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Post by stephan on Jul 10, 2015 18:13:28 GMT -5
Hi all Another interesting find from the garage. I was guessing an Apache tear -- it still seems to have some perlite-like matrix one it -- but it looks more lumpy than what's shown when I Google them. Is it, maybe a weathered-out "tear?" Or maybe it's an alien egg.... www.flickr.com/photos/36618387@N06/19393468469/ |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 10, 2015 18:42:03 GMT -5
Looks like maybe. Surface looks a bit rough more like a dried prune obsidian nodule from Davis Creek. If it's one of the tears from Superior, AZ ( the true apache tears) if you backlight it, it is usually highly translucent gold to silvery in color. Most those are fairly smooth with little flats beneath the perlite. The ones from Nevada tend to mostly be smoother and have a high percentage of opaque obsidianites with way fewer translucent ones.....Mel
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Post by stephan on Jul 13, 2015 13:50:11 GMT -5
Thank you, Mel. "Dried prune obsidian nodule." I like it.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 14, 2015 12:51:21 GMT -5
I have several of those. They are kind of strange lookin'. Good to know they are (probably) from Davis Creek. Ya never know where they come from when you get them at estate sales.
Dry 
wet 
Do they cut like regular obsidian? Can they be cabbed? stephan, what will you do with yours? Specimens? |
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Post by stephan on Jul 14, 2015 14:04:35 GMT -5
I have several of those. They are kind of strange lookin'. Good to know they are (probably) from Davis Creek. Ya never know where they come from when you get them at estate sales.
Dry
wet
Do they cut like regular obsidian? Can they be cabbed? stephan, what will you do with yours? Specimens? Ooh! I like your mahogony one. I assume that they do cut like regular obsidian, but I am not planning to cut mine. I have other obsidian for slabbing and cabbing. These have a lot of wabi-sabi character, so they will be pocket rocks. |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 14, 2015 14:08:56 GMT -5
Yeah, they definitely are different! I had never seen them before I got these. They do have character, but these two are a little big for pockets rocks, lol. Mine are safe, too. I also have obs to cut.
Prune obsidian nodules, how appropriate! Guessing they were tossed into the air, giving them that special texture.
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Post by Peruano on Jul 14, 2015 14:55:39 GMT -5
Interesante, but they may not be restricted to a single locality. I have a piece of obsidian found in the Rio Puerco of NM that is very similar to these. The size of a hamburger bun, somewhat flat, but with the surface texture that looks as if it was imprinted with arching prints, toe nail like, etc. One tiny area showed enough concoidal fracture to suggest it was obsidian and when I cut an end and single slice it was indeed a solid, and black obsidian, but with this extremely unique texture. The round/flattened shape did make me think it had been frisbee'd out of the earth at sometime in its history. Tom
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 14, 2015 16:17:38 GMT -5
Yeah, I cannot say they are found only at Davis Creek but there were millions of them up there by Plum Creek Campground where I used to deer hunt. Used to fill my pack so full I couldn't hunt any more. Used to really piss my pop off, as they would rattle round on the floor of the back seat the whole trip home. They are usually very solid high quality obsidian inside. Mahogany was the most common but the was a lot of gold and silver sheen and some rainbow and midnight lace. There is also a monstrous bed of them at Massacre Lakes, Nevada but those are almost all just opaque black. Lots of indication the Amerinds really camped at that site to manufacture tools.....Mel
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jul 14, 2015 17:54:43 GMT -5
Thanks! I wasn't sure if the texture/bubblyness went through the nodule, or if it was solid. Mainly was just curious what it looked like in cross-section. The estate I got it from belonged to a man that lived in San Diego. He was a big time collector (think fifty years or more, starting in the 1940s or '50s), but I would venture a guess that his hounding expeditions were mostly in the southwest corner of the country (as opposed to back east), and then some. He lived on the edge of a canyon, and had terraces stepping part way down the hillside, full of many types of containers (milk crates, plastic buckets, metal trashcans, etc) full of rocks! Among his cache of rocks were several rusted-out steel drums holding myriad types of obsidians. Sensory overload!
I will leave the dried prune obsidian nodules to themselves, let them rest for a few more years, collect a little more dust!
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Post by gingerkid on Jul 15, 2015 6:29:52 GMT -5
Cool! I love your obsidian nodule, stephan, and your nodules, especially the mahogany obsidian, rockpickerforever! I'm glad y'all are keeping them as specimens. |
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Post by Pat on Jul 15, 2015 9:35:54 GMT -5
I've seen those and often wondered how they got that texture. Will probably look at them next time and think stephan "alien egg". Wonder if you could cut it to make a cab showing both the outside and inside. That would be cutting the rock on a slant. I think. |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 15, 2015 14:14:10 GMT -5
WOW! Those are totally crazy cool!
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Post by stephan on Jul 15, 2015 14:51:33 GMT -5
I've seen those and often wondered how they got that texture. Will probably look at them next time and think stephan "alien egg". Wonder if you could cut it to make a cab showing both the outside and inside. That would be cutting the rock on a slant. I think. If I dig out any more nodules, I might try that -- kind of ike the "live edge" concept with wood, I guess. I've seen it done with agate that had a druzy crust, and it looked pretty cool. Thanks, all, for your comments. |
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Post by Peruano on Jul 18, 2015 10:38:49 GMT -5
Here's what I thought might be analogous from the Rio Puerco of New Mexico. Size of a Big Mac. One side  Other side  End cut  Details of surface texture.  |
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