looks like artifact from bad camera optics.
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The only correct answer would be: it is near-impossible to say on the basis of a few photographs. And without experience with many stones of different colours and preferably quite a few labelled Es at hand for side-to-side comparison, it remains near-impossible to say even with the hone in one's hand.
And why the trouble? There is no proof whatsoever that YG Eschers are actually finer than vintage Thuringians of other colour. On the contrary: people who have used many will tell you the only reliable prediction you can make on the basis of colour is one about hardness - lighter stones are softer.
The preoccupation with YG Eschers is wrong because it deviates our attention from hones just as good, wrong because it leads to careless attributions and thus promulgation of misinformation, and wrong because it drives up prices and promotes solely profit-based transactions.
While what you say is true .... in the old price list that , IIRC, you posted some time back, the Y/G was the most expensive of the Eschers. Bringing way more than the Dark Blue for example. Was the pecking order of Y/G, light green, blue/green, and dark blue based on rarity of the harvest or on efficacy of the hones generating higher demand ? Hard to say. Tony Miller used to sell current Thuringans as well as vintage, Eschers among them.
He told me, when I asked which were the 'best', that he couldn't say for sure, but that the rabbis who came to him for stones for their kosher butchers were only interested in Y/G. I asked Lynn and Tim Zowada which they preferred and both liked the blue/green best. IME the Y/G is my favorite and I believe Sham also like the Y/G the best. I must say that I have a couple of blue/greens that are absolutely great so it is hard to say. I've also had a dark blue, that I sold, that was really a great hone. Slower than the Y/G or the B/G but left a really fine and keen edge. So perhaps it is best to say that they are all good. YMMV.
I've got an un-labeled vintage dark blue and it works great! As stated above it's slower and works very similar to the Y/G. And as to price, I found both of my labeled Eschers in the "wild" for a combined $90 and the un-labeled dark blue for $.50 all in the last 1 1/2 years
Ok then you won your prize with due diligence and determination!
In which case I take my hat off to you :D
Perhaps the better question would be what is the cost of gas in your area?
We (on behalf of all RAD members) would greatly appreciate a few pics of your hard won acquisitions.
Cheers
Here's my coolest finds, $160 total
Narrow Y/G Escher, wide Escher, narrow dark blue Thurigian, smaller Coticule
NOS Boker Red Injun, 1820's Superior wedge, 1840's Jos Elliot wedge with bone handle
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/a...57/haulJPG.jpg