People find out you are a rockhound and suddenly everyone has a rock they want to share with you. And then they find out you cut and polish your rocks and suddenly everyone has a rock they want you to "pretty up" for them. Most of the time I have to tell them that there is not much I can do with the chunk of leaverite they hold so dear, but occasionally someone has a rock thats fun to cut.
A woman that works with my wife picked up this piece at her parents cabin somewhere in Southern Utah. She asked if it I could polish it. This is what it looks like on the rough side (I took no pictures before cutting it up but this side stays natural).
I cut off the face and polished it. It took a surprisingly nice shine. Not perfect, but good enough.
She wanted me to cut off the bottom so it would stand there on display. I had to cut a wedge-shaped piece off the bottom to get a nice base and I thought "What the heck, lets make a pendant out of the cutoff". Heres the bottom and the some pics of the pendant.
I'm still waiting for someone to unknowingly share something really spectacular with me, but this one passed the 'worthwhile test'.