7310966146978929103_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford Most of these are turquoise from Bisbee, Arizona, but the long ones are made with turquoise from Hubei. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/c4b1f4fe-191b-4ceb-b4cb-640f7a143a21/19420524_10212765837202050_775399575632867641_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/9a84c23d-d0ee-4993-a919-ec5edda9953f/21034388_10213396254162080_8223330820389626966_n.jpg Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff0bff866132f51deda3dc9/21617cdc-b336-444a-872f-99c7e4c40e82/Opal+Crown+by+Robert+Beauford.JPG Grindstone Mountain Home Page - Finished Jewelry by Robert Beauford I made this crown with Spencer Idaho opals.