Editor’s note: This is a new feature called “5 Questions and a Secret” where we will be doing bite-sized profiles of community members and asking them to answer five questions — and tell us a secret. It appears every other Wednesday.
By JORDAN ESSOE/YachatsNews
YACHATS — Styx, Stones n’ Bones is the premier shop of its kind on the Oregon coast, with 1,900 minerals, rocks, and fossils arranged in a dizzying maze of aisles and display cabinets.
Some smaller chunks of amethyst, tiger’s eye, jasper, or geode can be paid for out of pocket, but there is also a 7-foot-2 complete cave bear skeleton for sale for $50,000.
“We’re urban rock hunters,” said husband and wife owners Marc and Jen Taylor. “We buy collections, estates, and other stores. We just bought an Indonesian import company a month and a half ago. We have really a lot of material here. There’s probably 75 tons on the property. It’s kind of crazy.”
Jen, 38, is a paralegal studying to become a lawyer, who also runs Rocks n’ Roses Apothecary, located just inside the Styx entrance, which offers homeopathic herbs and tinctures.
Marc, 53, was raised in Yachats, and his family lived in an apartment above his parents’ antique shop just to the north of town. He went on to operate antique shops of his own in places like Eugene and Wenatchee, Wash. And 45 years after his parents did, he and Jen would lease the same Yachats building he grew up in to open their first rock shop.
Styx, Stones n’ Bones is the Taylor’s second rock shop, and in between selling the first and opening the current one, they put everything they owned in a 10 x 20-foot storage unit and spent 16 months traveling around the country in “a rolling earthquake,” a 38-foot coach with “three dogs, two kids, a cat, and a goldfish.”
They say the cramped quarters and logistical challenges were pretty brutal at times, but ultimately the adventure strengthened their marriage.
Was that the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your relationship?
Marc and Jen Taylor [together]: No. [They laugh.]
Jen: I would say for our biggest challenge, from my perspective, would be the purchase of [the first huge rock estate collection Marc bought] without discussing it. I was told he was going to check out an estate. That estate happened to be 50,000 pounds of rocks.
Marc: It was the estate of Michael Siegel, who was a top mineral and fossil importer in the country. He was big in the business.
Jen: He was one of the premier importers to the West Coast. And [Marc] told me “we just bought that,” over lunch.
Marc: It was probably one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. Because I didn’t communicate. It was also one of the best decisions we’ve ever made financially, you know what I mean? And for the love of the game. I was gonna go over there and help sell a bunch of stuff … and I fell in love.
Jen: Between breakfast and lunch, he fell in love.
Marc: Made life-changing decisions. Probably should have had better discussions. But it changed our lives. We chose not to sell it for him and bought the whole thing. And that’s when we got started in the rock business. And I didn’t know a whole lot. But we went on a massive learning curve. It was a massive amount of learning in a very, very short period of time, and it was absolutely incredible. We immersed ourselves into it, and now we live it.
Why do you love these rocks so much?
Marc: Because every one of them is different. There’s so much natural beauty that it absolutely astounds me, every single day – that this can be dug out of the Earth. And once they’re out of the ground, they’re meant to be enjoyed and shared. And we bring in some pieces that are very unique and very different, and that’s kind of what we are known for.
Jen: And every single customer, even if they buy nothing, I would say there’s less than 1 percent of them that leave unhappy.
Crystals take thousands to millions of years to form. For you, are these objects more about landscape or time?
Marc and Jen [together]: Time.
On your Facebook page, in addition to geodes and everything else, there is a bear skeleton and a woolly rhino skull. There is also what looks like a complete skeleton of an entire Edmontosaurus – the dinosaur similar to but sometimes bigger than a T-Rex. How does that fit into what you are doing here?
Marc: Because of the nature of the relationships that we develop in this business, from vendors and people who have rare things, or can find these things, we aren’t afraid to tell a customer “I’ll get you whatever you want, if it’s rock-related.” And we had a gentleman who asked us to find him a dinosaur. A local guy who has a house here and a house in Central Oregon. We put it in his house in Central Oregon. And it took four months.
Jen: It was really a short time, honestly, for a dinosaur. And it’s the most bitchin’ display ever. It’s really good. [Laughs.]
Marc: It is the single most complete Edmontosaurus. It was a big, big deal. We had it stripped and bone-mapped and x-rayed and the whole thing. So that we knew exactly how perfect it really was. And how perfect it wasn’t. And the amount complete on this one was amazing. We were dealing with premier dinosaur people, and there’s only three or four in the world. We were very fortunate to get to do it the way we did. The appraisal came in at $1.3 million. And we’ve been offered $1.5 million since. Just because the word got out, and they are so sought after, it’s not even funny.
Jen: But the coolest thing is the serendipity that during one of that last purchases we made, we came across a five egg clutch of Edmontosaurus eggs.
Marc: I’ve literally only had one dinosaur egg in my career in 10 years. Because I’ll only buy them if I can buy them ethically and legally. But we got this clutch of five eggs for that Edmontosaurus (who got nicknamed Eddy). I just got the eggs yesterday. I haven’t even shown them to [the collector] yet.
For your own collection, is there an object you’ve been chasing that for whatever reason you haven’t been able to put your hands on?
Jen: An opal cobra head.
Marc: It’s a cobra head that’s opalized. It’s an extreme rarity.
Jen: The fangs, the pits – everything is opal.
Marc: Because of the way opal does mineral replacement. It’s just incredible.
Jen: Most of the truly amazing things happen because of mineral replacement.
Tell us a secret:
Jen: One of my very favorite things is to smell something I’m cooking where all the herbs are coming together. Not only am I feeding people that I love and care for, but the chemistry is totally working. I’m very much into smells. For me, basil reminds me of my grandmother, and I can almost picture her when I cook with it.
- Jordan Essoe is a Waldport-based freelance writer who can be reached at alseajournal@gmail.com
- For a previous 5 Questions and a Secret story, go here
- Have a suggestion for someone to be the subject of “5 Questions and a Secret”? Send your idea to YachatsNews@gmail.com
This is a good interview with the owners of one of the most fascinating businesses on the coast. We are fortunate to have this amazing place right in Yachats.
This was one of the most fascinating articles I’ve read this year. The writer captured the humanity and dedication of the owners in a way that it makes me want to find their store and meet them and marvel at their wonderful discoveries and inventory. I’m sure to buy something.