Gem Art Jewelry / Astorite Collection

Helen has carved several pieces in this extraordinary material called Astorite, mined only at the historic Toltec gold mine in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado. Astorite is a rare rock composed mostly of pink rhodonite along with various amounts of quartz mostly in the form of chalcedony, rhodochrosite, gold, silver and other minerals. Astorite is a trade name given to this material to honor its original mine owner, John Jacob Astor IV.