12 Terrace Review — Wednesday, Feb. 5, 1986

Dubrovnik — loaking down the wall from the Minceta
Fort. Fort Lovrijenac is on the point at the right.

Ammolite a
]
rockhound’s
delight
By Daniele Berquist
TERRACE — A unique new gemstone called Am-
molite is now available at Northern Light Studio.

Found only in southern Alberta, this enhances the
value of this gem, said Kaye Ehses, manager of the
studio.

Ammolite is the mineralized form of an upper
Cretaceous fossil, the ammonite Placenticeras, anda
very beautiful North American gemstone. The
mineral compositon of this gem is aragonite, Iron
Silica, and Titanium, with traces of copper which
gives the red coloring; the barium gives a blue color
while the magnesium found in the gem gives a green
color.

Each piece is hand cut finished and one of a kind,
said Ehses. More than 70 million years ago a life

form called ‘‘ammonite’’, roamed the sub-tropical
seas that bordered the Rocky Mountains. In 1981

the new organic gemstone was recognized as am-
molite by the International Colored Gemstone Com-
mission (CIBJO).

Another stone called jade is found around Ogden
Mountain and Dease Lake. Ehses said that there are
no local jade carvers so it gets processed in Van-
couver and sent back to Terrace. She added that the
studio would like to hear from anyone who can carve
jade.

Very near the Skeena, amethist is found along with
garnet on the way to Prince Rupert at the gravel pit.

Up the Copper River, interesting fossils, said
Ehses, from the gurafich age can be found. It’s ap-
proximately 30 miles in along the river road, where
bed shell and fish shells can be seen.

Found only in the Queen Charlottes is archilite,
Ehses said. Pieces are carried out by the Haida In-
dians and totem poles can be carved from this as well
as bowls and pendants.

Other gems to be found at the studio are black
opal, amber onyx, the blue agathe, rose quarts, black
jade and rhodonite which is a pink stone with white
and black. Jewelry such as necklaces are made from
it, Ehses said.

Search for gemstones

Local resident Ron Jacob locates gemstones for a
hobby, Jacob, of Terrace, said that whenever he’s
out for a walk he’s always looking on the ground to

try to finda gemstone. Jacob said the chances ofever

finding a gem are oneina million, but it’s fun trying.
A machine can be used in a gemstone area to
enlighten a specific gravity of gemstone. It’s not like
a metal detector, he said, but it works on the gravity
of the gemstone. When vibrated the gem tends to
creep up, he noted.

Jacob said that a potassium clear crystal gemstone
and only garnet can be found in the Nass volcanic
area, and that to find a gem is not easy as it sounds,
You have to know what you’re looking for, he ex-
plained.

_ Shopping canbefun _
in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia —

Terrace resident Teresa Unger and her husband, Len
Winter, recently visited Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia.
Here, ‘Teresa describes a day of shopping in the
Placa.

stood in the middle of
the Placa and announced
‘¢ there isn’t a ‘darn’
thing to buy in_ this
town...’’.

After spending a cer- _—[ don’t know where he
tain amount of time pok- had been, but we found
ing in stores, I begged to delicate crystal, exotic

by Teresa Unger

Shopping

differ with the man who glass ‘objects d’art’, and

Icons by Yugoslavian ar-
tists that were beautiful
and some quite expen-
sive.

Yugoslavia is known
for its fine leather work,
which was well repre-
sented in the shops.
Hand crafts were every-
where, my favorites were
the brooches in silver
filigree. And of course,
the ever-present mounds
of tourist mementoes

Terrace resident, Len Winter, in Dubrovnik — the main street, Placa, between the Fran-
ciscan Bell tower at the laft and the City Bell tower at the far and of the street.

Dubrovnik harbor _ filled with small vessels, behind the breakwater, on the right, the
ihree arches, once the shipbuilding facillty, Is now the large restaurant, Gradska

Kavana. On the teft is Fort St. John.

oe

Dubrovnik ~ looking south from favorite suntanning rocks by St. John's 8 Fort. Behind
the boat Is the Excelsior Hotel and to the right Is the Argentina Hotel.

and memorabilia. But
this was all to be found
on the Placa or one street
over on the Od Puca.

There was also the
state department store,
Robna Kuca, where we
had a delightful lunch at
the roof-top terrace
restaurant. We were
mainly interested in
Yugoslavian products,
but one of the little shops
on the Od Puca sold Levi
jeans at a price con-
siderably less than we
pay here.

At Babin Kuk, in the
shopping complex be-
tween the Hotel Tirena
and Hotel Argosy, we
found a Wrangler Blue
Jean store. All of the
‘Foto’ shops had Kodak

. film for sale, their adver-

tising was everywhere.
The restaurants carried
Pepsi Cola, but we saw
Coca Cola too.

But the best find of all
was their real ice cream.
Tucked away on a little
side street was a tiny
shop that sold real ice
cream, with little bits of
ice and fruit, the flavors
were so rich and real,

Shopping can be fun,
especially when finding
fascinating new things.

Walls of
Dubrovnik |
The really special

thing about the walls of
Dubrovnik, is that you

can walk all the way .

around. We decided to
scale the walls on Friday,
Sept. 6, and it did feel
like scaling them; there
are thousands of steps
and I think they all went
up.

The original town had
been on an island, which
by the 10th century had a
wall around it, but in the
next century the narrow
strait separating it from
the mainland was filled
in; this became the main
street, the Placa.

By the 16th century,
new walls had been built,
added to, replaced and
re-fortified until they
looked much as they do
today. I really ap-
preciated the modern ad-
ditions — railings, in the
few spots that had none.

It was a novel way to
see the city, looking
down on the narrow
streets and the red tiled
roofs, for which the
town is famous. Being
on the massive walls, so
high above the ground
and sea, seemed so safe
and secure. A marvellous
way to spend a few hours
in the cool of the morn-
ing.

Next week Teresa des-
cribes the journey inland
to Mostar, one of the
hottest spots in Yugo-
Slavia.

b