stevehiker
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2006
Posts: 19
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Post by stevehiker on Sept 24, 2006 20:34:07 GMT -5
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181lizard
Cave Dweller
Still lurking :)
Member since December 2005
Posts: 2,171
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Post by 181lizard on Sept 24, 2006 22:00:38 GMT -5
Think maybe it could be a type of chrysacolla? (spelled it wrong - ooppps) Whatever it is, it's pretty!
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Post by gemkoi on Sept 25, 2006 13:19:34 GMT -5
Ya, i looked long a hard at this piece lat night and have no idea Steve. It really could be many things, generally speaking. But it does look like it would cut and polish nice?
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rhodescabbin
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rockhounders!!!KEEPIN IT FUN!!!
Member since September 2006
Posts: 235
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Post by rhodescabbin on Sept 25, 2006 13:27:18 GMT -5
What the world??? Look at the cut face (last picture) bottom right side. Isn't that an area that is highly chatoyant???
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Sept 25, 2006 13:47:26 GMT -5
Looks like plasma agate, If it is what I think it is, be careful because it may have cinnabar in it. I will find a piece of our material and post a picture of it.
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stevehiker
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2006
Posts: 19
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Post by stevehiker on Sept 25, 2006 15:00:22 GMT -5
A guy at the Rock Shop in Hopland, CA wasn't sure either, but said that it would make nice jewelry. The trouble is, I don't want to cut it up. I gave another piece to a friend of mine; she puts them outside(she has lots). Maybe I'll ask her if I could cut some off HER rock (in exchange of some cut and polished pieces of course). And what's the problem with cinnabar? I know I'm expressing my lack of knowledge, here. Steve
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Post by gemkoi on Sept 25, 2006 15:27:17 GMT -5
cinnabar is an oxide of Mercury.
I have seen plasma agates dispaly a similar look, but never a jasper. Garygreen jasper can sometimes look that way too. Maybe its a type of Jade if it came from CA? And some types of jade can be Chatoyant as Dale points out. BUt from my limited knowlege on jade from CA. Very little will display that effect. but it can happen.
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stevehiker
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2006
Posts: 19
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Post by stevehiker on Sept 25, 2006 18:32:43 GMT -5
The rock could have come from anywhere in the world. A woman that I had done some work for---she and her late husband traveled all over the world getting rocks. This is where I found it: 2 new photos: www.flickr.com/photos/stevehiker/
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Sept 25, 2006 18:45:31 GMT -5
Cinnabar has a high content of mercury, actually it is mercuric sulfide. The mercury doesn't have to get that hot before it will vaporize, its something like 600 degrees. Just use caution, wear gloves and ALWAYS use a lot of water if you will be cutting on it. I had a slab that had vugs in it and inside each little vug was a ball of mercury. Luckily the mercury got trapped inside the slab instead of vaporizing into the air, the fumes are deadly.
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Post by gemkoi on Sept 25, 2006 19:53:21 GMT -5
Yup, my bad, it is a sulfide and not an oxide.
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Sept 29, 2006 21:30:09 GMT -5
HI Steve, I finally found a piece of the plasma stuff I was telling you about, take a look and see if it might be the same stuff. Its been sitting in our rock pile with all of our copper crap, that is why the one side looks so red, its just really dirty.
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stevehiker
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2006
Posts: 19
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Post by stevehiker on Sept 30, 2006 11:22:40 GMT -5
Looks the same to me. Mine has red in it also. I talked with the son of the woman that I had gotten the rocks from and he had said that he had dug up a lot of the rocks that they had. I had mentioned the possibility that it might be cinnibar and he said that they had done some digging at the cinnibar mines. I'm going to show him a piece when I see him next. Can I see a view of the cut end of yours? It does look the same as mine, though.
Steve
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Sept 30, 2006 13:48:45 GMT -5
Hi Steve, I had no luck finding the pieces we have that look just like yours but what I did do is take a picture of several of the rocks we had that do have cinnabar in them. The first three I believe are some variety of the plasma agate, (which is what I think your rock is). If you look at the second picture, the slab on the left side has a ball of mercury at the very bottom on the far left side, it's stuck in the vug. The three slabs in the first picture have very similar patterns to the rock in your picture. The problem with trying to identify this material is that it comes in such a huge array of colors, that no two pieces look alike. The pictures below are all types of mettacinnabar some of it occurring with quartz, opalite, and chalcedony. If you want more information on this stuff, try doing a search on the INTERNET for cinnabar, mercuric sulfide, mercury sulfide or try using the keywords sulfides, arsenides and tellurides. I have cut a lot of cabs from the cinnabar we collected from different locations, and if you use caution, wear latex gloves, use a lot of water when cutting or grinding on it you won't have any problems. In my opinion, malachite is way more hazardous to your health that this stuff. Like I said, twitch twitch, I have cut many stones from it and there is nothing wrong with me. twitch, twitch. I hope this helps a little bit.
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