Monday, December 30, 2013

Identifying Stones Is Not Easy - Part One

My grandparents were avid rock hounds, collectors, and cutters. I've shared their work here before and most of the cut and polished stones have been identified. The rough stone, uncut and unpolished, is a little harder.

If grandma wrote on it, it obviously is easier... though I could not read her writing on this stone. I did finally figure out that it is Mariposite. I'd never heard of this before but it's awfully pretty. Now I need to decide whether I want to have some pendant focal beads made from it or sell the whole slab. I think they have some more of it in their stock. If I remember correctly there's a huge chunk that isn't cut in slab form yet.


This stone looks like a Jasper but I was not entirely sure which kind. There are seemingly hundreds. This one didn't take more than 10 minutes or so to find online. It appears to be Blue Mountain Picture Jasper.
Blue Mountain Picture Jasper

This one I actually knew and they have several. This is lovely Chrysocolla and I think it has Malachite and Azurite together.


This one I found by accident while looking for another one. This is Imperial Jasper and I've found about six small slabs like these. They're so beautiful in person - like God painted with green and white paint, swirling and feathering it together.

What's even more fun is that Marshal was helping me with identification using the pictures we were finding online. Maybe I can pass on my grandparent's legacy to him too.

I have a LOT of work to do to identify all their stones. Here are a few more I'll be working on soon.






2 comments: