panning at a garage sale

havent been out for a dig for a couple of months, but who needs to!. . went to a garage sale and seen a wooden box full of different minerals, i asked how much and the man replied $2 for the box. so i grabed it and had a look thru the box when i got home and in the bottom was a vile containg these beauties. there is also a fist sized quartz peice with gold in it, a nice specie. ill put some more pics up tomorrow of the box of wonders. erfect:

Lucky duck!

:Y: :sunny: :trophy: :goldnugget: ripper buy gotta be happy with that.

Hope you haggled down to a dollar mate! :lol:

Australia is a very rich country,people leave money lying around everywhere,you just have to know where to look

Sweet $2.00 :goldnugget:

Congratulations erfect:

here are some more pics of what was in the box. thats most of them. i havent any idea what they are except for the quartz with gold in it. i tried my best with the photos.

1. hard to tell, better picture needed
2. again hard to tell, looks like pyrite of some sort
3. maybe cinnabar on quartz, hard to tell
4. need a better photo
5. should be more easily identifiable with a better photo, has a sheen and looks to have some cleavage
6. to me looks like Muscovite or Barite
7. no idea on that one
8 has a weird garnet looking structure.
9. calcite?
10.looks octahedral, should help narrow the search. maybe some very rough Flourite
11. quartz
12. ?
13/14. looks kind of like Mica (if minerals 13 and 14 are different then I think 14 might be Biotite).
15 looks like Iron Oxide stained Quartz.
16 quartz.
17 definitely contains Malachite (the green) which means it could be Chalcopyrite or a similar copper bearing mineral, if it has any blue colouring then you've got Azurite as well.
18. potentially something like Gypsum
19 is quartz with pyrite with potentially gold.
20/21 are interesting, very pretty mineralisation but hard to tell exactly, my guess is maybe Galena with rhodonite.
20. might be Jasper or slag.

Hopefully these are right. Hopefully we can get some other input into here.

7 looks a bit like spodumene, lithium ore?

7 doesnt look like spodumene to me, it normally has striated parallel crystal structure whereas that rock's structure seems more disorganised

Nice score! And some interesting rocks there!

13 looks very much like one I posted in the mineral identifications thread recently, that Goldierocks said was some type of mica, so you have that one right mate!





Cheers,
Megsy

Great catch Bluecurrant.

Easiest finds ever?
:Y: :Y:

i couldnt bring myself to haggle with the old bloke lol. :lol: But i did take the gold back to show him and asked if he wanted it back. He replied no you enjoy it. He has travelled all over oz collecting the samples thru out his life. Some of the best adventure stories iv heard. One thing he keep on saying there is lots of the above out there you just have to know what to look for. Thanks everone for the id on the samples. Anouther question, when taking pics should they be taken in direct sunlight. :Y:

When taking photos especially for mineral identification, it's always going to be tough for the people trying to identify unless they are a 30+year rockhounder or a geo. Some minerals look very similar and they are usually identifiable by things like cleavage, fracturing, lustre, colour and streak colouring. Because we can't physically hold the rock, things to consider when photographing samples include:
- Appropriate zoom and focus. Some lens have a short field of depth, so the front of the mineral will be in focus but the back won't be, so obviously we want to avoid this
- Good lighting (indirect sunlight is usually best, think about looking at gemstones/crystals at day versus under kitchen lighting at night)
- A non-blurry image, so using a tripod or having the camera rest on a table or a book
- Sometimes, shining a light up through the mineral to highlight translucency or mineral features can help with identification

thanks sushi ill use my camera tomorrow. :Y:

If Im correct the 3rd and 3rd last and 2nd last could and I use that loosely... Cinnabar on Quartz and Galena and Cinnabar . Cinnabar is Mercury Sulphide.. Galena has a 'Garlic-ish' smell to it....Both are on the Top 10 most toxic Minerals list .... Best stored in an air tight display case and Not Handled.... 6 is Gypsum and 8 is Garnet... Better pics would/could help...
I have lots of the display boxes here if you want one or two.... Nice score there Steve... :Y: Wash your hands after handling them too....

Stick the new pics in the Gemstone and Mineral section..

LW.....

gday Lw, yes im pretty happy with the find. Im moving towards searching for gem stones instead of gold all the time. i found some small garnets whilst panning for gold. they where only 2 to 3 mm big, something different in the pan was a suprise. Is there many gemstones in our area ?. Ill be at the lismore gem fest again this year. hopefully ill catch up with you there. ill wash my hands after looking at them, didnt know they where poison. Up at the goldie at present holidaying. So ill get the camera and tripod out when i get home and repost them. all the best for the new year.

You too bud.... Have fun on the GC... If you want any of those boxes to take home, give me a yell before you leave and We can meet up... Im located near the Theme Parks... :Y: Have you replaced the drowned 4x4 yet? You have been quiet on the Forum...

As for Coffs for Gems, Well I knew about the Garnets.. A pleasant surprise when panning, and there are Micro Crystals (small crystals 2mm on a plate of rock?) near Wedding Bells Mine.. I can direct you if you want some. You never know as the area hasn't been explored much... Gems are usually associated with Volcanoes, like at Glen Innes.....

See you at Lismore THIS TIME... :koala:

LW...

Hope you didn't choose today for SeaWorld Steve...A large Fire has broken out on SeaWorld Drive and the spit area and road closures are in place.. Just in time for closing time for Seaworld.... That should be fun getting out...

LW....

we went to movie world today. just went for a drive down that way, no way of getting in. we have planned for sea world tomorrow as its our last day up here. the smoke is thick. im recovering in the pool after some of the rides today. :awful: i wont have time to catch up, whislt here. the kids are wanting to go here there everwhere. its really nice up here, but i still rather the bush back home.

Mate, stay down there... The Coast is fast becoming a Hell Hole... And too expensive for a lot of Residents... The Crime rate is out of control and the Cops can't keep on top of it... They have only now admitted that they are loosing the fight and have asked for 5000 extra cops that the State won't provide for them... Worst thing We did was leaving Woopie... :brokenh:

LW....