Rock shops around Fredricksburg/Austin

Hi,

I will be coming to see my daughter this Friday and was wondering about rock shops
in the Austin or Fredricksburg and vicinity.

Thank you. I belong to the Everett, Washington Rock and Gem Club.

Karyn

Hi Karyn,

In Austin you might try Dyer's Wells Branch. It's more of a jewelry maker's supply shop, but they do carry minerals as well. There are other shops in the Central Texas area as well.

In Bertram, Texas you can find Balcones Gem and Mining Company. At Lake Buchanan, Don's Rock Shop specializes on faceting Texas blue topaz and has a good selection of mineral specimens. On the square in Downtown Llano, you can find a lot of local mineral specimens at the Llano Uplift Rock Shop. This shop is currently re-opening after two decades, so they're still sorting out the boxes of specimens from the 1980's.

I'm sure that there are more, but these are the shops of which I an most familiar.

Frank

Hi Franklin,

Thank you so much for the information. My daughter is able to be off more days from work then we expected so will check out all your suggestions.

I appreciate the information very much.

Sincerely,

Karyn

Hello Karyn.....I don't know if they're still open, but, in Fredricksburg there was "Sticks & Stones" owned by a good collector especially of rare Terlingua minerals.

Don S.

Don, when I was in Terlingua and Lajitas for a huge mountain bike race, I went off with a local on our bikes to an old mine. The wood structures were still in great shape as the desert doesn't rot the timbers. We ventured into a mine shaft but I felt concerned about the fact that it ended up being a big hole in the ground and no cell phone service there. So, I was not willing to risk injury and simply enjoyed the "feel" of the mine and old buildings.
It was a good 2 hour mountain bike ride over very old and washboard roads that had seen better days. I doubt anyone had been there in ages and I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what it was like to work there a hundred or so years ago. There were no signs warning people not to trespass or anything, it was simply long deserted. Luckily we packed large amounts of fluids and some energy snacks for the ride. I wish I had known more about mining while there and this was pre-digital cameras.
It was a memorable trip none the less.

You might try Nature's Treasures, which has large decorator specimens, stuff
for the metaphysical crowd, and a lot of minerals. There are a couple of locations
in Austin.

Also Earthworks in Round Rock, which has mining artifacts, in addition to minerals
and fossils.

Paul