Nature Haven Rocks!
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.
Tags: collections, plugs
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 am
I’ll have to go check them out! I have heard a lot of good things about NH but never seem to remember to stop when we are shopping in Peoria. What really caught my eye was your mention of the petrified fish! You can never have too many of those! BTW…good choice with the chess set! And a really good deal! Psssst..did you see any flamingo’s there? hehehe
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:10 am
Y’know, I don’t remember seeing any flamingos, but I didn’t have time to go through all the laser-etched glass blocks towards the back of the shop. They had all kinds of neat designs back there, along with white- and color-lit bases for ‘em.
I’m not sure what the pricing was for the fish, but they had samples big and small. I was particularly interested in one item which had maybe eight trilobites still emerging from the rock matrix. Very cool, but possibly out of my price range. The most expensive thing I noticed was a $5000 chunk of rock with orange crystals on it. It was enormous. I couldn’t tell what kind it was (maybe just colored quartz), but it had the orange sort of hue that citrine has, but the crystals were shinier/clearer/more terminated than any samples in my collection.
Heh, that last picture was the way I saw it in the shop. PREEEETTYYYYY.
Mission: sell body parts to supplement rock collecting.
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:13 am
I am not sure but I think Mr. Collector used to get a discount for referring people. He was always handing out business cards. Check it out and see if it applies and I will mention your name when I drop some cash there. It’s better than selling body parts! Free advertisment must be worth something!
March 24th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Oh, I love the chess set. I’ll have to add that to my xmas list for my son for next year. I also love looking at all the rocks. We’ll have to make a stop at NH.