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Author Topic: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?  (Read 6289 times)

StarLily

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Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« on: September 10, 2011, 06:20:12 pm »
I was given these a few years ago by a family friend and there were no ID cards or info with the pouch I got them in. I am so confused. Can anybody help me differenciate these?



1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

Darkhawk

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2011, 10:47:48 pm »
Quote from: StarLily;18957
I was given these a few years ago by a family friend and there were no ID cards or info with the pouch I got them in. I am so confused. Can anybody help me differenciate these?

 
My guess for #1 would be aventurine.

#9 is almost certainly rutilated quartz.  #2 and #13 might also be?

#3 may be an orbicular rhyolite (also called leopard skin rock or, I think, leopard skin jasper), but those are highly variable in appearance.

#4 may be a jasper but there are a lot of dull red opaque rocks.  Various forms of jasper are really common in tumbled rock sets though.

#5 may be a moss agate or one of the other agates with inclusions, too dark to judge well.

#6 is certainly amethyst.

#8 I would not place any bets on; the only even remotely plausible thing I can come up with is an unconventional lump of rhodocrhosite (which is usually pink and white bands, but has white blobs sometimes, rather than being mostly white blobs).

#12 and #16 may be the same stone, and look like they might potentially be a low-quality lapis, maybe?  Don't lay any money on that ID.

#14 and #15 look like very pale, cloudy rose quartz.

#17 could be almost any black stone: best bets are probably an onyx or some obsidians.
as the water grinds the stone
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as our ashes turn to dust
we shine like stars    - Covenant, "Bullet"

Darkhawk

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2011, 10:50:09 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;19005

#12 and #16 may be the same stone, and look like they might potentially be a low-quality lapis, maybe?  Don't lay any money on that ID.

 
Or washed-out sodalite, I suppose.  I think of sodalite as being darker, but I know it can get paler, especially in the varieties with white inclusions.
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victoreia

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2011, 12:11:23 am »
Quote from: Darkhawk;19006
Or washed-out sodalite, I suppose.  I think of sodalite as being darker, but I know it can get paler, especially in the varieties with white inclusions.

 
Yeah, I'd go with sodalite for 12 & 16.

For #10, I'd say possibly yellow calcite or citrine. (#2 and #13 may be the same.)

I can't exactly tell, but #11 may be a moonstone.
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StarLily

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2011, 08:41:03 am »
Quote from: Darkhawk;19005
My guess for #1 would be aventurine.

#9 is almost certainly rutilated quartz.  #2 and #13 might also be?

#3 may be an orbicular rhyolite (also called leopard skin rock or, I think, leopard skin jasper), but those are highly variable in appearance.

#4 may be a jasper but there are a lot of dull red opaque rocks.  Various forms of jasper are really common in tumbled rock sets though.

#5 may be a moss agate or one of the other agates with inclusions, too dark to judge well.

#6 is certainly amethyst.

#8 I would not place any bets on; the only even remotely plausible thing I can come up with is an unconventional lump of rhodocrhosite (which is usually pink and white bands, but has white blobs sometimes, rather than being mostly white blobs).

#12 and #16 may be the same stone, and look like they might potentially be a low-quality lapis, maybe?  Don't lay any money on that ID.

#14 and #15 look like very pale, cloudy rose quartz.

#17 could be almost any black stone: best bets are probably an onyx or some obsidians.

 
Okay, thank you. I'm just missing #7 now... or so.

Tana

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2011, 12:17:02 pm »
Quote from: StarLily;18957

12/16 could also be blue aventurine, known as blue quartz over here.
Not sure if names the same in English.

Number 7 could be a kind of jasper.
But that's really hard to tell.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2011, 12:17:57 pm by Tana »
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StarLily

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2011, 01:58:24 pm »
Quote from: Tana;19087
12/16 could also be blue aventurine, known as blue quartz over here.
Not sure if names the same in English.

Number 7 could be a kind of jasper.
But that's really hard to tell.


They're from Chile, so I dunno if that would help any in identifying these...

Aster Breo

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #7 on: September 11, 2011, 04:05:08 pm »
Quote from: StarLily;19098
They're from Chile, so I dunno if that would help any in identifying these...

 
I agree that 7 is likely some kind of jasper.  Jasper is a kind of microcrystalline quartz, usually with "blob"-shaped internal features, rather than banded.  (Banded is usually agate, which is another kind of microcrystalline quartz.)  There are numerous "trade names" that get slapped on jasper by various sellers, so there is no standardization about what, exactly, to call something like this.

5 looks a bit like smokey quartz to me, but it's hard to tell from a pic.

I think 4 is probably carnelian, which is basically red or orange microcrystalline quartz.  As you can tell just from this post, there is a HUGE variety of rocks that all belong to the quartz family.  The microcrystalline ones (the ones that don't form as crystal points) are sort of a spectrum that includes jaspers, agates, and chalcedony, with rocks like carnelian and onyx as subsets.

Like Darkhawk said, 6 is probably amethyst, but it could also be purple fluorite.  Those two can be very difficult to tell apart when they're tumbled or cut and polished.

Also like Darkhawk said, 7 could be any one of a number of black rocks, including black onyx (which is almost always dyed black), black tourmaline (aka, schorl), obsidian, and jet.  If it is very light for its size, it's probably jet.

12 and 16 could be sodalite or blue quartz (aka dumortierite).  I don't think they're lapis -- the color is too washed out -- but it's possible.

11 is difficult to tell from the pic.  Is it all white?  Does it have any banding or "flashing" of color?  It could be moonstone, as someone already said, or it could be white quartz.
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MarieBay

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2011, 09:07:17 pm »
Quote from: StarLily;18957
I was given these a few years ago by a family friend and there were no ID cards or info with the pouch I got them in. I am so confused. Can anybody help me differenciate these?

17.


Hi there! I took a gander and here's what they are:
 
1. Aventurine
2. Citrine
3. Leopard skin jasper (a variety of orbicular jasper)
4. Carnelian (or a dyed agate. Sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference)
5. Smoky quartz (if it's clear/clear with dark clouds inside)
6. Amethyst
7. Zebra jasper (a variety of banded jasper)
8. Jasper
9. Rutilated quartz
10. Rutilated quartz (if there are "threads" in it. Otherwise, citrine)
11. Quartz
12. Sodalite
13. Citrine
14. Rose quartz (or milky quartz if there's no pink hue)
15. Same as 14
16. Blue aventurine
17. Could be onyx, obsidian, or a dyed agate.

Livia Indica

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Re: Identifying crystals/gems/stones etc... help?
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2011, 12:13:09 am »
Quote from: StarLily;18957
I was given these a few years ago by a family friend and there were no ID cards or info with the pouch I got them in. I am so confused. Can anybody help me differenciate these?



Well, darn, it looks like I was too late to get in on this. But thanks for sharing this, it helped me refresh my knowledge.

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