SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Jul 18, 2009 16:34:12 GMT -5
1) You sure that's calcite? A most unusual color for the mineral. And an unusual shade of blue too. Not clear if those are crystals, cubes, or cleavage rhombs.
2) What are the associates? They look like barite and quartz, and combined with the color suggest a fluorite from Blanchard, NM, but I could be wrong.
3) Locality? Bear in mind that with specimen minerals, far more than lapidary materials, the locality is vital... rocks without locality info are roadfill.
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Jul 18, 2009 17:45:15 GMT -5
- The white is probably barite, distinctive cleavage, color, habit, known from the Blanchard area.
- I don't really want to sound like more of an arrogant jackass than I usually am, but anybody in the mineral biz that told you that was a calcite... er... well... maybe don't buy stuff from them cos they're idiots. Blue calcite is not common.
- You will find that ID'ing minerals takes nothing but time and effort. Take every opportunity you can to view minerals - universities, shows, museums, internet, magazines and books, and especially your friends collections, where you can pick them up and really study them.
Very close examination combined with study will provide you with a handful of good, simple clues to mineral ID. A hand lens of 10x, or far better, a low-power microscope will make cleavage more obvious, a quick way to tell fluorite from calcite. Calcite is also easily ID'd by its strong reaction to even relatively mild acids, bubbling merrily in the low grade hydrochloric acid, called muriatic acid, used in pools. (Insert standard safety disclamer here - handling acids is dangerous, protect skin, eyes, and lungs, follow the instructions, blah, blah, blah, don't say I didn't warn ya.)
End of lecture! Thank you, come again.
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
|
Post by SirRoxalot on Jul 19, 2009 15:40:07 GMT -5
Good scope, now you might have to get into micromounting, crystals are way cooler than slabs under the scope.
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