11 thousand pounds of Zimbabwean springstone

[shona]

hey good people, a few months ago i mentioned that i had bought me some sprinstone from Zimbabwe and that i will sell some to anyone who is interested.
shippment arrives in longbeache mid April and the sizes range from 28 feet high individual rocks to small shoebox size. and the rocks will be sold cheap to help pay the bill so we can keep in touch via email till the day , then we meet in LA to veiw the stones.
the total poundage is alittle above 11000 pounds .
so if anyone is interested and can meet with me in LA , cool but if not cool still !
ian. :)

[Sysiphus]

hello shona. i might be very interested in buying some of that stone. i actually live in long beach so meeting with you won't be a problem. i'm not really familiar with springstone- how hard is it? i work almost exclusively with hand tools. i've worked quite a few pieces of marble but when it's that superhard stuff, nearly granite, it's really not much fun. what else can you tell me about springstone and do you have any pictures of examples? even if it is really hard, i'd love to meet up and have a look.

[shona]

sounds good to me !
ok springstone is just the name the stone was given by the late John Takawira, because of the way the stone chips ,spring when you are chipping it with your tools,which makes for very acurate removal of stone,this stone holds sharp edges too, the stone is actually a clean serpintine that is black with very tinny streaks of golds ,reds greens ,and puples when you look very close at the stone althought the stone is black .sometimes it comes with a brown skin which makes good texture color to a sculpture. the stone is black when sanded and polished and is grey when tooled.
i'd say that springstone is just alittle bit harder than carara marble but not as hard as picasso or granite, i have carved springstone with a sharpend flat screwdriver before.tell me if you need my email addres. look forward to seeing you then.
i think that after zimbabwean "wonderstone " ,springstone is second in quality,finish color and mostly strong energy and rareness.it's the same stone they carved thousands of years ago at " King Solomans mines" Great Zimbabwe ruins .

[Sysiphus]

thnx for the info. i looked it on the web too and it looks beautiful. i am defintitely interested so please keep me posted. thnx.

[EJB]

I'm in L.A. (Venice) and would be interested in a chunk. Let us know when you have a solid date.

[pdoratti]

Hey Shona, Amazing to hear that you have springstone! I am in Vancouver, Canada and would seriously like at least 2 thousand pounds or more depending on other artists around here. A few questions though, Is there skin on the stone untouched, how much per/lb, discount for more bulk? Hey could you send me your email and give me all the details? I was just going to order some from Miami for $2/lb and hope yours is alot less. thanks, pdoratti@hotmail.com

[shona]

hey guys, i am so chuffed to see this much response for the springstone.
ok heres the deal, i have more sculptors in the Bay area that are interested in some stone (few rocks)so i am definately gonna make the trip to SoCal mid APRIL to meet up with you guys, my email is ianknife@hotmail.com
pdoratti, the price of $2 per lbs would be perfect for the larger amounts of stone and i could sell you one whole crate of random small sizes which is 1 tonn, only you'd have to pay for the shipping to B.C.the reason i am selling some of the stone is just to share and mostly to help pay the costs of purchasing the stone and shipping from zimbabwe, i am a fulltime stone sculptor so i need much of the stone for myself, but when i do buy more springstone i will let you all know again ahead of time so we get enough for everyone.
pdoratti,Robert mugabe zimbabwe prez has put crazy customs charges on raw stone leaving zimbabwe, for every tonn of raw serpintine $1000usd is added and the quarry owner has to showup in person with proof of the sale ,destination and stone type,but...i have people in zim who can get things done for under $1000usd for every tonn (leagally).
springstone has been reclassified by the geological dudes in zimbabwe, it's a mineral and the only reason for this is that, mugabe wants to keep all the shona stone sculptors from fleaing zimbabwe for greener pastures . today in zimbabwe the stone sculptors are the highest payed people in the country, these guys own quarries and property cause there is'nt much going on there now...yep the sculptors are the wealthiest people in the country now.
a good example is, i sent $400usd worth of shoes & clothing for my daughters Naidene & Bernice on the 17 december 04 payed to arrive in zimbabwe 10-14 days, 3 months later the stuff gets ther and they had to pay $2.9 million zim to pickup the package in zimbabwe or it will be sent back $2.9million zim is more than what i bought the stuff for here in the USA, and i had to send them the money or have the stuff sent back to me 6 months later and not get a refund from the store i bought them from, so you see how F'd up my homeland is, it was once the jewel of the world! :mad:
oh , i am not sure of howmuch of the stone has skin on it but i am sure it will be a mixed bag of "talking stone"

[shona]

hey y'all. the stone is in the states and theres been a change in plans. i am no longer travelling to LA to pickup the stone , instead i will have a semi deliver to my New Mexico studio. if anyone needs some you'd have to pay the shipping.i have a truck that will be leaving New Mexico for Vancouver B.C with 1200 lbs for PDORATTI so if anyone wants some stone please email me so we can arrange for the semi to drop in LA, i think that this way everyone chips in for the shipping and cut down on the cost, so anyone inroute from New Mexico to B.C , holla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D