| Pietersite from Namibia. Below is a chunk of the rough material from Namibia & lower down you'll find things that I have had made out of it and pieces that I have polished myself - Slabs, slices, rocks and even large boulders. Click any image to enlarge. Most can be enlarged 2X! Since this page has hundreds of large high resolution photos it may take awhile to load (you may also have to refresh your browser to fully load the images) |
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| Below are some guitar picks that I have had carved and cut from my pietersite lapidary rough. If you look at the rough material above it is easy to understand why each pick looks different from the next. |
| Pietersite was named after the man that discovered it in Namibia and popularized it: Sid Pieters (1920 - 2003). Sid Pieters first found the material in 1962 in Namibia and published the discovery as "Pietersite" in 1964. In researching this mineral I saw one web page that described pietersite as "being a recent discovery". Yeah, right, if you consider 50+ years ago to be recent! The material is very similar to Tiger Eye both in appearance and mineral composition and has the same chatoyancy and play of light but it has many more colors than Tiger Eye, which is mostly gold in color . Its patterns/fiber structure are not all oriented the same as tiger eye is and Pietersite often appears "brecciated". Pietersite is found in large boulders that can be irregularly shaped whereas tiger eye is found in seams and has typically thin seam-type shapes. Pietersite is much rarer than tigereye. The best most colorful pietersite is only found in Namibia. In 1997 there was Pietersite being sold that was found in China but the color and chatoyancy is not nearly as good. The Chinese material doesn't seem to have much, or even any, blue color and not much fire. I don't even consider it to be "real" Pietersite. I first saw Pietersite in Windhoek as polished flat pieces in the rock shop that used to be owned by Sid Pieters. All of the material that was for sale was from the old finds with no new material. I would go to Namibia to buy minerals every year and I only saw the material for sale at this one rock shop in Windhoek but never anywhere else. Then, in 2012 there was a good bit being sold at various places by white mineral dealers and also the black native Namibians who have stalls along the roadside. Subsequent trips in 2013 thru 2014 saw a good bit of rough material for sale. Minerals in Namibia are usually priced cheaply but there are a few exceptions and Pietersite is one of the few gemstones that command a high price there. A single large chunk of Pietersite can have many different patterns and colors. One single chunk can yield stone guitar picks or other carvings that have a wildly differing color and appearance. To illustrate this, just look at the large chunk of it at the top of the page and then look at the picks that were carved from this single piece! I have cut and polished a good bit of pietersite and below you'll find pictures of some of my handiwork. |
| The first few photos show a slab that I cut and polished. It turned out incredible. |
| This slab shows where the rock had a hollow cavity inside it. (Upper right and below) |
| Below is a dozen or so photos of the biggest pietersite boulder that I ever polished. It has quartz on one end. I think I sold if for around $100 which was a bargain! |
| Here's some various small pieces of pietersite that I have polished. Note the gold, blue, red, yellow colors! |
| An old sales flyer from when I got back from Namibia in 2013 |
| The above has been mostly gold dominated pietersite so below I'll feature some mostly blue and almost black pietersite. |
| This is probably the nicest slab of pietersite that I have ever polished. I kept it in my personal collection (and I don't keep much). The polish is beyond description and the photos dont do it justice. It appears beyond looking wet and seems to be a pool of liquid and a sea of pietersite. If you look close you can see my reflection in some of the photos. |
| Above is a large pietersite slab that has a hollow place in it. Below is another nice slab. |
| All photographs on this page are the copyrighted works of Rodney Moore. Anyone interested in using or licensing the photos should contact me via the contact page. Licensing is very reasonable and inexpensive - just a few dollars. Spend a trivial amount for licensing and feel good about yourself for doing the right thing. I can also make custom pietersite images for you - just ask! |
| A superlative example of stone guitar picks carved out of Pietersite. Shown front and back. Note the clear area. |
| The photos below show polished pietersite and also some tumble polished pietersite. Tumbled pietersite is not usually seen because the material is hard to get and very expensive. The ones shown immediately below were all polished in 2018. I'll start out with what may be the best polish that I have ever put on pietersite. I used Tin Oxide as the polishing media. Tin Oxide polish is currently $30 per pound! |
| You probably won't be surprised to hear that I sell pietersite! I sell it online and at Georgia's very own Rock Shop - The Mineral Gallery - just south of Atlanta. Click the banner below for directions to the rock shop and lots more pictures: |
| Here is a couple of pietersite stones that I just have taken out of the tumbler still in its rough stage |
| This shows the same stone after it has finished tumbling: |
| Here is a fantastic example of gold pietersite with quartz: |
| Ever wonder what rough raw pietersite costs? Here is recent examples of the going rates - these photos taken at the most recent Tucson show - Feb 2018. Many slabs were priced at $335 to $390. One slab was priced at over $700! Since I travel directly to Namibia, my prices are much more affordable. |
| Updated May 14, 2018 10:30 AM Eastern Time. Refresh your browser to see the new images that are at the bottom of this page. |