Can Anyone Help Me Identify These Tumbled Rocks?

Marie-Bernard

Pam O said:
The purple stone: Does the purple part look like die to you? It almost looks like it to me. They do die rocks a variety of colors often enough.

Pam O,

I think you're right about the dye! I had no idea that rock could be dyed though. I've always thought that was the strangest color.

Marie-Bernard

gregory said:
I can set my sister, who is a rock WHIZ onto this if you want - I have no idea myself....

Ah, that would be great, gregory. It's mostly the upper left and lower right on I'm concerned about, they are the ones that came from my g gran.

Tanga

Marie-Bernard said:
My great grandmother was a rock collector and even tumbled some stones of her own. Two of these came from her house, but I'm not sure if she did them. I know nothing of rocks and minerals, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Marie Bernard

Difficult to see clearly what they are - photo's often do stones injustice, especially when one stone can have so many different variations that stand out differently in different lighting. Also, individuals see colours differently.

The top left - is it brownish - or greenish? if brown - I've no idea. the closest I've come to that sort of brown is a rough lump of fire agate that I have (does it have iridescent volcano-like parts in it?...) or possibly jasper. If green maybe Watermellon Tourmaline without the pink part?

The top right - looks dyed... but may be Sugilite (definitely not Unakite).

The bottom left - is it opaque black with a blue reflection from lighting?? - I'd guess Obsidian or Black Onyx. If it's translucent it could be Apache's Tear (translucent Obsidian).

The bottom right - Rhodocrosite.

Marie-Bernard

Hey Tanga,

The top left stone isn't opaque and has greenish/grayish wavy striations visible on one side, the other side's striations are mostly white and vaguely crystalline looking with just a couple of them changing to a dark pink or light orange stripe closer to the "edge" of the stone.

The bottom left is completely opaque and looks black. The very dark blue cast is only visible when I hold it close to a bright light.

gregory

Marie-Bernard said:
Ah, that would be great, gregory. It's mostly the upper left and lower right on I'm concerned about, they are the ones that came from my g gran.

Sent last night; she hasn't responded yet. But she will

gregory

And she says (she did some before from here once... and the photography thing is huge for her !):

Yet again, grumbles about the quality of the photography! I had to raise the brightness very markedly before even trying! I am pretty sure the top right is rhodonite, which is a pink manganese inosilicate, often in association with black manganese oxide. I suspect the bottom left is falcon’s eye, which is a silicified crocidolite (kind of asbestos) ie a blue form of tigereye. The bottom right looks like good old jasper. The jury is still out over the top left, and ideally I would have preferred to see it in person. It COULD have been Seraphinite, but looks a bit too hard and shiny, so I think it is more likely to be quartz with inclusions of chlorite +/- mica.

Any help ?

Pam O

Marie-Bernard said:
Pam O,

I think you're right about the dye! I had no idea that rock could be dyed though. I've always thought that was the strangest color.

Yes indeed. The Chinese die them, and who knows who else... White Howlite is often died to mimic Turquiose.

gregory

My sister seems to feel fairly confident about top right, without dye...

rhodonite, which is a pink manganese inosilicate, often in association with black manganese oxide.

The latter substance named would explain the colour.

Pam O

gregory said:
My sister seems to feel fairly confident about top right, without dye...

The latter substance named would explain the colour.

I have not seen rhodonite that looks like that...

Here are tons of pictures.

These include fairly low grade to super high grade, and a lot in between.
http://www.google.com/search?q=rhod...bOsKdyATcsIKQAw&ved=0CDUQ7Ak&biw=1024&bih=690

gregory

Believe me, if she says she's seen it, she has. Rocks are her life. She wins awards for her cutting and polishing. Her cabuchons are STUNNING. (scrabbles desperately but can't find the pix she sent that I stored - somewhere...)