Ploprof

 

Awesome! Being an opal fanatic myself, we've been to the Ridge a couple of times on buying trips. Did you actually go there? If not, you should if you are into opals. Here's a few I bought the last time I was there...





These two I've kept as part of my own collection...



This is my prized one - best "Chinese writing" opal I've ever seen...took me two trips to the dealer 6 years apart to convince him to sell it to me at the price I was willing to pay...



Here it is set...bit clearer photo:



And unfortunately I didn't have $120k on me to buy this one, but ti was beautiful...



The Ethiopian opals have made the market here very soft for top quality opals, but we are not in an area where people have really seen good black opal before, so most people have no idea it even exists...they are used to opal being this...



Hope you enjoy yours - nice bright green flash...what are your plans for it?

Cheers, Al

 

I love your opals! I haven't been there but I would love to go soon. This opal I have is really interesting as it has bright red and orange bursting through both sides and bottom of it in areas so I'm still thinking how to go about it.

 

That is incredible. I didn't know it existed and now I NEEEED one.

 

Gotta say, those are some awesome opals. I have a hurtin' 4 gm nearly clear on my desk because my wife wanted me to get one but she's really freaked by them (cultural thing). @Archer, your "Chinese Writing" opal is maybe the most impressive I've seen, and I've spent plenty of time at the Tucson shows over the years, I can see why it took some negotiation.

Now for my contribution, it seems the Cousins Bunny came by and took a shit on my porch:



I finally got the Horotec 2824-2 and Valjoux 7750 movement holders I've been drooling over, plus the Bergeon holder with the seconds staff post for setting the seconds hand on my array of 2824 based movements. Likewise, in the upper right corner is a Horotec hands setting tool so I can set hands without being a klutz (hopefully).

I already have a Bergeon 30180A four-pot oil stand but it's currently full of oils (HP-1300, 9010, 9415 and 9405 if I remember correctly). Looking at tech sheets, I need to add 9501, HP-1300-SC(both already purchased) and HP-500. When the list was just a couple additional oils, I was going the Bergeon Oil Cup approach, but as the list approached four, the thought of another oil pot set, with the addition of the weight and not knocking it about the bench became a thing. Looking at four separate Bergeon cups vs. the four-cup pot was about £40 so I ventured the difference.

From Cas-Ker, I bought the dropper bottle and the Epilame bottle:


(Somehow the dropper disappeared from sight). The epilame bottle is the one they say is from Germany and it looks to seal well but that little basket isn't large enough to hold a stem or plate. I have the Zenith plastic bottle that will suffice for both and I intend to use it, only to transfer used epilame to this bottle when done.

Any opinions?

 

I gotta say you must be a billionaire to be able to afford an epilame bottle!

What are those damn things made of, unobtanium?

 

It was about $90. Yes, a bit expensive for what you get, but how many of us actually need an epilame bottle, so it's not exactly a commodity. I bought this one as the Moebius model was truly expensive ($160) and the other one that Cas-Ker offers needs a separate basket; they recommend the Bergeon 26mm screw-together one. I have a couple but wasn't thrilled at the idea of all that epilame collecting in the basket, only to dry out with each use. This seemed a little more efficient but unfortunately they didn't show how shallow the basket actually is. Sure, it's fine for most parts; only stems and plates are questionable.

I've seen @Archer's pictures of a plastic basket but I was afraid to go that route as it wasn't clear how the basket attached to the bottle and I didn't want to buy several bottles before I found the one that worked correctly. And, the answer is probably the Moebius one at $160. I am a cheapskate, afterall.

Oh, it appears to be composed of glass, plastic and stainless steel. Some factory in Germany is laughing as they read this.

 

If you are concerned about the basket you use being overly coated by epilame, just use it to clean parts in your cleaning machine and it will be fine.

The plastic basket is not attached in any way to the bottle - it just fits inside the enlarged section of the bottle and moves around freely in there. It can also be used to clean parts in the cleaning machine apparently, but I've never used it for that.

The whole epilame bottle thing is interesting. Back when I started using epilame, the old bottles it came in had a screen in the top so you just used the bottle the solution came in to do all the treatments. Unscrew the cap, drop the [parts into the bottle with the screen keeping them at the top, screw the cap on, invert, and the parts were submerged. Then it appears someone realized you could make a lot of money by eliminating the screen in the top of the epilame bottle, and make people buy a separate bottle!

At the moment I am using Episurf-Neo rather than Fix-O-Drop. It does not require heating after treatment like FOD does, and the solvent is not nearly as volatile, so I now simply dip the parts in the solution right at the bottle, and no longer use any baskets or epilame bottles. At least for the time being it seems to work well.

 

rolex tshirts from rolliworks

 

2 metal dealer signs. 1 hanging 1 table 1940s-50s. These signs are built like tanks.

 

Whoops...........forgot that I'd bought this a few weeks ago (the plaque, not the watch).

 

very nice. I’m a total sucker for vintage ephemera and advertising

 

^^Nice choice; I know that doesn't come cheap. I'd love to get a copy someday.

[Update, just bagged a copy. Thanks for the impulse.]

Here's an item that I picked up at the beginning of Feb. at the Tucson Gem and Jewelry show, a Simp-Q-S photo hood.



There were plenty of other vendors selling similar things but I was impressed by the spectrum of their lighting (dual fluorescent bulbs with beautiful color balance) and the variety of add-ons to vary the camera position and light diffusion. Here are some additional shots:

The box:


The guts (BTW, it also comes with a black background for those shots):


Ready for action:


Some examples of subjects (all were taken with an iPhone 11 by hand):





I'm looking for a horizontal bar camera mount so I can position a real camera over the subject. I have a few point and shoots that do excellent macro photography including our recent purchase of an Olympus TG-6 for diving; the microscope function is amazing. It makes me consider buying another just to keep from having to take the current one in and out of the dive housing.

 

So, my copy finally arrived in the post today:



My first impression was that it's big and heavy. I found it amusing that I paid over $100 and the customs form said $29; I wonder where the other seventy bucks went?

As far as content, it is very thorough, although I could see another three or four pages dedicated to some subjects (like metallurgy) but others are covered in high detail (chronos). It will take a while to finish; fortunately I'm essential with very little to do at work at the moment.

 

WerenbachsUhr a little 14 by 19 cm booklet on the creation of Werenbach wristwatches, made from Soyuz launchvehicle scrap metal
.

 

Well, technically it's not a watch!

 

Omega stopwatch MG 6315 with tachymeter. I’m not a stopwatch collector but this one spoke to me. You so rarely see an Omega stopwatch with a tachymeter. Plus great colors on the dial.

 

Hmm, I think the last watch related item I got was a watch roll.
At around the same time got the Moon Watch Story book, straps and burgeon spring bar tool but can’t remember in what order.
Was also about to order a deployant but then the lockdown started to hit.