South Carolina Sapphires

[indyme2]

When most people hear the word sapphires they think of North Carolina or Montana. Actually, the first sapphires discovered in the US were found in SC. I found a reference to SC sapphires in a book written around 1905? and as I recall, it only said they were found in an area called "Dead Man Cut." I spent every spare minute for the next year and a half looking for this location. An internet search showed nothing, local maps nothing, nothing in the town library, checked mom and pop stores, etc. Finally I went to the police department and the oldest guys there sent me to see a retired cop whose father was also a retired cop from the same area. He said he overheard his father mention the area once and how dangerous it was to go there and he believed it was somewhere around --------. I thanked him and left. At least this narrowed my search. Finally after several more months of checking, asking, sampling, I found the location. It's on private property so I will not disclose the location but here are some examples of what I found. I would like to mention that an old rockhound buddy also knew this location but kept it secret. When I told him of my discovery, he told me to go downstream another 100 yards for better material. He was right!

[ywevis]

Wow those are nice Indy, you sure are like a modern day Indiana

[cabarrusgold]

We got ta hang with Indy, Mark. James is not leading us to the good stuff.

[loki258]

That's some nice looking stuff, very fractured looking though, any good enough to be cut into small gem?

[indyme2]

Some is wormy and some fractured. Pic 3 is solid and has a nice clear window. A lot of what looks fractured is solid. It's just inclusions in the sapphire and or the natural crystal design. Some will cut nice cabs, freeforms and stars, I believe. A very few pieces are going to facet but the stones won't be more than a few carats when finished. These are natural color too. No heat treating. I probably won't cut many as they are worth more as specimens.

[indyme2]

If those won't work for you, Loki, here is a bigger one.

[loki258]

hahaha, lol. where you near the old moore place in cherokee? or down here in my neck of the woods in Anderson/Abbeville??. Lots of nice corundum.

[mark]

May 15, 2014 6:57:08 GMT -5 cabarrusgold said:

We got ta hang with Indy, Mark. James is not leading us to the good stuff.

Lol James has been replaced

[loki258]

[shadow]

Stunning finds Indy, I need to make my way to SC for a rock hounding trip! I had no idea that these were around the carolinas. How do you go about finding them/What are your Sampling techniques for finding gems? Are there any certain rocks or formations you look for? I've only found a handful of gems and it was just by shear luck.

[indyme2]

There are not a lot of public places to dig, Shadow. Diamond Hill used to be good and you can still dig in the dump piles and find some neat stuff occassionally. Check out their site at dhmine.com/

Most everything else I found was with research, sampling and scuba diving. Fossil and cherty kinds of things are below the fall line in SC and the more gemmy types are above. Western NC is good. Many areas where you are looking for gold is a good area to look for rocks. Areas with pegmatites are a good start.

Loki's neighborhood is a good area.

[loki258]

Shh!! Don't need everyone in my backyard now... lol hahaha!
Actually I just got access to a very old family land with large creek in southern Anderson, just gotta go check out, its in the middle of the amy's and cor's and gold... You should really come check this one out with me. I've not been on property yet but google earth looks very interesting...

[ywevis]

group dredging outing wooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooo

[loki258]

[indyme2]

I'm in!