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Post by vegasjames on Dec 6, 2018 5:54:59 GMT -5
Wodering if anyone knows what the green slabs to the left are. I picked these up at a yard sale. I know the two on the right are silicated chrysocolla and the slab bottom right is azurite and malachite in matrix. Not sure what the others are. I think some type of jasper.
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Post by captbob on Dec 6, 2018 10:12:41 GMT -5
Maybe variscite?
Nice haul on your trip to your mine!
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Post by stephan on Dec 6, 2018 10:29:30 GMT -5
I agree. Variscite. Nice slabs of it, too.
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Post by fireforged on Dec 6, 2018 13:25:12 GMT -5
Does not look like any variscite that I have seen. But they are very beautiful. How hard are they?
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Post by vegasjames on Dec 6, 2018 17:29:41 GMT -5
Does not look like any variscite that I have seen. But they are very beautiful. How hard are they? Hard. Did not scratch with a thick copper wire, a nail or a clear quartz crystal. Don't have anything harder to try and scratch the stone with I can think of. |
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Post by stephan on Dec 6, 2018 23:50:45 GMT -5
Does not look like any variscite that I have seen. But they are very beautiful. How hard are they? mel confirmed this:  IMAG1277_Variscite by Stephan Telm, on Flickr as variscite, and it looks similar to me. Admittedly, the stuff from James looks bluer/grayer, but the patterns and matrix are pretty similar. |
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Post by vegasjames on Dec 7, 2018 0:24:22 GMT -5
Variscite is listed as a hardness of 3.5-4.5. This is much harder so not likely variscite unless silicified variscite.
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
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Post by mossyrockhound on Dec 7, 2018 7:30:21 GMT -5
Harder than any variscite I've worked. Should make some beautiful cabs. I would also say it's jasper.
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Post by stephan on Dec 7, 2018 13:26:00 GMT -5
All my variscite was harder than 3.5-4.5, too. It didn't behave quite like jasper when I've worked it. I'm wondering about the silicified variscite thing James mentioned. Is that a thing? It would explain a lot. The stuff I have, was labelled as being from Nevada (unfortunately, nothing more specific than that). All of it was hard. All of it had the lighter matrix (limonite?), ranging from whitish to yellow to brown, which was softer than the green. Some of the green was an even color, some mottled. This:  DSC_1102_Variscite necklace by Stephan Telm, on Flickr also came out of that box.
Thoughts? I'm still leaning toward variscite both mine and the stuff James is showing, but I'm willing to listen to compelling evidence.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2018 13:55:42 GMT -5
I'll suggest, without much confidence from a mere photo, Hampton Butte wood. Some of the stuff from there was jasper-filled casts with little or no preserved wood. The colors are in the range for that, the pretty pattern is in the realm of possibilities, and the rind also looks close to some that I've seen. Color might suggest something else from the general area (like Skaggs) or even further afield.
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Post by rockjunquie on Dec 7, 2018 14:31:15 GMT -5
Yeah, I'll go out on a limb, too, and say imperial jasper. I seriously doubt it's variscite.
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Tommy
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Post by Tommy on Dec 7, 2018 18:49:01 GMT -5
I'm out there with you on that limb. I know this is just one picture but it does have a striking similarity.  My other thought was Carrasite or even Morrisonite but that vibrant blue color isolated into multiple slabs I have not seen.  |
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Post by vegasjames on Dec 7, 2018 19:00:53 GMT -5
All my variscite was harder than 3.5-4.5, too. It didn't behave quite like jasper when I've worked it. I'm wondering about the silicified variscite thing James mentioned. Is that a thing? It would explain a lot. The stuff I have, was labelled as being from Nevada (unfortunately, nothing more specific than that). All of it was hard. All of it had the lighter matrix (limonite?), ranging from whitish to yellow to brown, which was softer than the green. Some of the green was an even color, some mottled. This: DSC_1102_Variscite necklace by Stephan Telm, on Flickr also came out of that box.
Thoughts? I'm still leaning toward variscite both mine and the stuff James is showing, but I'm willing to listen to compelling evidence.
Yes, there is a place here in Nevada where they mine silicified variscite. About 2-- miles North of here. Sells for $9.50 per gram.
I have also been getting some stuff a little closer that I was told was silicified variscite by club members. Still trying to get confirmation on what it is exactly. So far XRD and XRF have claimed different things and their claims do not match up the hardness, which is around 7. I cannot scratch it with a quartz crystal but I have been able to sometimes make small scratches in the quartz crystal. And I have found traces of turquoise in it, which can occur with variscite. You can see the turquoise in this sample:
Patterns and color varies a lot from light green to dark blue-green. Here are some slabs:
And another cab:
Another thing that leans towards silicified variscite is that variscite when heated will darken from loss of water. There are naturally dark spots in the stone that are identical to the darkness created when I heated samples with a torch. The spots can be seen in this slab:
I tried the same test on some green jasper as a control and there was no color change.
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Tommy
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Post by Tommy on Dec 7, 2018 19:16:22 GMT -5
vegasjames - the pictures you just posted - are you saying they are the same material as the green you were questioning in your first post photo? If so, I completely withdraw what I said in my post above. Those new photo sdon't even look on the same planet as the hard jaspers I suggested.
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Post by vegasjames on Dec 7, 2018 22:09:30 GMT -5
vegasjames - the pictures you just posted - are you saying they are the same material as the green you were questioning in your first post photo? If so, I completely withdraw what I said in my post above. Those new photo sdon't even look on the same planet as the hard jaspers I suggested. All the pics in my last post are the same stone, but not the same as the first pic. The first pic I have no clue where it came from originally. I bought those slabs at a yard sale. The pics of the stuff in my last post is all stuff I collected personally. That post was in response to the question of whether silicated chrysocolla is really a thing. So I mentioned that yes, it is mined 100 miles from where I collected these stones. |
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Tommy
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Post by Tommy on Dec 7, 2018 22:20:00 GMT -5
vegasjames - the pictures you just posted - are you saying they are the same material as the green you were questioning in your first post photo? If so, I completely withdraw what I said in my post above. Those new photo sdon't even look on the same planet as the hard jaspers I suggested. All the pics in my last post are the same stone, but not the same as the first pic. The first pic I have no clue where it came from originally. I bought those slabs at a yard sale. The pics of the stuff in my last post is all stuff I collected personally. That post was in response to the question of whether silicated chrysocolla is really a thing. So I mentioned that yes, it is mined 100 miles from where I collected these stones. Ahh... gotcha thanks. I'd love to see a closer up shot of the one that you're trying to ID from the first photo. |
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Post by fireforged on Dec 7, 2018 22:33:12 GMT -5
Well at least nobody has suggested it is jade:)
Just a bad joke. Don't get mad at me.
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Post by vegasjames on Dec 7, 2018 22:45:19 GMT -5
All the pics in my last post are the same stone, but not the same as the first pic. The first pic I have no clue where it came from originally. I bought those slabs at a yard sale. The pics of the stuff in my last post is all stuff I collected personally. That post was in response to the question of whether silicated chrysocolla is really a thing. So I mentioned that yes, it is mined 100 miles from where I collected these stones. Ahh... gotcha thanks. I'd love to see a closer up shot of the one that you're trying to ID from the first photo. I will try to get one in the next few days when I get a chance. |
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fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Post by fireforged on Dec 8, 2018 20:34:40 GMT -5
Could it be a chrome calcedony? I have some with that hardness and color but not that pattern.
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