California Jade

Sam and the Jadeland story of how I became Jaded.

Sitting around one summer evening with a good friend Nancy, over a glass of wine, the direction of our conversation turns to jade. It is now jade o’clock she tells me. I have something to show you….Out of her purse comes a stone, that little do I know, will change the direction of my life. Nancy produces a natural jade nugget, botryoidal in nature and light blueish in color. Of course I ask what is this? It is botryoidal jade from Northern California, she proclaims. But it isn’t green, I reply. Not all jade is green she tells me. I study the nugget carefully in the perfect lighting of Jade O’clock. So begins my jade education, escapades, collection, fascination, and eventually business dealing with California Jade and specializing in the botryoidal masterpieces. Jade o’clock is the time when the sun is about half an hour before setting over the Pacific, the time is unmistakable when looking at jades. They look the very best at Jade O’clock. Nancy is loved in the California jade community and she introduced me to Lotus. Lotus is a fabulous jade artist. She carves whimsical figures, selects and drills natural bubbly jade nuggets for jewelry and has hunted the elusive stone for decades. I purchased my first jade boulder from Lotus and put it in my front yard. I learned there were places I could go and find some pieces myself. It was lots of fun but not as easy as I thought it would be. So, I made several trips back to see Lotus, and continued to pick up another piece from her, now and then, until I thought I had enough to do a rock show and try to make some profit. Valley Springs Pow Wow was probably the biggest Rock show in the state. It was set in a cow pasture that is transformed into a Rock collectors dream for a few days every year. What better place to show my jades? My son Andy and I set up camp and a small table filled with our California Jades. The first day is only dealers and they buy sell and barter like crazy. I get several offers for barter but want to wait for the public to get cash. Well not much cash comes that first show. So, right away I see that most of the dealers have a large selection maintained by frequently bartering their personal finds with other dealers for the stones the other guys found. Next show the selection of dealers is different and you don’t compete with the original miner and he isn’t competing with you. The trading was great at Valley Springs and so was the education. I learned quite a bit about selling jade and stones in general. The last day Andy and I traded away about 1/4 of our botryoidals to several different dealers in order to obtain a greater variety in inventory for the future. Now we had agate, fossils, some various crystals, carvings, and a really nice Mariposite that looked like a mountain range.  All of this complimented our still very nice selection of jades. The next shows were more profitable and I continued to offer trades as well as invest my sales monies in items that I knew would sell. The show circuit was fun and I got to meet some wonderful dealers and customers. It was now that the botryoidal jade pioneer Russ Satter (also known as Thea Surasu) appeared on my scene. He was a dynamic character and said he liked my style, blatant honesty, and work ethic. He began to supply me with some of the finest botryoidal jades I’d ever seen. Many people at shows said my jade inventory was really fantastic. As my sons got older and didn’t want to spend every weekend schlepping rocks with Dad, the show circuit became very difficult. With lots of help, I opened our store, the Rock Stop, in a metal warehouse on Hwy 128. I knew Russ had cancer and the next time I saw him he was getting sicker. I had him move into my house and I cooked him great organic meals, he played his guitar, taught me everything he could about jade. Russ knew he was dying. I promised Russ I would mentor his son Thor. Russ made it possible for me, a silent partner, and another never silent partner, to take title to his jade bearing property that we now call “Jadeland”. Thor owns the mining claims surrounding “Jadeland” so our relationship has always been synergistic. Thor moved to my place for a couple of years and we learned a lot together. He is now graduated from college in Oregon with a degree in Geology. We are very proud of him. So completes the story of how I became JADED!