Local Gem and Mineral Society seeks beauty in rocks

Group meets first Monday of month

photos by jacob kepler/viewAbove, Lorna Metz works on a rock at The Southern Nevada Gem and Mineral Society building at 1025 S. Main St. Right, Wes Bryant cuts a rock inside the The Southern Nevada Gem and Mineral Society. Advertisement

Doris Currington picked up a cut stone from among those scattered around the Southern Nevada Gem and Mineral Society's new workshop, 1025 S. Main St. in downtown Las Vegas, and wet it down to show how smooth it could look once it was polished.

Some rock pieces she finds on her rock-hunting missions are ready to be cut and polished like the one she held. Others have too many fractures. But it's hard to tell sometimes until you get them to the shop.

Currington, a lifetime member of the society, recently showed pictures of butterfly jasper cut and polished to reveal the wing-shaped pattern.

The group meets at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at the Doolittle Senior Center, 1950 J St.

In addition, Currington and other members of the society hunt park onyx in Henderson and bloodstone near Lake Mead. But places to hunt in Southern Nevada are not as plentiful as they once were, according to members of the group.

The spot in Henderson where the group used to hunt green jasper has houses on it now. There are at least 50 other sites Currington can think of with rocks still for the hunting, but many of them are now protected by the Bureau of Land Management.

At least the nonprofit society's own mining claim close to Callville is safe.

Currington said the Las Vegas branch of what has become one group formed sometime in the 1930s and only merged with the North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City groups five years ago. But it joined the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies in the mid-1950s. Currington herself joined in 1967 and speaks wistfully of those days.

"It was great back then," she said. "We didn't have any places we weren't allowed to go. We used to collect the most beautiful desert roses where the golf course is now in Henderson. I hated when that was built."

A desert rose is a sort of chalcedony that takes a flower-like shape.

At 250 members strong, the group still takes regular rock-hunting field trips to places lke Goldfield, Nev.

When members meet at the Doolittle Community Center, they listen to speakers, participate in auctions and swap wares. There also is a weekly Pebble Pups group for children that meets for field trips.

Classes in jewelry making, silversmithing and faceting are available at workshops for $5 a session. Older members also will teach new members how to use power saws and polishing machinery free of charge. Members use the shop for $3 an hour. The actual entrance is on 1st Street. Annual memberships are $20 per person, or $30 for a family.

"All you need to do is bring in your rocks and we'll show you how to use the equipment," said Sandy Smith, who supervises the shop.

The society opened its downtown workshop in August, but the society has had several since 1942, including one where the group taught lapidary to UNLV students in exchange for on-campus space.

Currington has taught herself a great deal about geology and paleontology and said she also appreciates the minerals she collects for their aesthetic value.

The chandelier she made from slices of solid Brazilian agate geodes hangs as an example of the do-it-yourself spirit and blending of art and science that seems to characterize the Nevadan rock hound.

"She's not only knowledgeable, but she's very creative and she drives a hell of a jeep," said society vice president Sharon Rogow.

Some club members are trained geologists, but most are self-taught.

"We teach each other," said society First Friday chairmwoman Lorna Metz.

Experienced members bring field guides and specimens on hunts to show other members what to look for.

The shop is open from 1 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but opens on First Friday for rock-cutting demonstrations, when many of the members' minerological handicrafts are for sale.

For more information on the Southern Nevada Gem and Mineral Society, call Erica Hamilton at 325-9877 or go to www.sngms.com.