gemstonefinder
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2007
Posts: 11
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Post by gemstonefinder on Jan 2, 2007 16:55:35 GMT -5
I took some pictures of some items I have and I am not sure what kind of gemstones I have. Some are light green and some are very dark green. I hope you can see the photos. Also I need to know how to remove the rock around the stones. Jen
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,456
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 2, 2007 19:22:57 GMT -5
Those kinda look like cabbing quality emeralds in matrix to me. I'd check hardness ( emeralds are mohs 9) to be sure. Short of sawing, I don't know how to safely remove them from the matrix. Maybe one of the mineral collectors here can help you with that....mel
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gemstonefinder
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2007
Posts: 11
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Post by gemstonefinder on Jan 3, 2007 16:23:08 GMT -5
Can you tell me what cabbing quality emeralds means? And what does emeralds are mohs 9 mean as well? I am new to all this so I don't know all the terms.
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rallyrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2005
Posts: 1,507
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Post by rallyrocks on Jan 3, 2007 17:59:55 GMT -5
By "cabbing quality", mel means that they are not what would be called "facet grade" stones.
Facet grade stones would be more clear and glassy, because of the cloudyness these would probably be best cut as cabochons, small dome shapes rather than sparkly multi-sided flat cuts you find called emeralds in the mall jewelry stores.
The drawback to tumbling is the cracks and inclusions will wear unevenly so while the remaining stones will come out nice and shiny like that other thread showed, they are not terribly even or uniform in appearance so they can find only limited use in jewelry, and have little resale value.
Often stones like this are worth more as "specimen" examples in their natural state than they would be broken up and tumbled
Whereas nicely cut cabochons will sell for a pretty decent price, providing some positive incentive for cutting them up, while well-cut facet grade emeralds can sell for hundreds of dollars per carat (a carat being about 1/5 gram in weight).
Mohs is the hardness scale that is used for identifying rocks and knowing how they will cut- 10 is the hardest and is only found in diamonds, 9 is really hard still, but beryls and silicone carbide are a couple of materials that are about this hard.
Knife steel is typically about 7, so stones that can be scratched with a knife are going to be lower on the mohs scale, with really soft stuff like soapstone (talc) is only abour 1-2.
If these are in fact emeralds, they should easily scratch steel or glass, if not they are probably some other material.
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gemstonefinder
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2007
Posts: 11
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Post by gemstonefinder on Jan 6, 2007 18:39:27 GMT -5
Thanks for explaining it to me rally rocks.
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