Emery, Apache peridot miner

Making a run down to Safford to take a badly needed hot springs soak, we passed near the town of Peridot, Arizona. A mesa near here is capped with a basalt flow rich in this lovely lime green mineral. The basalt layer ranges from ten to one hundred feet in thickness.

Via a contact at a local casino, I hooked up with Emery, a handsome oak tree of a fellow who wields a thirty pound hammer to separate peridot crystals from the basalt. 9/11 has denied him access to dynamite, so hammer and wedges are what he uses, as well as a backhoe.

Emery sells his material to only one person, but offered to come down to the Renaissance Festival to show me what he has. He showed up with some gorgeous chunks of Basalt with lovely crystals of peridot, some tumbled peridot beaded necklaces and bracelets, and some crystals of peridot. Up until now, I hadn’t seen what it looks like in the rough.

I like to mix peridot with green pearls in my jewelry. I love to put garnets and peridot together on one of my rings. Peridot is usually put in silver but looks very nice in gold.

Arizona peridot is beautiful, plentiful, and beloved worldwide. Emory said the material from Pakistan is more rare and larger in size. Peridot is found on the isle of St John in the Red sea where it is still mined in small quantities. Queen Cleopatra is said to have possessed green stones mislabled emeralds from this isle. The bible misnames this stone as topazos as well.

Emory showed up with his goodies and I bought samples of the rough as well as a lovely three strand necklace of tumbled period, a few bracelets, and a bunch of chunky peridot crystals. Yummy!

Other gemstones from Arizona: Four Peaks Amethyst and “anthill” garnets from the four corner’s region. And more hot springs? There is much to explore in Arizona.