in this issue
-- Our Product Line.
-- SOME OF YOU MAY REMEMBER
-- WHAT DOES ED BANCROFT SAY ABOUT HIS ULTRA TEC FACETING MACHINE?
-- A WEBSITE YOU WILL ENJOY. The "Bancroft Mineral Collection" -- INTRODUCING? -- Join Us On FACEBOOK!
Greetings! To all of you in the Ultra Tec family. |
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Our Product Line. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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SOME OF YOU MAY REMEMBER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Way back in time, in the 1980's, Ultra Tec used to have an "Inside Ultra Tec Faceting Competition" among our workers. The winner got "bragging rights". The winner in the summer of 1985 was Bryan Rozewski - we wrote about it in the Newsletter (which wasn't even named the SomeTimes yet) Bryan had joined Ultra Tec 5 years earlier, while he was still in High School. Bryan was a super worker for Ultra Tec, and we wanted him to stay, but, anxious to "see the World", at the end of '85 he left Southern California - headed for the Pacific Northwest.
Guess who visited last month? You guessed it - Bryan Rozewski. Bryan is now a family man and a fire-fighter in Portland. He says he keeps his eye on Ultra Tec - on the Web. Bryan looks about the same - maybe a little older. Ultra Tec, however, has changed much over the years, and Bryan enjoyed the "tour" of the current facility. Here's a picture of him (on the right) with Robert Mendoza, who started the year that Bryan left (similarly while still in High School). Bryan was impressed with the new CNC equipment all right -- but the part that he enjoyed the most - that both he and Robert enjoyed the most - was looking over the various fixtures that hadn't changed (several of them, Bryan had built - and Robert was almost the first to use). If you visited Ultra Tec at the Tucson show in '84 or '85 you may remember Bryan - he was the enthusiastic "kid" at the Ultra Tec booth.
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WHAT DOES ED BANCROFT SAY ABOUT HIS ULTRA TEC FACETING MACHINE? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recently, an older machine came in for repair - it was from Ed Bancroft. When I saw that name, it "rang a bell" - and that sent me to Google to see what I'd find. Well, that bell rang for good reason - the Bancrofts, Peter, his father, and Ed, have been prominent in the world of gems for many years. Their activities had been concentrated in the Southern California gem mining areas, but also encompassed the entire World (and Peter Bancroft's book, Gem and Crystal Treasures, has become a rare and valuable collectable).
Yes, our Ultra Tec faceter Ed Bancroft (pictured here) is the Ed Bancroft. Ed has been an Ultra Tec faceter for 30 years. We consider praise from him to be high praise indeed, and he is very complimentary. He says he loves his Ultra Tec faceting equipment -- his words were "Fantastic!!!" (and the 3 exclamation points are his). He wrote "your machine is truly the Rolls Royce of faceting machines". The Bancrofts have had a long association with the Geology Department of the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Ed decided to donate the Bancroft Mineral Collection to UCSB and the result is: |
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A WEBSITE YOU WILL ENJOY. The "Bancroft Mineral Collection" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Take a look at it -- you will probably spend some time there - what an impressive site it is! It is about all minerals - but it includes the facetable ones - topaz (shown here), tanzanite, aquamarine, etc etc. Mineral photos, maps, location photos, and mineral properties.
Interesting - and a lesson in how well a website can be organized - we all benefit from the Bancroft's generous gift. |
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INTRODUCING? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes you've seen him before. Stephen Kotlowski was on the list of Ultra Tec representatives for years - many years - except he wasn't there last month. What happened?
Well, he was traveling - moving West - and now he has set up his "Uniquely K" Shop in beautiful Sedona, Arizona. Stephen is a lifetime faceter and you've seen his name among the AGTA award winners many times - and we've written about him in the SomeTimes. So, welcome back to Ultra Tec, Stephen, and welcome to the Southwest.
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Join Us On FACEBOOK! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ultra Tec Faceting has a thriving little community on FACEBOOK. Take a look at our page for interesting links and updates.
We welcome all our Ultra Tec cousins as FANS -- your, pictures, experineces, comments and suggestions are welcome. |
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We'll be in touch again soon with the next Sometimes Bulletin. Bye for now
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The Ultra Tec Team
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Quick Links... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
info@ultratec-facet.com
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