Description
Bull Canyon Wyoming nephrite jade wind slicked specimen – apple/emerald green
45.5 g 1.6 oz. & 17.01 g 0.6 oz – Use Quarter for size reference
Two nuggets of apple, emerald goodness and the smaller one shows the full nephrite replacement of quartz crystals in the form of surface protrusions. The larger nugget has a rich emerald green showing through in a few places, also featuring a few outcrops that may be replaced quartz crystals. Super rare to find, this small pair packs a lot of color and history for a price less then the many tanks of gas you would need to come up empty trying to find them today in the jade fields.
Any white spots on photos are LED light reflections or dust. Flashlight used in some photos is 176 lumens.
This piece was originally collected by a Lander, Wyoming ranching family back in the heyday of jade hunting in Wyoming during the 1940’s and 50’s. The family said all the pieces they had were from the Bull Canyon/Happy Springs collecting area and gave me an accurate description of how to navigate there. Here’s your chance to own a rare Bull Canyon specimen.
Info about Bull Canyon, Wyoming
Most all jade sold as from Bull Canyon is actually from a localized area of around 10 square miles centering around the actual Bull Canyon and spring that I call the Bull Canyon Complex. To the east it stretches to Ice Slough and to the West to Warm Springs and Alkali Creek. To the North it stretches into Sweeney Basin and Sweetwater Station and South to the Bison Basin oil field. Much of the jade was found in the numerous sandy moraines in the area but jade can pop up anywhere in this zone. Just to east of the actual canyon and creek lies the famous Happy Springs area where there is a dammed spring which is the headwaters of Ice Slough. Bison Basin road crosses the western 1/3 of this area. This historic collecting area was famous for small (under 10 lbs) very uniqued shaped and colored nephrite jades, though some larger boulders were found in the early days. Most all of the area is low growing sagebrush, extremely windy and the roads can turn to impassible gumbo even after just one thunderstorm.
