World's greatest treasure: crystals and gemstones | FULL DOCUMENTARY

foreign [Music] s of years crystals have cast a strange Fascination over human beings they're captivating transparency their unusual geometry and the wondrousness of their colors make them among the most amazing riches on the planet each of them serves to remind us that beyond our preconceived ideas crystals were once born live and change like all life on our planet their facets recalls a quest for Purity Beauty and Eternity [Music] there is one place on Earth where enthusiasm for Stones reach Greater Heights than anywhere else all those passionate about the subject need an emblematic sight located in the heart of Arizona the City of Tucson is a former Mexican settlement which still Bears the traces of Spanish colonization each year the city hosts a unique event which brings together Stone collectors Jewelers and miners from around the world spread out across the city's 40-mile expanse the Tucson show has become the world's biggest event for crystals and minerals for all those who attend this huge trade show the three weeks beforehand are a race against the clock The Kino complex is without a doubt the most spectacular of the 57 different shows which take place in January and February this is the largest and the best show in the world this is Tucson show it takes every single mineral gem jewelry beads everything all right that looks good spectacular is indeed the right word for the Tucson show over the course of a week some exceptional minerals are shipped across the city to reach their respective stands this amethyst geode weighs about four tons and is nearly four yards long it has been shipped from Brazil to Houston before being brought by truck to Tucson it cost thousands of Euros to transport this Colossus tense for the show are even put up at night some can reach more than 80 feet in height and measure more than 150 yards long this geode has arrived at its destination River Park the delicate positioning of this fragile giant is a long and careful process the 1800 dealers and exhibitors gathered in Tucson requisitioned thousands of hotel rooms the hotels here host a great many stands when it comes right down to it Tucson is the largest commercial event on the planet it's amazing Melting Pot and you see things here that you would never see anyplace else each room is a museum each show offers a million opportunities in a few days all these sites will be ready to welcome fans of stones and minerals from all over the world foreign [Music] for the past four and a half billion years during the many stages of this long formation the 5 000 varieties of mineral that exist on Earth came into being most of them now gracing the stands of the Tucson show but where do these thousands of fascinating stones come from foreign in the heart of Paris the Pierre and Mary Curie University is home to one of the world's best public collections it's a wondrous Universe containing more than 12 000 minerals offering a dazzling variety of colors and shapes only 10 percent of which are on show [Music] the curator Jean-Claude boyald explains how minerals are formed before at least the history of minerals the history of crystals is the history of our planet there are several phenomenon which allow the formation of crystals the most simple is cooling to begin with you have a molten material called magma and this magma cools as it cools at one point it will suddenly solidify and after a time there is the last part which Still Remains liquid where the rarest materials are concentrated it's in this last stage of cooling that we find Stones like tourmaline and topaz another way minerals appear is when two large masses of rock which might be hot but not necessarily molten come together in the zone where they come into contact chemical reactions occur for these chemical reactions to work well hot water must also circulate these are known as hydrothermal reactions Hydro meaning water and thermal meaning heat the mineral world has its own rules a crystal forms because of the position and the successive arrival of different elements the geometric forms come about because inside one after the other the atoms take up very particular positions the mineral world is a reservoir of color a reservoir of substances it encompasses a huge range of colors and Hues to give you some examples the presence of iron will often result in blues or greens a bit like copper other minerals will give more red colors so depending on the Purity you have different colors these amazing crystals can be found in the four corners of the world in the north of Tanzania a few miles from Kilimanjaro the highest peak in Africa one of the most beautiful precious stones can be found tanzanite briscoba is a Trader who visits mines All Around The World To Source the rarest minerals and gemstones which he will present in a few weeks at Tucson this is why he has come to meet the management of the tanzanite one company at the marilani site a few miles from Arusha the country's Second City foreign the site belongs to the Maasai tanzanite has been extracted from beneath their feet for more than 40 years hi guys good to see you again Antonio thank you thank you for the invitation so how deep are we going now we're going about on vertical we're going about 700 meters on on slope distance [Music] to begin with tanzanite was extracted by strip mining there was some crystals coming out but I mean they were nowadays miners have to go down nearly 3 000 feet to find the gems the company's geologists know there's no other choice than following the vein as far as it takes them whatever the cost it takes more than half an hour to reach the new Crystal galleries that have been recently blasted but they can never be sure what nature will yield they may find Fabulous specimens or inferior pieces this pocket ripped open overnight looks quite promising but the selection criteria for gemstones destined for cutting are very strict and leave a lot of waste [Applause] super quality of your production is very important you can produce a huge amount of carrots but you need to have the carrots together with a together with a quality of the tensile I'd be talking about the color and then the clarity also which is very important of course then cut coming into it but for us at the mining stage those are the two most important factors [Applause] it's a big block pin them anyway [Applause] more it's really incredible gentlemen has incredible triggerism it's the only gem in the world that has that trichoism it has a burgundy color this one's relatively blue it has some brown it's rather included there are some big bits inside that are real gems what an experience it was tough but very interesting I was very lucky today to be in the right place at the right time it's quite exceptional we're lucky to hit a pocket it's pretty incredible to be there just at the moment when they find a pocket you can scrape away with the miners try to see if there are any nice crystals there aren't a lot of people in the gemstone trade who come to the source at least that's what I do we descend three thousand feet we share the same tough work as the crew then we have little fun with the stone finder in the right place at the right time this passion for gems which he has shared with his brother Kristoff since the age of 12 was handed down from their father he taught the boys to detect the quality of the crystals contrary to what some might think the nice gemstones destined for the jewelry market are not necessarily those that the mineralogist would consider a great find collectors want intact natural crystals and if the crystal is damaged it cannot be used as a mineralogical sample for the collection in that case it has to be used for the gem Market precious stones are above all destined for the jewelry market which is much bigger the difference between gemstone market and the market for minerals is whether the crystallized rock is broken during extraction because as each Stone grows it forms a perfect Crystal and once this Crystal is broken it's destined to be cut and so goes the gem Market in Paris the big jewelry houses are also preparing to attend Tucson and of course Cartier have been regulars at this exceptional show no you have to remember Tucson is really in the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere and once a year it's gripped in a frenzy for Stones um it's all there in Tucson it's the most precious um the most beautiful the most rare uh alongside almost fake stones and it's interesting because we're really there to see what's on the market and um and there anything is possible so the marvels of the day uh right here we are trauma line Barrel Morganite it's a whole palette of color there's even an opal and a tanzanite it's it's a very nice tanzan knives you know I really like the shape but maybe we need a bigger one what do you think the color is fascinating I think it has a lovely shape it's completely natural and so um well it's very rare it's rare and the shape is really beautiful but I've heard about a bigger one which is supposed to be at Tucson um it'd be interesting to go and see it because that would allow us to make a more powerful you know creation four collection of Top Class jewelry what you have to remember is that the stones come first the stones lie at the origin of the creation so the inspiration comes from the stones they transport us make us dream and Inspire our Creations so we really depend on them to fire our imagination for a house like Cartier Tucson is a must all the Jewelers attend Tucson and it's it's funny to find all the big players from the place Von dorm and the jewelry world in the middle of the desert it's uh it's a little insane Greece left Arusha in a hurry to head for the minds of mahenge 500 miles to the South one of his contacts tipped him off about an exciting Stone in these open pit marble mines they find crystals of spinel on the rock spinal is a legendary Stone which can be easily confused with Ruby given its dazzling red color and amazing transparency it was in these Minds that the biggest block of uncut red sphenol found to date was extracted in 2007. it weighed nearly 115 pounds and from it almost 100 000 carats of gemstones were cut Dumbo my buddy ah thank you thank you you have some pink pink pink pink this is too Orange here it's okay we never like to travel for nothing here in this case we haven't had much luck this strange color is okay this is Pink I was supposed to see a really great Stone an exceptional spinel exception but apparently some Thai dealers were here yesterday and the stone has already gone to the Asian continent so I hope to find it perhaps in Asia or in Tucson and Tucson I'd mentioned the example of a geologist friend who was working on Emerald deposits and who had visited something like 60 Emerald deposits around the world and he arrives in Tucson and he says to me I've never seen an emerald in situ but in Tucson I found 40 deposits that I hadn't seen Tucson is the place where all minerals come together for one or two months for a curator or a collector it's the greatest treasure in the world the story of Arizona is the story of the conquest of the Wild West with its Cowboys its Stagecoach robbers and of course it's mines whether for gold copper or turquoise in those days people had the choice between the railroads cattle the bottom of a mine or The Gallows ever since mining activity has always held an important place in the Region's economy so it's not surprising that the founders of the mineral show decided on Tucson as its home [Music] the mining tradition of the Native American Apaches goes back long before the arrival of Europeans despite being small-scale the exploitation of the Peridot mines in the San Carlos reservation is a living reminder of this I'm a Native American from the Navajo and Apache tribe one of the tribal members here in on the San Carlos Apache reservation I'm prying out with my chisel and trying to find pockets for my business I love Stones it's once I got into it then that's all I've been dreaming about is peridot you can talk to any miners they'll they'll tell you they have dreams about it so I decided to call my company Peridot dreams Tucson here I come Stevie cannot resist the lure of Tucson he knows that Tucson offers him a good opportunity to meet clients others in the trade and people who are passionate about stones of all kinds foreign at last the Tucson show is underway the stands have all been erected the exhibitors are busy with the final touches for the presentations of their stones a lot of people think a four foot amethyst geode is big they they've never seen them this big this is my 35th year at the Tucson gym and mineral show I think it's a definitely a unique thing in the world it doesn't cease to amaze me even after 35 years The Kino complex alone welcomes some 15 000 visitors to its 175 stands everything is on display here from hard stones to uncut minerals and of course Stevie's Peridot crystals that's great because I met a lot of people so far all over the world I got probably about 20 business cards from all people all over the world they all want to do business with me I'm glad I'm here right now among regular visitors Jean-Claude never tires of returning to the show year after year this is copper ore that's the wealth of Arizona that's part of the job prospecting in the most unlikely places this is another Stone it's mukite it's a mineral quite close to our Flint a fossil radiolarian when it's polished you can obtain extraordinary effects like those you see here the interesting thing is that it tells a little of the history of our planet these alternating Stripes of iron oxide represent a particular event which is known as the great oxidation which corresponds to the appearance of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere across town at River Park the exhibitors there are also ready to go here's the largest flame Stone ever made in Brazil he made it it weighs 650 kilos around 1300 pounds he was shaped at Governor Valderas in the state of Minnesota giant pieces of quartz Hollow geodes of citrine slices of Agate these marvels of nature stir the passions of even the most seasoned professionals evoke Landscapes and uh especially stormy skies what I like is the nuances in color because it looks gray but in fact in that gray there is every color for me that's the Pinnacle of subtlety it's so beautiful I could spend hours here with the exception of two or three venues in Tucson everything is open to the public a detail which visiting kids love and which makes this event so special most of the city's hotels like the River Park the Holiday Inn the Tucson Inn and the Days Inn are taken over by GEM Merchants from all Horizons and it is unusual not to find the minerals you're looking for lapis lazuli chrysocola amethyst pink opal malachite saponite it's all here to be are not to be that is a great question what are the activities in Tucson involving hard Stones is carving or sculpture there are some lovely examples of sculpting here when you have big pieces of Tourmaline or Barrel which often contain a few flaws and which don't have an ideal color these are often sculpted into objects made from these Noble materials people have made sculptures of fish done in barrels things like that midway between the Kino complex and the precious stone exhibition lies the Tucson in in the Heart of the City this is no doubt the hotel which hosts the most nationalities and which offers the largest range of minerals they're good all right here the king-size beds take up too much space so they are requisitioned for displaying shelves or work desks but no one seems to mind [Music] meanwhile Jean-Claude is winding up his day at The Kino complex he has one last meeting with a merchant with some special minerals hi Turner let me see closer yes wonderful I'm looking for Stones which give off another color under a UV lamp that's a phenomenon known as fluorescence Tiffany stone is an intriguing mix it contains opal manganese oxides and fluorine and this mix of minerals produces fluorescent patterns which are very attractive and which make it a stone which is also used in gemology foreign [Music] [Music] which means more shows and fresh stones that will set pulses racing the world over the opening of two events exclusively dedicated to cut Stones gives the Tucson police force quite a headache the first of these The agta Gem Fair is strictly reserved for American dealers [Music] the second the gjx is open to gem merchants of all nationalities between them these two trade events bring together 1 million carats of stones with a combined value of several hundreds of millions of Euros these often rare stones are sometimes totally unknown to the public what we do here is we leave all our hard Stones aquamarine tourmaline sapphires at home we just bring rare stones many of the things people have never heard of before then let's go at the agta Bill Larson president of palagym is setting up his stand with his family his son tells us about the trade event there's probably a million carrots or more I wouldn't be sure exactly but there's plenty of other dealers I don't know the numbers on that but I have at least 12 friends who are all showing and the agta is one of the bigger shows here but there are several other shows in Tucson going on right now back to the GJ yeah one of the gemstone cutting factories in Germany and we are specialized for The Hunt of The Real McCoys in Africa days in the today's world more people who can appreciate this kind of million dollar Stones than in the past in the past everybody knows the four big Ruby Emerald Sapphire and the diamond it was just a lack of information the people who are not aware that there is so nice different kind of gemstones what is more rare than the four huge ones they know in comparison to the Rarity of a of a pure big flower right it is 10 times rarer than emerald with the same clarification of quality so when the end consumer come to realize that it is much more rare I can assume that we get in future the same price for a summer ride than for Emerald today the color is important and what is also important is giving a certain nobility to Stones which were not held in much esteem before precisely because the value comes from the association of precious stones with fine Stones it's rather a shame to limit oneself to a few Stones when Nature has created this whole variety of stones for us I mean it would be a sin not to use them who recently arrived in Tucson would be happy to confirm Mercy thanks look at that it's a tourmaline from Brazil the really amazing color it's an emerald shiver but as you can see with a blue issue yeah yeah you know that's the first time I've seen a parable like that and I must agree it's a beautiful color you know with with great depth yeah it's an exceptional Stone foreign in the name of Excellence alongside the show's open to The Wider public an exceptional event is held every year to showcase the most beautiful minerals on the planet although cut stones are made from parts of these minerals for certain collectors uncut minerals and crystals are worth much more than cut stones don't confuse them with a nice little collection of minerals that you might have at home years ago all over the world kids do have mineral collections I had a mineral collection when I was a child I bought those boxes that had the little minerals glued to them Agate amethyst all these stones in the names and I thought it was amazing and that these little stones that we start with can lead you to collect pieces of the same things that are that are truly art in every sense including the value of thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars you can have a sample of any species for an inexpensive price you can have fun you can collect these things but good specimens good pieces of course cost more this table is worth about two million dollars it consists of a variety of gemstones you you understand tourmaline aquamarine heliador this is a yellow Emerald everyone understands these but some of the most fun of collecting minerals as Treasures is to collect the things that are harder to learn about that you only see in museums and have to learn to understand it's a giant show made up of many shows as I became a dealer in the better specimens and met other dealers who dealt in finer pieces we realized that this is a difficult way to sell good minerals so we made our own show we looked at all the shows that were in Tucson and decided this is not the right environment to present really good minerals minerals at the prices of art minerals of high quality we needed our own shell so The Westward Look show was started as an elite venue to show fine minerals in a fine setting this is a nice resort it is away from downtown Tucson it is a pretty nature area and people can come up here and relax and enjoy the pieces this is another level we need to have our own venue while a ripple of excitement seems to be going around the big dealers about a mystery deal Rob levinsky is preparing to hold his own very special sale foreign luck wow I like this better than the car that's beautiful look at that okay what are we doing Steve but look at how gorgeous that is and this mineral is something that I would like to have and I think you might be interested in my car so why not make a trade Bentley calls this car if you can see the color of this car peacock blue this azerite is peacock blue to me they're very similar right so when I trade a mineral for a car and then I can I have a lot of cars so you're gonna give me a lot of minerals I think it's hard to part with a mineral yeah I know the mystery deepens oh I'm so glad you answered it Cynthia I'm still at the show I extended my stay because I think I mean we'll find out tonight but I think I found the gem at the show right right I'll look at it in a few hours that's what I want to know are you going to be available can I find you because there's other people interested we're going to have to bid and we're going to have to do it pretty fast and close after the treasures of Westward Look this venue is home to what is no doubt the best collection of minerals in Tucson his name is Daniel trinchello [Music] [Applause] more than a mere dealer Daniel Masters all the minerals which come into His Hands [Music] with state-of-the-art laboratory preparation in a pinch he can spend several weeks on a piece to bring out its natural perfection his perfectionism highlights the unique qualities of each specimen put it over here [Music] that case is almost ready in displays that make them worthy of the premiums they command so it's no surprise that this company is about to reveal the mystery that has been hanging over Tucson for the past few days foreign you know I can't talk about something like this well let's just say that I'm very disappointed I was after something very precious and you know there's somebody there in front of me so and I don't think it's going to get away I think uh I did my best it's something I've known about it's come out of somewhere in Africa you know it's a song tonight we're holding a special sale I have two stones to sell which are extremely rare so there's a bit of stress a bit of tension let's say but I'm confident because it's really extraordinary material and I'm the only person with it so that's great maybe you want to look at them one more time absolutely sure it is got my offer right I think I think a fair offer people are weighing the options of this opportunity to Unique opportunities they're unique gemstones that's true but you know it's also hard to assess their value and present if you're offer yeah we recognize that but at the same time they are something that you cannot duplicate you cannot duplicate with dollars it has an intrinsic value added it does that's why I submitted an offer in dollars that's true I saw something incredible and I am confident that the brand that I represent will get the bid so I'm looking forward to it that's all I can say so are you a buyer for these Stones it's a great day too late to see such wonderful stuff so I know I never been there maybe the others involved will tell you I'm not authorized to say the secrecy is part of the whole I'm not allowed to view these minerals because they ask me not to talk about it no one will ever know the destination of these pezzotites also called Imperial morganites from Madagascar nor how many millions they cost but that's part of the magic of Tucson don't ask don't tell [Music] thank you yeah hey I think I think I have the what you're looking for yeah yeah totally I could be there in like 15 minutes all right yeah I'll be right there all right bye-bye another feature of this show is how it brings together men and women from all walks of life who all share the same passion for minerals whether they are billionaires or Hermits everybody calls me Barefoot and I travel around all over selling buying trading and facilitating deals with other people for gemstones minerals and things like that usually during the summer I do a lot of festivals and things like that I'll do my gem box and security at the same time which is kind of strange but it works really really well because nobody suspects that your security when you're carrying a rock Box looking at rocks all day yeah I'm one of the most free dealers on the planet I don't not really attached to money so it's kind of neat because I can take stones that normally I wouldn't be able to afford in cash and trade several stones for it and then take that stone and get two more that are even more nicer but not as expensive and trade those for even more stuff to get even more expensive stones if that makes any sense barefoot's passion for Stones is more important than money and there's no question of in missing the 60th anniversary of the Tucson gem and minerals show good morning ladies and gentlemen I would like to welcome everyone to the 60th annual Tucson gem and mineral show we are extremely pleased that you're here to join us as our guests the celebration of 60 years by the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society this is the only show which isn't exclusively dedicated to business and the only one where the enthusiasm for Stones can be read on every face the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society hosted its first show in 1955 this is our 60th annual Tucson gem and mineral show in 1955 a small group of intrepid collectors in Tucson said good idea first show at the Helen Keeling Elementary School 10 dealers 60 years later we have 250 dealers and 20 000 guests from all over the world visiting a four-day show exceptional minerals skull captures in Native gold cut stones and mineralogical Antiquities it's all here for the pleasure of visitors and exhibitors alike what's your favorite color do you see your favorite color in here you all like that one yeah it's very cute that's a fluorite what about the shiny ones like this we have a couple of locations in Tucson many of the larger dealers exhibit earlier in the show and then show up again here for what was the original show and we saved some special pieces to Premiere here for the top customers and we also put on an exhibit for the public who may not have known about the other shows maybe they only come this weekend the Tucson show now is so big we don't even know how big but this is still the heart of the show the main show here at the convention center is the heart and soul of the Tucson show and the people who started this over 50 years ago all come here and remember it if you can only come for one weekend it will be here I think being at this show is better than being in a natural history museum you can touch things you see more variety no natural history museum has so much of what's here it's incredible access to the show for children has always been a priority and they are delighted by some of the stands okay stop right there oh my God probably a little bit of iron in the center so what do you think guys with representatives from the world's major museums and all the great collectors this is the heart of the action in Tucson the next step for me after the Tucson exhibition is a meeting in the minds of Paula to see a pocket of kunzite there's a mine there that I've wanted to visit for a long time that's the tourmaline Queen mine Tucson is a Crossroads for stones and these Treasures will continue their route from here before being transformed into New Creations [Music] [Applause] some of the stones we found in Tucson have arrived so now we can start to work around them uh here's the prize Stone uh tanzanite a natural 79 carats very rare especially in this Sugarloaf shape now you're right to put it on your wrist because it would be just right for a bracelet in terms of the theme it would be interesting to go on a trip to Tanzania yes yes to draw inspiration from the Landscapes so you can always have a nasty surprise when you see a stone in a different light and it's true that the light in Tucson is particularly pure the stone captures the surrounding colors and it's different when you see them back here where the colors are colder so those warm tones disappear and then you can really have some nasty surprises to avoid any sort of nasty surprise each stone is assessed by a specialist Laboratory I know the aim of what we do is to analyze the stones the most important factor for our clients is the presence or absence of treatment we know that many stones are heated treated or otherwise modified to enhance them here we have an exceptional Stone an exceptional tanzanite which was sent to us by a major Jeweler who of course wants to verify its nature we can confirm whether it is indeed tanzanite then we can use our instruments to check for the presence or absence of treatment the main stages of this are weighing various other measurements and taking photographs and then we'll move on to some more complex apparatus for some deeper gemology to verify the presence or absence of treatment so there are various stages of analysis to confirm the Stone's true nature meanwhile Jean-Claude boyar is back at his Paris collection [Music] this year Tucson was a pretty good Hall traditional veins were quite fruitful and gave their yield of good Stones the gemstone Market is going through some radical changes there are a lot of deposits that have opened up in the last 30 years such as China China is one subcontinent which is opened up so there's a plethora of new deposits yielding things we never imagined before Pakistan is another in fact all the Himalayan countries are producing a lot at the moment it's extraordinary we've never seen that before now I'm going to bring the minerals to what I hope will be their definitive resting place they'll be well presented for the appreciation of the public at Cartier a stone is not just a stone there is also everything it evokes a country a tradition a history the designers draw inspiration from this to produce the first stage in the life of a piece of jewelry foreign on each side by sections that are like slabs to give the impression that the stone is bursting out from the snowy top of this mountain yeah I really get what you're trying to do there um that's really interesting the evocative power that you've given it in relation to the mountain uh you can really see it searching up that's exactly what it needs that's that's all just perfect once approved by the management the design will gradually become reality regardless of its complexity it can take more than a year to produce such a piece a jewelry house as prestigious as Cartier with its inimitable skill demands the time it takes to achieve perfection [Music] the metal frame is in dry gold there are bands with diamonds and two bands are displayed out with little strips here I'm checking the adjustment of the stone before inserting it [Music] that is perfect the stone doesn't move now we can move on to setting the crystals the crystal is encased to give it more life and not confuse it with Plexiglas which would be a shame for such a fine piece the total time to assemble a piece like this is about 48 hours like every year a strange ceremony accompanies the arrival of the minerals from Tucson at the Parisian Museum these minerals will take their place among the other marvels of nature in these impressive showcases [Music] it's a collection that is more than two centuries old which was created at the sorban and which has now become the collection of the Pierre and marichuri University its primary missions were for teaching and research which continues to carry out but there is a third museum mission which involves presenting to the public the most extraordinary offerings of the mineral World which means trying to obtain the best specimens with the resources we have at least the best we can afford possible the Paris collection today has some 1400 specimens on Show and The Quest for New pieces is endless Jean-Claude knows these splendors will always be here on display and that he can contemplate them without ever tiring of their exceptional Beauty for Jacqueline karashi things are very different yeah on the contrary she has to get used to seeing works that have been created here over many months head off to new homes seeing a piece of Fine Jewelry to which we have dedicated months of work to go out of the door means that the piece has been immediately accepted and loved that means it touched someone's heart but above all it means we were not wrong and that A Love Affair which is over for us is a love affair that is beginning for someone else over and over history carries on there's no reason to become attached we love them and perhaps one day they may be part of our Cartier retrospectives and then they will be raised to the ranks of works of art what could be greater recognition for us than seeing our Creations attaining the status of art the real Destiny of a jewel is to be worn to be loved and admired so now we have to pass them on hope they'll be appreciated [Music] and here we go this is the mine now we're arriving at the ocean view it's a pretty fun your power as planned Greece beats Carl Larson on the site at the palomine in California on yet another quest for the ultimate gemstone Bill Larson and his family have been exploiting their own minds here for several years extracting tourmaline and kunzite this passion can take on the proportions of a fever that rules over one's daily life what the hell is it what is that I think it's a kunzite it's going to be purple all right I'm going to wrap this one up continue that's a good time my family moved here when I was eight years old and my dad would support whatever hobby I had butterflies or whatever and minerals stuck we came to Palo when I was literally eight and a half years old we found a shorel tourmaline on this mountain Chief Mountain we started in the mines when we were very young maybe three or four years old and when you pull something like that out of the ground you get an energy and excitement that uh nothing else in the world can give you mining has been and always will be something that's a part of the Larson family we've been mining since we were born and Dad's been mining since 1969 and is it a passion yes is it a sickness probably as well but we all love it it's in our vein it never stops it's like a circle that is that has no end because the passion is so deep that we have to find and even if we found something great we're happy but we look forward to the next one [Music] hearts and souls of those who lose themselves in the sparkle of these crystals an addiction to Beauty to all that's rare or unique and which irresistibly pulls one back to where everything began there were these countless crystals still lie dormant after billions of years yet to be torn from the earth for the pleasure of contemplating them that nature will never cease to Astound us [Music]

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Length: 52min 52sec (3172 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 24 2023