choochoorocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rock hounding
Member since April 2020
Posts: 146
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Post by choochoorocks on Feb 19, 2024 22:39:16 GMT -5
Hi guys, Another question here: got these at a local rock club event, but not sure what they are. Are they pieces of Needles blue agate?
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Feb 20, 2024 22:34:35 GMT -5
Doesn't look like Needles Blue to me. It's too dark and there's more of a green hue to it. Some type of copper related stone. Maybe vegasjames might be able to help.
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 20, 2024 23:55:16 GMT -5
Doesn't look like Needles Blue to me. It's too dark and there's more of a green hue to it. Some type of copper related stone. Maybe vegasjames might be able to help. This does look like a "gem silica", also known as "silicated chrysosolla", which is actually a chalcedony stained by copper salts.
I think this is Needle's blue, which is a gem silica. The material varies a lot in color from a lighter blue, to darker blue or greenish blue.
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Post by MsAli on Feb 21, 2024 6:54:23 GMT -5
Looks more like green moss agate
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Feb 21, 2024 8:32:20 GMT -5
Doesn't look like Needles Blue to me. It's too dark and there's more of a green hue to it. Some type of copper related stone. Maybe vegasjames might be able to help. This does look like a "gem silica", also known as "silicated chrysosolla", which is actually a chalcedony stained by copper salts.
I think this is Needle's blue, which is a gem silica. The material varies a lot in color from a lighter blue, to darker blue or greenish blue.
Interesting. I have never seen darker or more green Needles Blue. I'm also not seeing the rhyolite that normally is what Needles Blue forms in. Of course, we don't know exactly where this material was found, so calling it Needles Blue if it didn't come from Needles, CA would be a little misleading. I think I would just call it gem silica. It's beautiful either way.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,652
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Post by Tommy on Feb 23, 2024 23:28:53 GMT -5
My opinion is no, not specifically Needles material. I've had (have) quite a lot of Needles blue AND its little known look-alike from Arizona which has a lighter brown rhyolite. In both materials the gem silica is much more transparent than these pieces appear and the trend I've observed is the gem silica has a tendency to trend even more transparent to the point of clear chalcedony. Black inclusions are also quite common inside the Needles gem silica but I've never seen green which in your photo looks like possibly malachite to me. Also as hummingbirdstones said I've never seen it isolated from the characteristic rhyolite except for some stuff a dude at a gem show I used to go to had. He purposely isolated small gem grade pieces for faceting and was selling them for a billion dollars.
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Post by realrockhound on Feb 23, 2024 23:49:41 GMT -5
Looks more like green moss agate Damn green moss agate strikes again 🤣
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