HAHA I SO PUNNY. I heard about this place awhile back and saw it as we were pulling away from H&R Block today (durn taxes). I asked my wife to stop the car so we could check it out. She said okay.

Holy crap. I’d seen a picture of two amethyst pillars somewhere (They were still there. I just might buy ‘em), but I wasn’t prepared for what I found. The place has so much awesome stuff. I was surprised to find that a good deal of it was museum-caliber. Actually, I’m also surprised how hard it was for me to blog about them and give ‘em a well-deserved plug. This is the kind of place you want to keep a secret, hoping nobody buys that Jade carving you’re making eyes at, or that giant framed flying stick bug, or the exotic collection of butterflies, or maybe that petrified fish or trilobyte.

The place is awesome. It makes the St. Louis natural history museum’s rock shop looks like a muddy gravel pit.

We decided to buy a bamboo wind chime from Indonesia. They all sounded great and I eventually had to flip a coin to make a decision. Then, I saw the chessboard.

See, we didn’t really plan on buying anything. I just wanted to check the place out. So I see this gorgeous chess set in a velvety blue box. I asked how often they come across items like that, and he told me that this particular one was made by a man from Pakistan who owned a marble/tiling business. Unfortunately, the guy died, so for all he knew this was the last one. I had to get it. I asked my wife, since she had the money today. “Go for it.”

The pieces are hand-carved. If I were to guess, I’d say that some kind of rotating sanding tool was used to craft them. I can also make out marks from a file of sorts on the top of the non-pawn pieces. I’d imagine they were polished by hand because of the complex shape. The board and pieces are made of green and white onyx. Total price for the chimes and chess set: about $160, and well worth it. Here are some pictures:

I guess you could say I’m proud of it, heh. Anyway, the staff was great, the selection was jaw-dropping. I will definitely be back to round out my collection. Check ‘em out.