Sunday, November 29, 2015

Lara Downes Holiday Cabaret


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1894 Six Mile Road
Murphys, CA 95247

Friday, November 27, 2015

Black Friday Specials, maybe longer while supply lasts

Holiday Specials!
·    50% off select jewelry
·    35% off Estate Glassware & Silverplate
·    25% off select new Cabochons and lapidary slabs
·    Special Purchase Natural Stone Bolo Ties $10 - $25
·      Author Glenn Wasson’s newest release, “Too Much to Swallow”, normally $25, now only $20. This new books features the true story of the “Calaveras Gastrolith”, the Gold Nugget found in Murphys in 1987. Great Christmas Gift! 
·    Popcornopolis large Caramel Cones, 24 pack case only, regular price $120, while supply lasts only $78! 

·    Special Purchase Holiday Theme gifts priced as marked

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Antique Victorian Sugar Shaker

Just in today is this glass sugar shaker. Researching images, it has been determined (by the silver top) that it is of the Victorian era.  The bottle itself looks to be molded with a seam running on either side. The shape of the bottle is unique for that period, however I did find a beautiful little watercolor of antique Victorian sugar shakers with this exact bottle shape and top. It stands about 5" tall.  If you know more about this little gem, please feel free to comment below or email us at cgomez@ironstonevineyards.com.  It will be offered for sale after we polish up the lid a bit....


Saturday, November 21, 2015

Winchester Trademark Jewelry comes to Ironstone



Ironstone Heritage Museum unveiled today the only authorized Winchester Trademark Jewelry. 

Designer Chris Chaney has succeeded in producing a great product just in time for the Holidays!

Sterling Silver with bright & colorful czs, the jewelry ranges from $79 to $129 with pendants, post earrings, dangle earrings and for the men in your life, tie tacks, which actually work great on scarves for the ladies as well.

The jewelry is stamped with the Winchester logo and the style of bullet, 9mm, 357, 40 S&W, 45 auto, plus a few more.  These are fun pieces, look great on.

What we like is the fact that even if you aren't familiar with gun styles or much less care, the pendants are attractive enough and subtle enough that anyone can wear these pieces. 

As I am preparing this info for you, some of our customers stopped in on a "Ladies day outing" below and couldn't resist!  After trying on several pair, they settled on the post earrings. After approving this photo, they dashed off to the tasting room to sample wines and show off their new earrings to the Tasting Room crew and Guests.


Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Obsidian Lapidary slabs

We have some beautiful Obsidian just in.  Below is the Wikipedia definition of the material. Obsidian was the most common material used by Native Americans for arrowheads. Using the technique called Napping, the stone was chipped into the shape desired. Being a type of glass, it can be very sharp when worked this way. 

These specimens are nice slabs ready to be used for cabochons, jewelry or just great looking specimen display pieces.

This first image shows just a few of the types we have here...

Silver Sheen Obsidian, very pretty silver shine.

Gold Sheen Obsidian, this piece a Mahogany Obsidian with a gold shimmering undertone

Rainbow Obsidian, with bands of color

Mahogany Lace Obsidian, a see through stone with lacy streaks of black with a few pools of Mahogany color

Mahogany Obsidian, nice rich mahogany and black

Snowflake Obsidian, black with little white snowflakes.


This box depicts some of the different size and shape of the slabs available. All are polished on at least one side, many on both with a few more block shaped polished on all sides. Great display pieces.










    Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth.

    Obsidian - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Petrified Wood lapidary Slabs

These two beauties just came in. Forgive my little camera, it was never made for picking up the detail in pieces like these, so you might either have to come in to see for yourself or take my word for it....
These are spectacular. Rich warm colors, one in browns and reds, the other creams, browns. Both pieces hail originally from Oregon. 
They have come in from a very old collection and in researching, I have not found anything like these two available today.

This first is my favorite. Rich cream colors and an abundance of patterns. There is really so much going on in these two slabs. We are seeing jaspers, agates and so much more.  This specimen is roughly 12" x 10" and between 1" to 1.5" thick.


This is a detail of the above piece. The bright spot is light glare .. but I hope this gives you an idea of the diversity in patterns on this piece.


The second piece is 11" x 8" wide and  1.5" to 2" thick.
Colors here range from Chocolate browns, cream color, reds, oranges and white.




 These are details of the above piece. Again, sorry for the poor photo quality. Come in and see this for yourself. Stunning.










The bright spot on the left is light reflection.










Here is an image showing the thickness of the two pieces.

If you have any questions or are interested in purchasing, just drop us an email or give us a call... cgomez@ironstonevineyards.com
or 209-728-1251





Saturday, November 7, 2015

Pink Polished Limb Casts


Below are images of the two boxes of Old Collection pieces that have just arrived here at the Heritage Museum.  Received from a very old Museum Collection dating back at least 90 years, these are just a small sampling of the extensive collection that will be offered up for sale over the next several months.

These two boxes are listed as "Pink Polished Limb Casts". 

We have been searching for a clear definition of a "pink polished limb cast", for you, but have been unsuccessful.  As I understand, limb casts are the agatized remains of a petrified limb of a tree or prehistoric fauna. 

Beautiful in color, smooth to the touch, they are quite unusual and all polished nicely. They would make great wire wrap projects or simply look great in a collection.

If you see one here that you can't live without, email us and we will get you a closer image with measurements.  Or better yet, stop in and fondle a few!  

cgomez@ironstonevineyards.com. 

Prices range from $10 to $25.



Thursday, November 5, 2015

Our dear friend Glenn Wasson just stopped in to deliver his newest book,
"Too Much to Swallow, The Gold Gastrolith of Calaveras County & Selected Works by Glenn Wasson".   

And as usual, Glenn was in top form entertaining the guests with his quick wit and old world charm. 

Glenn has asked that we take $5 off the $25 price of his books for the Holidays to make it easier to share his stories with more of his fans.

If you haven't heard the story of the Gold Gastrolith, you need to stop in and see it for yourself.  Yes, we have on display the original Natural Gold Nugget, THE Gold Gastrolith of Calaveras County, found here in Murphys in 1987, which is the focus of this true story. And the story as expressed by Glenn is not to be forgotten. It is as Glenn claims, "a story Mark Twain would loved to have heard".