Here are some of our finds from our favorite rockhounding destination, Franklin, North Carolina. To see more, and some of our videos and reviews of places up there, feel free to check out my Franklin gem mining "fan page" - http://pakasdollmaker.com/gemmining.html

This first pic is a 34 or 35.5 ct. (depending on which reading you go by; got a couple different ones, lol) pinkish-bronze sapphire from Cherokee Ruby Mine , our favorite place up there. It is a completely unsalted mine where some of the best rubies in North America can be found; back in '93, the 1070 ct. "Cherokee Chief" was found there-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/bucfanpaka/masons...kee%202/100_0917.jpg

This next one is my husband holding a pretty violet sapphire and a ruby he found at Cherokee-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/bucfanpaka/masons...herokee/100_0712.jpg

Here are some sapphires from one of our trips to Mason's Ruby and Sapphire Mine , another favorite of ours. It is another completely native operation, and this one is dig-your-own; a lot of beautiful pink sapphires come out of this mine-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/bucfanpaka/masons...herokee/100_0694.jpg

Some more finds from Cherokee Mine-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/bucfanpaka/masons...ee%202/cherokee3.jpg

In this next photo, you see the results of having some of our finds cut. The top row of stones is from Cherokee, the bottom two from Mason's Ruby and Sapphire Mine-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/bucfanpaka/masons...kee%202/100_0763.jpg