Gemfest has come & gone and so have most of the Tourists. The elections seemed to have had a big effect in more ways than one. A lot of Tourists left earlier just to get home to vote.
Gemfest had a record number of stall holders this year which gave extra variety for the people attending the show. Gemfest was so lucky with the weather. The rain came just before the setup and Steve, the Work’s Officer, kept the stall holders out until it had dried, which saved the ground from being ripped up too much. Unfortunately the Birdsville’s Races did not have the same luck with their event being washed out. This was their first weather related cancellation in its 128 year history.
Congratulations to Mrs Hilt who won our $200 Jewellery Voucher that we donated to Gemfest as part of their Multi Draw Raffle.
September has seen unseasonal rains with this being the wettest September since we arrived in 1988. The wet weather has caused havoc for those coming here to mine in the school holidays. However I know the reason for this cloudy weather, we installed solar panels on our house!!!! Though the other reason could be that they have started on the Gemfields Swimming Pool! The Swimming Pool is going where the Lions Park used to be in Sapphire, near the Fire Shed & Free Camping Area.
With the tourist season being quiet Mark actually got some mining done until the rain came. He picked up a lovely 61.7ct parti colour sapphire with a big patch of yellow in it. He is presently contemplating how to cut it.
We are increasing our postcard range. All photos used are of our mining & jewellery range. So keep an eye out for them when you are next in the shop.
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Newsletter Prize: Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Evered from Victoria who are the lucky recipients of this newsletter prize. This month’s prize winner was picked from the customer base who answered the last newsletter’s quiz question correctly. A Wooden Multi Ring Box is on its way to them. |
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The winner was computer generated from those who answered the question correctly. The winning answer was Buddies.
To be eligible for the next Prize Draw you will need to email the answer to the following question to m.m.sapphires@bigpond.com with the word newsletter in the subject line. Include your contact details and answer in the body of the text.
Question: The Gemfields is divided into 3 different types of mining. What are they? (The answer is on our Web Site.)
People on our email list will be notified when the next newsletter is released & also from time to time will be offered exclusive Specials.
New Stock: We have increased our range of Jewellery Travel Packaging. We now stock some Jewellery travel wallets which are handy for keeping your jewellery in when travelling as they are light & small enough to hide.
Special: 20% off Internet orders in October: on "Jewellery travel wallets" & Multi Ring Boxes. In the next week I will be adding to our online shop the Ellani Range of Silver Jewellery. This will have a 20% discount for the month of October for our Newsletters recipients.
Online Shop
Tip of the month: To all our customers doing skin polishing which seems to be a craze this year. Start off with a coarse grit & go finer in the grits. Do not make too big a jump in grit sizes as it makes it hard to get out the scratches. You cannot polish out pimples as this leaves you with an orange peel effect. A polished piece of corundum is still a piece of corundum & has no great value but it may look pretty.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Gemfest 2011: Thursday August 11th to Sunday 14th.