Next Level: GOLD $1,350.00

CURRENTLY:

GOLD: $1,244.60 -- Low: $1235.70, High: $1252.30
Silver: $19.84 -- Low: $19.71, High: $20.06
Platinum: $1547
Palladium: $525​

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Sure hopes it finishes up! I have a couple of hundred ounces of silver I was wanting to peddle at a coin show this weekend.

 

now where were we...

CURRENTLY:

GOLD: $1,245.60 -- Low: $1235.70, High: $1252.30
Silver: $19.85 -- Low: $19.71, High: $20.06
Platinum: $1549
Palladium: $522​

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Yes, it is. Do not subscribe to the thread if you don't want to be notified when someone has posted to it.

That said, both of you knock it off. Neither trolling (krispy) nor swearing (TDR) will be tolerated.

 

Eh! I beg to differ with that "trolling" assessment...

CURRENTLY:

GOLD: $1,245.40 -- Low: $1235.70, High: $1252.30
Silver: $19.86 -- Low: $19.71, High: $20.06
Platinum: $1544
Palladium: $521​

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Better return your crystal ball to the manufacturer, again... Sorry. We'll try again next week... :thumb:

CURRENTLY: At the close of US markets for 9/9/10

GOLD: $1,247.70 -- Today --> Low: $1235.70, High: $1252.30
Silver: $19.90 -- Today --> Low: $19.71, High: $20.06
Platinum: $1550
Palladium: $523​

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fyi if you eBay for PMs

I chanced across this this afternoon. It never occurred to me that Provident Metals might also be an eBay Seller-- though primarily listing their numismatics items. S/H seems cheaper than the fees associated with bullion purchases on their web site, but these are mainly individual numismatic items with an intrinsic value.

Stores.ebay.com/Provident-Precious-Metals

 

Oh well............ I tried. It looks like another costly visit to the crystal ball repair shop. Bummer..........

 

Krispy, the problem is that most crystal balls are not really made of crystal. Too expensive compared to Chinese glass

 

Sage advice Jim! :thumb:

 

He doesn't know what Crystal is. For his benefit, and to alleviate his trollish qualities (which you pointed out, but he refuse to aknowledge) I'll tell him. Crystal is glass that contains a large percentage of lead, it forms in a totally different way than normal glass and is far more difficult to work, it also has certain qualities (making sound with crystal glasses filled with water, by rimming the glass with a wet finger) because of it's density that make it sought after. I have some very nice Lebanese crystal vases and bowls, and they weigh roughly the same amount as what a similar object made of steel would weigh. A real Crystal ball would weigh easily 20kg (dodgeball sized) if made of quality crystal.



Just trying to educate those less fortunate than myself.


Did I mention Gold is the best investment ever, along with being totally useful in daily life (I know I would be dead without my IR gold shield when I went to space). GOLD IS AWESOME!!!

 

Now that you agree that GOLD is KING, if you could only identify which Mod said what, we'd actually be making some progress here. :rollling:

 

Actually, the real crystal balls of antiquity were of clear quartz, and I think one in eastern Europe was aquamarine. Use of the term "crystal" with glass is rather recent. Since glass is amorphous and a fluid, it could not ( according to spiritualists) conduct information like a natural crystal which has a direction aspect. Some experts debate the "fluid " theory.

According to my invisible friends

 

Oh, and you must be confusing me with another, I didn't call Krispy a troll.

Jim

 

Oddly enough, or to be more specific, ironically, it was THE_CAVE_TROLL who called you a troll, and told me not to swear.... if you want a quote I can give it to you . HERE IT IS!


"

I would assume the cave troll knows a troll when he see's one!
Originally Posted by TDRismyname
Is it my fault I get 5 emails a day saying "krispy replied to...".



Yes, it is. Do not subscribe to the thread if you don't want to be notified when someone has posted to it.

That said, both of you knock it off. Neither trolling (krispy) nor swearing (TDR) will be tolerated. "
​

 

And yes, true quartz crystal was used prior to the 19th century, but since then glass with a greater than 20 or so % lead is reffered to as crystal, the higher the % lead the better. It is remarkable that a heavy metal can be made soluble in glass.

To make a Quartzite glass would be nearly impossible, it would have to be cut with facets like a gem, I believe qartzite grows in a hexagonal structure so making a round surface is almost impossible, unlesss you just grind it away and polish it, in which case you would need a HUGE, flawless, specimen to make 1 glass, let alone a goblet or bowl. Finding such a crystal would be akin to finding a 5ct rough diamond of gem quality. Quartzite is also the mineral most associated with gold, when you find large amounts of quartz in a rock it will usually contain gold... another funny fact is "fools gold" is actually a prelude to finding the real deal, it's also one of the minerals usually found in large placer deposits.

 

I would say silver is King ATM... the king changes weekly if not daily, and another fun fact, Lous XIV, the SUN KING, who created Versailles along with the canal from the Mediterranean to the Enlish Channel, freeing France from Spain's control of the straights of Gibraltar, declared PLATINUM to be the ONLY metal "Fit For A King". Gold was considered to be worthy only of the gentry, the dauphin wore platinum.

 

Quartzite is not the same as quartz. Quartzite is sandstone which has been transformed into an opaque rock. The largest quartz crystal of record was in Brazil and was 20' long and weighed an estimates 40 tons. A lot of crystal balls could be made from that. Someplace in my Gem magazines I have a photo of 3 men standing on a12' crystal in a mine in Mexico.

It isn't unusual to find metal added to glass, as it give it color. The traditional red stained glass found in older structures was made by adding gold dissolved in aqua regia ( gold chloride) to glass. Iron give glass an amber yellow color, manganese a purple color, cobalt deep blue, copper a lighter blue, chromium green, uranium a yellowish color ( called vaseline glass) no longer produced for obvious reasons).

Lead "crystal" glass is a rather ugly yellow tint until Nickel is added to give it a more accepted bluish violet tinge.

Since ceramic glazes are basically a glass layer on the converted clay, the metals mentioned above can be used in glazes. Except I used copper in a reducing atmosphere to get red instead of the gold

 

What`s nice about older clear glass that was made roughly before 1920 is that they used manganese in the mixture. When exposed to UV rays for a prolonged period of time, (depending on the exposure to the sun or radiation...aka artificial toning) the glass will turn purple and various shades of pink. It`s good to see other glass aficionados on here as well.

 

Ha, yes I have a "few" old rural glass electrical insulators that are interesting colors. I have considered faceting some of it, but I have enough real crystals to keep me busy faceting for a long while along with coins, and many other interests Here in the desert those insulators saw a lot of sun.
Jim