Fancy Bruneau Jasper Specimens 

The obvious target for collectors in the early days was a large orbed specimen of caramel colored Bruneau with pale yellowish orbs. The material from Shale Rock Hill was overlooked, the specimens were smaller by far, many were a mixture of black to dark chocolate jasper without any patterns and no one paid much attention. I managed to get a few of these pieces because I was a cabochon cutter at the time and there was no decent lapidary rock that was pure black. There was black onyx, a porous agate that had been dyed black and cracked and scratched easily and there was black jade which had what is called an ‘orange peel’ surface with many small depressions. Jade can never be given a mirror polish like you can get on Willow Creek or Bruneau jaspers for example. So when I found that Shale Rock Hill produced the blackest black Bruneau you could imagine I pursued it. It was that process which led me to have a few pieces of orbed ‘Fancy Bruneau’ which came my way coincidentally and have been in my shed for the last thirty years. The hill has been mined out of existence so if you are looking for a truly rare jasper, this has to be it. My thanks to Gene Anthis who made a special effort to mine some of this for me.