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Let's Rock => Identifications of Materials => Topic started by: WingnutAndAPrayer on June 16, 2023, 06:24:20 AM

Title: Pink Sapphire?
Post by: WingnutAndAPrayer on June 16, 2023, 06:24:20 AM

I found this *somehow* in the debris at the edge of a parking lot here in Bastrop, TX. It's a little under a carat just eyeballing it but scratches a piece of chert. The local rock shop owner is out of state and can't test it; all the jewelers in town refuse. Are there any layman's tests I can use? No good at math so SG is out, haha.

Anyone familiar with looking at corundum gravels? There's no feasible reason it should have been there as TX doesn't host corundum. Pink or otherwise.

Title: Re: Pink Sapphire?
Post by: irockhound on July 01, 2023, 12:22:24 AM

Probably wrong person for testing sapphire.  Have you thought about maybe a Rhodolite Garnet?  I believe there are a couple locations in Texas for those.

Title: Re: Pink Sapphire?
Post by: lithicbeads on July 02, 2023, 10:58:15 AM

Sounds like a good guess.

Title: Re: Pink Sapphire?
Post by: WingnutAndAPrayer on July 23, 2023, 07:59:05 AM

Hey, guys-

Sorry about the delay in response. Garnet sounds spot on for both morphology and hardness. I forget, too, that most of the sediments in TX are deposited from further North and this could very well be from CO which has that massive batholith that hosts a million and one garnets.

Thanks again for the input.