mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Jul 11, 2016 18:28:35 GMT -5
My friend found this in his driveway and asked if I could ID it. I told him I couldn't but I would try the forum. It is spherical and maybe 3/8" in diameter. The inside almost looks like mica, but it doesn't flake like mica. It came with a load of crushed basalt gravel. It was already broken, but his son had a sharp eye and found both halves. Here are the exposed faces of the inside of the sphere: Here's what the outside of the sphere looks like: A close-up of the faces (taken through a magnifying glass): A close-up of the outside (also taken through a magnifying glass): Any help in identifying this would be greatly appreciated.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2016 20:26:31 GMT -5
Smart pill. If you eat it, you will get smarter than you imagined possible.Redacted..... Wierd little devil.... Hoping u get an answer...
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napoleonrags
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2015
Posts: 474
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Post by napoleonrags on Jul 11, 2016 21:13:09 GMT -5
Idonevenknow. Like the photography though.
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Jul 11, 2016 21:43:25 GMT -5
Smart pill. If you eat it, you will get smarter than you imagined possible.Redacted..... Wierd little devil.... Hoping u get an answer... That's hilarious! My dad told me about the "smart pills" many years ago, except he called them "smodder pills". ************************************************************* I don't think it's calcite because it will barely scratch with a razor/utility knife. As I recall, calcite only has a hardness of 3 on the Moh's scale. I would guess this has a hardness of 5 or 6.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2016 21:46:40 GMT -5
mossyrockhoundGlad you took that as meant. I would never insult in that manner. But redacted was safer. Looking forward to having many more exchanges.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 12, 2016 7:58:09 GMT -5
Vesicles is basalt often contain opal of various types or even thompsonites. The thompsonites especially tend to be very spherical. Used to be a deposit in Black Canyon on the Mojave desert. The Mojave ones were not as fancy and banded as those on lake Superior. Much more like what you've pictured, kind of plain....Mel
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 9:43:27 GMT -5
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Jul 12, 2016 17:52:03 GMT -5
Thanks everybody.
Well, it was a toss-up between thomsonite and a smart pill. I think I'll go with the thomsonite because it has the cleavage, color, luster & hardness that seems to match Thomsonite on the wikipedia page mentioned above. Also, since it came in with a load of basalt gravel, it seems likely that it would have broken out of a basalt vesicle during the crushing operation. I'll try the streak test and see if it comes up white.
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