please help identify these stones
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Welcome to the forum active. The stones you have almost certainly quartz. You have a slighty weathered/waterworn smokey quartz crystal piece and a clear quartz specimen. What area are they from? The smokey quartz can be faceted into nice stones (not very valuable) if you find a piece that is free of fractures and flaws.
cheers RDD
cheers RDD
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active said:thanks there ment to be from australia not sure were i will try find out she was not sure to the rainbow colours appearing in quarts do you know why that happens ?
Welcome to the forum active.
The rainbow colours are caused by small fractures within the stone.
As Red Dirt Digger says, the smokey quartz can actually be faceted into a nice-looking gem, though worth very little. Same for the colourless quartz if it is not too badly fractured.
Cheers
thanks so much for the help guys
so what is iris quartz then ? i have been trying to research is iris quartzs colours more "in the stone" not on the fracture lines ?
also so if i polish a bit and see no cracks is that unique or a often occurance in quartz
hope yur day is going great all
so what is iris quartz then ? i have been trying to research is iris quartzs colours more "in the stone" not on the fracture lines ?
also so if i polish a bit and see no cracks is that unique or a often occurance in quartz
hope yur day is going great all
I could be wrong :/ But I don't think you can find Iris Quartz in Australia.....India, Turkey, Brazil and the USA...appears to the Locations after a Google search..... mindat.org is a good search engine to use... :Y:
LoneWolf....
LoneWolf....
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Info on iris quartz here
Apparently caused primarily by Brazil law twinning, a property which much of the Lowmead amethyst possesses. However, amethyst is already deep purple which would make it harder to see if it was there and this version of the phenomenon looks slightly different to usual.
I think most of us have probably found quartz crystals with that rainbow effect, I've always assumed it to be fractures. The material called iris quartz displays the property more strongly than usual. First discovered in India It has since been found in a number of other places. The pieces in the link above are exceptional - they would make great faceting material, just as some opal can be faceted.
Similar phenomenon can be caused by other factors.......
Apparently caused primarily by Brazil law twinning, a property which much of the Lowmead amethyst possesses. However, amethyst is already deep purple which would make it harder to see if it was there and this version of the phenomenon looks slightly different to usual.
I think most of us have probably found quartz crystals with that rainbow effect, I've always assumed it to be fractures. The material called iris quartz displays the property more strongly than usual. First discovered in India It has since been found in a number of other places. The pieces in the link above are exceptional - they would make great faceting material, just as some opal can be faceted.
Similar phenomenon can be caused by other factors.......
That's my problem Lefty, Link thingys are not my strong point :lol: Thanks for posting the info.. :Y:
LoneWolf...
Thanks for posting the info.. :Y: LoneWolf...
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LoneWolf said:That's my problem Lefty, Link thingys are not my strong point :lol:
LoneWolf...
No worries LW - computers not my strong point either, everything I know about using them I learned from plonking myself down in front of one and randomly pushing buttons to see what would happen
:lol: That's how I have learnt too.... $120 later, after pushing the wrong buttons. :8 ... quote of the day from Computer wizz..." How the Hell did you do that" :lol: ]
LW...
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The first one might be moonstone, I've got some from Moonstone Hill that looks similar, the rest is quartz imo.
Active,
That top one with the colour could be corundum.
How heavy are they for their size?
And just how hard are they - what do you need to scratch them?
Are you familiar with Mohs Scale and do you have a scribe?
That top one with the colour could be corundum.
How heavy are they for their size?
And just how hard are they - what do you need to scratch them?
Are you familiar with Mohs Scale and do you have a scribe?
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