Stones

Jeff had potentially found the vaunted Benitoite boulder that was famous treasure hunter/mineral collector lore. Originally found in the newly formed State of California, the miner who had found the gem in 1904 but could never confirm the type of stone and stored the “dark blue rock”. That miner did not stay in California after striking out at mining, he returned to Texas near Fort Worth to start a supply and service business for oil producers and made a good life for himself. During his years he stored his valuables in the local bank, never married and did not leave a will upon his death leaving his possessions to the bank.

Over 65 years later the little local bank used by Mr. Wall was finally sold. Jeff was a treasure hunter who also was in the oil business and had actually purchased the supply company from the Mr. Wall in 1961. This purchase toward the end of his career started his hunt for this bank. If the journal he found in the old business records were correct, there could be a fortune of Benitoite in one of the special private vaults inside this bank unclaimed from Mr. Wall.

Since the gemstone was not classified till 1909 Mr. Wall had not taken the time or expense to classify the uncut stone, he simply knew it was not a sapphire or diamond so at the time no value. He had not found just a little rock, he found over one-thousand pounds of the gem and while he did not know its value he did know it reminded him of his failure in California and pushed him to succeed. This gem is one of the rarest in the world with a cut 1 carat gem worth up to $6,000. That was the treasure that had lured Jeff to this small town outside of Fort Worth, and why he had purchased this small bank for a small fortune.

Since the town was an oil town there were no records that would shine the light directly to the gem. Ownership of the bank had changed hands over the years and no one wanted to take the time, expense, or hardship of moving a 1000 pound rock. That this could be proved was the reason Jeff took the chance. Where Mr. Hall had found the rock was where the majority of Benitoite available in the world had been found, this must have been the first find but was 5 years before classification. Now was the time to confirm the hunch, and if correct make his fortune.

Jeff entered his new bank in the morning with the team hired to open the vaults thought to contain his rock. After the years he had spent searching for his fortune, for the dumb luck many would call it, Jeff was about to scratch his ticket to riches. While he did not know the team that was hired to open his vault he trusted his apprentice to find proper men to facilitate the work. This was one of the few times he did not hire the team members himself. The team member that Jeff did hire was the gemologist who would confirm the type of gem and then provide the initial estimate based on weight, color, and density.

Steve Baker was one of the top geologist in rare stones which is why he was hired by Jeff. Steve was a 25 year vet in the industry and was known for his knack of finding the big scores, and if confirmed this would be the biggest score anyone had ever encountered.

This fact was not lost on Jeff, he was skeptical about everyone hired or involved in his find and because of this had hired a private group to guard him, the location, and the stone when found. The group, Intrepid, was known world-wide for their professionalism and results and Jeff would be expecting nothing less from this work. His main concern was geologist Steve, Jeff knew his reputation and the risk and had informed the team assigned to guard his bank.

There were 4 known large vaults within the bank and Jeff had the ownership information for these which meant that the vault of Mr. Hall was hidden at another part of the bank. To find this part he had ground penetrating radar equipment that would allow him to map any hidden or closed up areas within the bank. Instead of moving such a large “rock” previous owners would rather close up forever the vault holding Mr. Walls riches, Jeff was hoping.

One person that knew for sure was the bastard son of Mr. Hall, Steve Baker. He had become a geologist because of his love of rocks, and the hope that he would find riches one day in a hidden trove of gemstones. While he was not accepted by Mr. Hall as his son, he did know there was a good chance Steve was his son from his looks, mother, and age. Steve also had lived in this small town his entire life and took a liking to the bank once he learned of the large “rock” recently stored in the bank with a dark blue tint.

That rock had focused Steve, made him move to California to track the source and become the world renowned expert in Benitoite. His hunch and the years of worked paid off when Jeff called with a job in his hometown. Upon returning home he was eager to get started and went straight to the home of the former bank manager to discuss the inner set up of the vaults. All his planning and training was about to pay dividends, he and Jeff were standing above the location the radar had indicated which matched the managers breakdown.

The pile driver started breaking ground and thankfully for Jeff and Steve there was not much to break. They found the prize only 2 hours after starting and now Steve was in the makeshift lab testing the stone fragments that were broken from the rock. To the surprise of everyone except these two men the stone was confirmed and upon lifting the gem from its grave the full weight and magnitude of the find was realized.

Steve had first told this story to his sons and was now telling his grandsons, since that day in the 60’s life had changed for Jeff and Steve to the point of no return. He had a dream and fought, this and not the treasure was the message he continually stressed to his family, find your dream and like him you can make it happen.