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Let's Rock => Identifications of Materials => Topic started by: Kerrismama on March 14, 2018, 10:05:43 PM
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I bought this unfinished cabochon from someone who sells estate lots. So I don't know much about where it came from. I fell in love with it right away because of its uniqueness, however that has made it pretty difficult for me to identify. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/7304ff08bc58c3c191c46493d1eb9b3e.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/91280ff10039907029b92889484ef7eb.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/df0e77b576707f1da2478f11f1fa1a45.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/d0fa6b2f39fd4d8060443d40cb2cdc2d.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/045563a0dde631207e4d35c88edbf819.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/b04b3a86dad952de20c5468bf825ec2f.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/a1c41ee97f38efbc440c4b44ab5489aa.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/20be8829d34ea1d3d522a3cd770063ed.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180315/25529636e676081f47b67ccae4b6001a.jpg)
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My first thought on seeing that emerald-green color was actinolite, but I'm not seeing any straight crystals. It is nagging at my memory, as I may have seen before. Perhaps a serpentine?
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My first thought on seeing that emerald-green color was actinolite, but I'm not seeing any straight crystals. It is nagging at my memory, as I may have seen before. Perhaps a serpentine?
Does serpentine have chatoyancy? It's very flashy.
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Could be grossular garnet. How hard is it?
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Welcome!
Can't help with an ID, but it sure is pretty!
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Could be grossular garnet. How hard is it?
It's pretty soft. It has an almost flaky texture on the unfinished side, almost like shale
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Does serpentine have chatoyancy? It's very flashy.
There is a form of serpentine with chatoyancy from Arizona and California that is sold as "Arizona tiger eye," "California tiger eye," "Arizona pietersite," etc. It mostly varies between pale salmon, yellow to yellow-green, but occasionally can be more of an emerald green with patterns such as your piece. As you say it is flakey and chatoyant, I suspect that or another serpentine is what may you have.
Added: Whoa, I had no idea that prices had risen so much (see this link (https://www.etsy.com/listing/191550329/arizona-tiger-eye-cc-174)). The material I was trying to recall was also a serpentine that was popular a few years ago: lizardite with white chrysotile (https://www.minfind.com/mineral-588307.html) stripes from Brazil (also looked very much like yours in color and pattern, had some sparkle, but no chatoyance). I almost wonder if the piece on etsy is the Brazilian material rather than Arizona tiger eye? If it just has some sparkle and shimmer, rather than any cat's eye/chatoyant line phenomenon, then they may have gotten their ID wrong, but difficult to tell from the photos.
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Does serpentine have chatoyancy? It's very flashy.
There is a form of serpentine with chatoyancy from Arizona and California that is sold as "Arizona tiger eye," "California tiger eye," "Arizona pietersite," etc. It mostly varies between pale salmon, yellow to yellow-green, but occasionally can be more of an emerald green with patterns such as your piece. As you say it is flakey and chatoyant, I suspect that or another serpentine is what may you have.
Added: Whoa, I had no idea that prices had risen so much (see this link (https://www.etsy.com/listing/191550329/arizona-tiger-eye-cc-174)). The material I was trying to recall was also a serpentine that was popular a few years ago: lizardite with white chrysotile (https://www.minfind.com/mineral-588307.html) stripes from Brazil (also looked very much like yours in color and pattern, had some sparkle, but no chatoyance). I almost wonder if the piece on etsy is the Brazilian material rather than Arizona tiger eye? If it just has some sparkle and shimmer, rather than any cat's eye/chatoyant line phenomenon, then they may have gotten their ID wrong, but difficult to tell from the photos.
Interesting. I think you may be right about it being a serpentine, although I can't find anything online that looks even remotely like it. It's the patterning of it that throws me off the most I think.
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Fuchsite mica?