G'day years ago when I was around 12 yo one of my Uncles gave me this rock. I'm going 60 this year and I had forgotten about it until just recently when I was going through some of my stuff. Do anyone know what rock it could be ?
Anyone know what rock this is
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I would say Andalusite or the variety Chiastolite from the looks of it.
Hi Wishfull,
Under the folder "Gemstones and Minerals" I put a topic up there called Chiastolite back in March this year. Have a look see.
Cheers
Doug
Under the folder "Gemstones and Minerals" I put a topic up there called Chiastolite back in March this year. Have a look see.
Cheers
Doug
Ok I will try that. Uncle said it was star sapphire. I never thougt it was.
Cheers. Looked up your post. Yep that's a good match.
I have put in my tumbler woth a heap of other good
Stuff.
I have put in my tumbler woth a heap of other good
Stuff.
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Here's a star sapphire here Wishful, came from our old claim many years ago. This one has some cracks but I cabbed it anyway.
I think I have some pics of rough star sapphires somewhere, can't find them right now. They can be translucent blue or green but most of the ones from the Anakie field are jet black. One feature that readily identifies them from black spinel is that they will show a bronze-gold sheen across the surface in certain directions. It is the area with this sheen that will show a star when cabbed so that area has to be properly oriented.
I have a couple of rough ones here at present. One is virtually the perfect shape, a rough natural oval with the c-axis where the sheen is in just the right spot - should cab a nice stone with very little waste. The other is much bigger - nearly as big as the end joint of my thumb - but is quite flat and the sheen is on the narrow edge. A pretty hopeless stone for showing a star. Best kept as a specimen.
I think I have some pics of rough star sapphires somewhere, can't find them right now. They can be translucent blue or green but most of the ones from the Anakie field are jet black. One feature that readily identifies them from black spinel is that they will show a bronze-gold sheen across the surface in certain directions. It is the area with this sheen that will show a star when cabbed so that area has to be properly oriented.
I have a couple of rough ones here at present. One is virtually the perfect shape, a rough natural oval with the c-axis where the sheen is in just the right spot - should cab a nice stone with very little waste. The other is much bigger - nearly as big as the end joint of my thumb - but is quite flat and the sheen is on the narrow edge. A pretty hopeless stone for showing a star. Best kept as a specimen.
Nice star Lefty. :Y:
Here's a pic of a 50ct rough star sapphire that my mate found at Inverell. It has all the bronze coppery type sheen and should hopefully star up nicely if he ever gets the thing cabbed, been hassling him for ages to get it done.
Here's a pic of a 50ct rough star sapphire that my mate found at Inverell. It has all the bronze coppery type sheen and should hopefully star up nicely if he ever gets the thing cabbed, been hassling him for ages to get it done.
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That looks like quite a decent haul there Heatho - and going on the photo I would definitely be cabbing that star! The one in my photo was 41 carat in the rough so your mates will likely be bigger again, depending on shape and other factors of course.
