February 18, 2013
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A meteor that exploded over Russia's Ural mountains and sent fireballs blazing to earth has set off a rush to find fragments of the space rock which hunters hope could fetch thousands of dollars a piece.

Friday's blast and ensuing shockwave shattered windows, injured almost 1,200 people and caused about $33 million worth of damage, said local authorities.

It also started a "meteorite rush" around the industrial city of Chelyabinsk, 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow, where groups of people have started combing through the snow and ice.

One amateur space enthusiast estimated chunks could be worth anything up to 66,000 roubles ($2,200) per gram - more than 40 times the current cost of gold.

"The price is hard to say yet ... The fewer meteorites that are recovered, the higher their price," said Dmitry Kachkalin, a member of the Russian Society of Amateur Meteorite Lovers. Meteorites are parts of a meteor that have fallen to earth.

Scientists at the Urals Federal University were the first to announce a significant find - 53 small, stony, black objects around Lake Chebarkul, near Chelyabinsk, which tests confirmed were small meteorites.

The fragments were only 0.5 to 1 cm (0.2 to 0.4 inches) across but the scientists said larger pieces may have crashed into the lake, where a crater in the ice about eight meters (26 feet) wide opened up after Friday's explosion.

"We just completed tests and confirm that the pieces of matter found by our experts around Lake Chebarkul are really meteorites," said Viktor Grokhovsky, a scientist with the Urals Federal University and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"These are classified as ordinary chondrites, or stony meteorites, with an iron content of about 10 percent," he told RIA news agency.

He did not say whether the fragments had told his team anything about the origins of the meteor, which the U.S. space agency NASA estimated was 55 feet across before entering Earth's atmosphere and weighed about 10,000 tons.

The main fireball streaked across the sky at a speed of about 30 km (19 miles) per second, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos, before crashing into the snowy wastes.

TREASURE HUNTERS

More than 20,000 people took part in search and clean-up operations at the weekend in and around Chelyabinsk, which is in the heart of a region packed with industrial military plants.

Many other people were in the area just hoping to find a meteorite after what was described by scientists as a once-in-a-century event.

Residents of a village near Chelyabinsk searched the snowy streets, collecting stones they hoped would prove to be the real thing. But not all were ready to sell.

"I will keep it. Why sell it? I didn't have a rich lifestyle before, so why start now?" a woman in a pink woolen hat and winter jacket, clutching a small black pebble, told state television Rossiya-24.

The Internet filled quickly with advertisements from eager hunters hoping to sell what they said were meteorites - some for as little as 1,000 roubles ($33.18).

The authenticity of the items was hard to ascertain.

One seller of a large, silver-hued rock wrote in an advertisement on the portal Avito.ru: "Selling an unusual rock. It may be a piece of meteorite, it may be a bit of a UFO, it may be a piece of a rocket!"

($1 = 30.1365 Russian roubles)

(Additional reporting by Ludmila Danilova and Gabriela Baczinska, Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Andrew Heavens)

January 2013

"Lively. Radiant. Lush… A color of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being, balance and harmony."
http://www.pantone.com/pages/index.aspx?pg=21055

Pantone has declared that emerald is the color for 2013,  but it’s not just about the emerald and the yellow diamond!
All color is in for 2013!

Whether the gemstones are precious or semi-precious, color is the name of the game when it comes to rings and wear them big or small, on your right hand or your left, just wear them and wear them all year long for 2103!
Jewelry Trends 2013 – Colored Gemstones
You can now order jewelry parts and custom wire wrapping for our gemstones to make the piece your own.
Email mattdunkle@yahoo.com for instructions.

We specialize in  Colored Gem Stones and we love our color.  We have put together a collection that shows some of the color that we carry in our showroom and to give you a taste of our gems & jewelry trend for 2013! Enjoy!
"click link for jewelry trends for 2012"  

Green Gems Foundation

Many cutters in the Custom Gem Cutters Co-Op have joined in on the cutting and will have their faceted gemstones on display in San Francisco, California  at the gallery showing for Green Gem Foundation. This foundation is the brain child of Jeffery Hunt of One World Gemstone. His desire is to bring about the change of thinking in the Gemstone Business. He wants to raise awareness with gemstone miners in these countries should be costing & graded. The foundation information can be viewed on Jeff's website.  http://www.oneworldgemstone.com

The show is scheduled for November 18, 2011. So please join with us & Jeff in making this a great first showing for the Green Gem Foundation.

 http://www.greengemfoundation.com

Green Gem Foundation
1563 Solano Avenue #222
Berkeley, CA 94707

 Custom Gem Cutter, Matt A. Dunkle

MJM Jewelrs

Is displaying our Wire Wrapped Gemstones by  D.Sign  with the stones provided by John Johnson of FeesBay.com.  Come by and see these Wrapped Gems in Person!

April 2012

The Color of the Year for

2012 is Tangerine Tango for Fashion & Jewelry

Tangerine Tango is a most Vivid Fanta Orange with a twist!

We have selected a few of our items that come under this exceptionally wild and fun color!

October 2011
This season,  Pink is the New HOT Color!

In fashion & Jewelry, pink has always been on the forefront of color.  This year, pink is the popular color.

'Pretty in Pink', 'Pink Ribbons' for Breast Cancer, 'P!nk' the singer, 'Pink Rose', 'Pink Carnation', 'The Pink Panther', 'Victoria Secret Pink(R)', 'Think Pink', 'Pink Home' in Denver, Colorado; 'Pink Rock Candy', and or course, our Favorite ...

'Pink Gemstones'!

These are just a few of the current ways 'Pink' has been popularized.  story link

"click" for story link