Semi-prescious minerals you may have never seen

Some Members of the agate family

wdclark — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:36:05 +0000

Agate is a subvariety of quartz and is a is often banded. It is found as clear, purple, rose, black, yellow, brown, green, orange , etc. Comprised of silica (SiO2), there are two major types of quartz: “large crystal” (seen with the naked eye), and that where the crystals are too small to be seen, even through a microscope. Varieties of quartz include chalcedony, agate, jasper, clear quartz, rose quartz, smokey quartz, amethyst, citrine, plus many others. Agate does not have a consistent structure, like a crystal, and it usually isn’t made of a single type of mineral. It is called agate if it exhibits some or all the following qualities banding, clearness, or multicolored .

Variety: Amethyst (crystals too small to be seen) in its natural, chrystalline state.

Amethyst cut, polished, and set as a pendant.

A faceted Amethyst set in a “drop Casting”.

Rose Quartz crystals in their natural, state.

Rose Quartz set in a pendant.

Rose Quartz in a collar necklace.

Dendritic Agate cut and set in a “ring”.

Dendritic Agate cut and set in a “slide” (pendant).

Tiger Iron, a variety of the quartz Tiger Eye, and exhibits a schiller in bright light making it interesting when set.

Tiger Iron set in a pendant.

Fortification Agate set as a pin/pendant.
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Crazy Lace Agate set as a pendant. Sierra Santa Lucia a mountain range just west of the village of Benito Juarez famous for its production of “Mexican Crazy Lace” agate.

Sierra Madre Agate from Mexico set as a pendant.

Lake Superior agate is a type of agate stained by iron and found on the shores of Lake Superior. Its wide distribution and iron-rich bands of color reflect the gemstone’s geologic history in Minnesota.

Laguna Agate is one of the most highly praised banded agate in the world. It is a nodular banded agate known for its tight banding and bright colors. The agate is found in a remote north-south trending mountain range that is in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.

Botswana agate is a variety of agate from Botswana, banded with fine, parallel lines, often coloured pink blending into white.

Dinosaur Bone has been thoroughly ‘permineralized’ meaning that rock minerals have been deposited into all the spaces within the original bone. Most fossil dinosaur bones still contain the original bone.

Moss Agate is a variety of quartz that contains opaque, dark-coloured inclusions whose branching forms resemble ferns, moss, or other vegetation.

Jasper

wdclark — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:48:31 +0000

Jasper occurs in all colors with impurities
that give it interesting colors and patterns.

It was highly regarded in Babylonian, Egypt and Assyria. It has been worn by kings and priests. The Bible relates that one of the stones in the breastplate of the High Priest is a jasper. Naming jasper presents an enormous challenge – the geographic locality where it is found, sometimes quite restricted such as “Bruneau” (a canyon) and “Lahontan” (a lake), rivers and even individual mountains.

Biggs Jasper (left) is a stunning picture jasper. It is generally a dark brown containing swirls, bands, lines and arcs. Their colors range from light brown, to yellow, tan, blue, gray-brown, and black. “Biggs jasper was discovered while constructing Interstate 84 near Biggs, Oregon.The find is now covered by the freeway and this material is now scarce.

Owyhee Jasper is a colorful and popular picture jasper that most likely derived its name from the Owyhee River. It is sometimes known as the “King” of Picture Jaspers. Owyhee Picture Jasper comes from the Owyhee mountain area, situated on the Idaho-Oregon border along US 95 just south of Homedale Idaho.

Ocean Jasper is a rare mineral, mined in only one place in the world, the Mine of Marovato, on the Ambolobozo Peninsula in the the north west corner of Madagascar. The mineral can only be mined at low tide and is found in a 25 x 50 yard location. Reports are that this location is almost played out.

Another Ocean Jasper in a wire-wrapped setting. As molten rock cools, the silica may start to leak out forming little spheres.

Ocean Jasper (also called Orbicular Jasper) in a wire wrapped setting. The word “Ocean” comes mainly from the location at the edge of the sea, along the northwest coast of Madagascar where the deposit was found. The forms in the rock itself are also suggestive of the bubbling surf of the sea.

Fossilized coral Over time, ancient coral has been gradually replaced with agate. The fossilized coral appears as small “flowers” on the stone.

Red Brick Jasper is a hard, orange red to brick red stone, often with some inclusions. Sometimes called Imperial Red Jasper.

Unidentified Jasper

Porcelain Jasper

This Imperial Jasper shows the highly prized “fried egg pattern that is sometimes exhibited with Imperial Jasper.

Mookite

Mookite or Mookaite Jasper comes from the Mooka Creek region in Western Australia. It has been found in many bright colors of red, purples, tan, white, ivory, pinks and many other shades.

Butterfly Jasper

Butterfly Jasper gets its name because many stones resemble butterfly wings.

Picture Jasper in a silver setting.

Turquoise The King of Gems

wdclark — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:27:56 +0000

A fine tourquoise from the Kingman mine in Arizona.Turquoise: King of Gems; Gem of KingsTurquoise lore: During ancient times, turquoise jewelry was worn to protect a person against evil forces. Wearing a turquoise stone has always been considered as a symbol of good fortune. It is said that wearing turquoise jewelry helps the wearer feel cheerful as well. It was also considered a way to get the one you love.Varigated turquoise ring

Turquoise is a perennial jewelry favorite. It has been prized as a gem or ornamental stone for thousands of years. Turquoise does not occur in Turkey as its name might imply, but was traded at Turkish bazaars to Venetian merchants who brought it to Europe. It has adorned palaces, places of worship and homes, and its color has been used in tiles, cloth, and paints.

Turquoise Bracelet

Turquoise occurs as opaque blue, blue-green, or green depending upon what minerals are present. Blue is attributed to copper while green — sometimes yellow — results from the presence of iron or dehydration. In the American southwest turquoise is usually associated with the weathering products of copper and is often recovered as a byproduct of large-scale copper mining operations.

Turquoise with matrix

This beautiful gem was among the first to be mined. Persia (modern-day Iran) or the Sinai Peninsula remain sources of the most highly prized naturally blue turquoise. In the United States, Bisbee (AZ) turquoise has a hard chocolate brown matrix and is considered some of the finest in the world. Because turquoise is found in so many parts of the US Southwest, it is easy to understand why Native American jewelry makers made such wide use of the stone.

Varigated turquoise pendant

In China and Tibet, green turquoise is prized and many good quality stones come from there.Because high quality turquoise is scarce today, some of it is treated or “enhanced.” Good quality turquoise polishes to a beautiful luster, but light waxing protects the soft stone from discoloration from oils and moisture. However, some stones are dyed, reconstructed from fragments, or impregnated to enhance color.

Imitations such as dyed howlite are also on the market.If you are shopping for turquoise, it’s important to turn to a reliable source. It is fine to buy lesser quality stones that appeal to you but the seller should provide you with the correct information.

Caring for Turquoise and Silver JewelryTurquoise is fragile and sensitive to harsh chemicals. Perfume and other cosmetics will attack the finish and may alter the color of the stone. Also, skin oils and most commercial jewelry cleaning fluids will adversely affect the color. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight may dehydrate or discolor the gem.Cosmetics should be applied before putting on turquoise jewelry. It should not be worn to a beach or other sun-bathing environment. After use, turquoise should be gently cleaned with a soft cloth to avoid a build-up of residue. The jewelry pieces should be stored in their own container to avoid scratching by harder gems. Never store turquoise jewelry in an airtight container.A dilemma arises when turquoise is set in silver. Sterling silver is 92.5 parts silver with the remainder being other metals, mostly copper. The best way to polish the silver portion is with a soft cloth with has been treated with chemicals to remove tarnish. Be careful to avoid the stone(s). A good quality paste silver polish applied with a soft toothbrush to the silver and rinsed in cool water works well, too.Back to Top

Larimar – a beautiful and sought-after stone for jewelry

wdclark — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:32:03 +0000

Larimar — one of the ‘hottest’ stones on the market today. Even if blue is not your favorite, you have to admire Larimar’s extraordinary color — similar to a tropical ocean. It was discovered in the 1970s, is found only in the Dominican Republic, and is hard enough to be used in jewelry (5 – 7 Mohs scale). The name “Larimar” was given to the stone by a Dominican who named the stone after his daughter Larissa and mar, the Spanish word for ocean. This unique Caribbean gemstone ranges in shades from pale to sky blue and may be mistaken for turquoise. Larimar is formed when volcanic action combines with the copper in the soil. It is indeed a beautiful and sought-after stone for jewelry. Larimar is said to represent peace and clarity, healing and love. It is reputed to be helpful for those experiencing stress and anxiety.

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Malachite

wdclark — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:26:57 +0000

Malachite is a beautiful green stone with irregular black banding. The colors in its bands range from a very light to deep green. It shows beautiful in earrings, necklaces, and pendants. Imitation malachite has white and/or black banding very irregular banding. Malachite also combines with other minerals with wonderful results.
Malachite is a semi-precious stone and also a valuable copper ore. Because of its distinctive bright green color and its presence in the nearly all copper deposits, it serves as a prospecting guide for that metal. Malachite has been used as an ornamental stone and as a gemstone. It is responsible for the green color of tarnished copper and bronze. Malachite derives its name from Greek meaning soft stone. Malachite was used as a mineral pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800 when it was replaced by synthetic greens. Even before the first Egyptian dynasty (4500 B.C.), it was used as green eye-paint. In the New Stone Age came the discovery of extracting certain metals from the ores in which they occur. Probably the first such material to be used malachite was easily reduced to copper in a strong fire. This may have led to the search for other metallic ores in the development of metallurgy.
Care and treatment: Malachite should be cleaned with a soft cloth that does not contain chemicals. If the stone is set in silver, a chemically treated cloth may be used on the metal. Malachite is the anniversary gemstone for the 13th year of marriage.Zaire is the primary source of malachite with notable occurrences in the Urals, Siberia, France, South Australia, Namibia and USA (Arizona).