Crystal from an estate

[jcervay 41]

Purchased in a lot from an estate. Thoughts on type of mineral? No idea where it was collected.

[chrisski 846]

You'll get someone much better than me, but my first guess is green tourmaline in rock.  I've always wondered how they get the crystals out of the rock.  That's one of the things the internet won't teach you.  You can learn all you want about placer mining, but once you ask Google or YouTube about hard rock, you get almost nothing, and processing gems in the raw is even less.

[4meter 200]

I'm going with Aquamarine Beryl since I do not see any striations on the crystal faces.  Very nice piece jcervay!

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2018 by 4meter

[clay 1,031]

Looks like Kyanite. Typical of the blues you see in Kyanite and the crystal form is more like Kyanite. It could be Beryl but Beryl tends to be stubby and more rounded.

It's just a picture and that helps but if you have more information like where it might have been found or whether the matrix has other crystals in it ID would be easier.

Kyanite is strongly anisotropic. If you have a way to test for hardness you should see a hardness of about 5.5 on the end and a hardness of about 7 on the sides. Beryl is a lot harder at about 7.5 - 8 on the Mohs scale.

[Morlock 1,679]

I'm going with aquamarine since that's the typical color. Kyanite is usually a darker blue. 

[jcervay 41]

1 hour ago, clay said:

Looks like Kyanite. Typical of the blues you see in Kyanite and the crystal form is more like Kyanite. It could be Beryl but Beryl tends to be stubby and more rounded.

It's just a picture and that helps but if you have more information like where it might have been found or whether the matrix has other crystals in it ID would be easier.

Kyanite is strongly anisotropic. If you have a way to test for hardness you should see a hardness of about 5.5 on the end and a hardness of about 7 on the sides. Beryl is a lot harder at about 7.5 - 8 on the Mohs scale.

Definitely need to check the hardness. I thought of kyanite too, knowing the difference in hardness should make it easier to identify, thank you

[jcervay 41]

In now thinking aquamarine, thank you all for the direction! Definitely harder than kyanite.

[adam 3,127]

5 hours ago, chrisski said:

I've always wondered how they get the crystals out of the rock

This is one of the most exciting videos showing gem tourmalines being removed by hand

 

[adam 3,127]

I agree with the Beryl.  Its low grade and could be from several places. I`d  say California, maybe Georgia.....I dont think its a foreign specimen.

[Morlock 1,679]

1 hour ago, adam said:

This is one of the most exciting videos showing gem tourmalines being removed by hand

 

https://crossmainetourmaline.wordpress.com/mining-log/

[chrisski 846]

6 hours ago, adam said:

This is one of the most exciting videos showing gem tourmalines being removed by hand

 

Thanks.  I never heard of a puddle pocket before.  It looks as if this gem is hosted in a soft matrix.  The tourmaline I've seen local to Wickenburg, doesn't have much if any value, is the black tourmaline.  It is hosted inside Quarts rock, and isn't in a vug or any other airspace.  I think it would be neat to take those out.

Or, getting back to the OPs thread, how would you get those crystals out.  I saw a show where they found rubies in a hard rock, tried crushing the rock, but ruined the rubies in the process.  The OP's crystals would be neat if they could be taken out of the rock, but I can only picture working on this with a Dremel, and I'm sure there's a better way.

[4meter 200]

Nice video adam!  What beautiful crystals!!  Wish I could turn up a nice glory hole like this one while out beating the bushes.

[Reno Chris 427]

I'm leaning toward Kyanite as what the original poster was asking about.

[Tom Strutton 27]

Pretty sure it's kyanite.

[adam 3,127]

On 7/31/2018 at 6:24 AM, Reno Chris said:

I'm leaning toward Kyanite as what the original poster was asking about.

 

1 hour ago, Tom Strutton said:

Pretty sure it's kyanite.

I just can not agree with either of you on this.  It looks to gemmy to be Kayanite. Also the original poster said it was harder than Kayanite. Kayanite, in a lot of cases looks somewhat fiberous, and darker blue, but I dont see that in the pictures either. I also see alot more hexagonal crystals , which would also point to Beryl.

[4meter 200]

If you enlarge the posted photos and look at the crystals "ends" or in cross section these are six sided, hexagonal, which is the form of Beryl.  Kyanite is not hexagonal in cross section.  This mineral sample is not Kyanite.

[clay 1,031]

As long as we are judging by appearance it might be instructive to see what the mineral collecting community has presented as good examples of each mineral.

Beryl

Kyanite

I can only judge photos based on what I see. What I see looks like Kyanite. If you look closely at the links above I think you will see why I came to that conclusion.

Or not.

Edited August 2, 2018 by clay

[4meter 200]

Well the peanut gallery is split; half think it Kyanite the other half Beryl.  Best to take the sample to a local Gemologist of a University with a mineralogy department and have them ID it.  If you do, let us know what the experts call it.

[Tom Strutton 27]

It varies.

[Morlock 1,679]

That's the typical color of kyanite, a little darker then the typical aquamarine color. That's why I think the original picture is aquamarine.

[4meter 200]

Yes, Kyanite and Beryl both can be the sades of the color "blue" but they are in different mineral systems which dictates the shape of the minerals.  Kyanite is in the triaclinic system, a four sided crystal family (square shapped).  As such Kyanite will never have 6 sides.  Beryl is in the hexagonal system, a six sided crystal family, it will always have 6 sides, never 4.  Thus the sample in question is defiantly not Kyanite.  The sample in question has 6 sides and the tops, where you can see them in the photo, tapper inward.  A crystal habit of Beryl not Kyanite.  The devil is in the details, not just color, when it comes to minerals.

[Reno Chris 427]

On 8/1/2018 at 6:21 PM, adam said:

 

I just can not agree with either of you on this.  It looks to gemmy to be Kayanite. Also the original poster said it was harder than Kayanite. Kayanite, in a lot of cases looks somewhat fiberous, and darker blue, but I dont see that in the pictures either. I also see alot more hexagonal crystals , which would also point to Beryl.

Kyanite grades from opaque to fully gemmy transparent crystals. I have seen plenty of Kyanite that looks very much like the one in the original picture. There is a kyanite mine in Imperial County, California that produces similar material. Measuring the hardness of kyanite is difficult as the hardness in one direction is different than the hardness perpendicular to that direction - the difference between the two directions is quite large. It can be really hard to see the true crystal shape in a 2D photo.

[Dakota Slim 1,067]

On 7/29/2018 at 10:11 AM, clay said:

Looks like Kyanite. Typical of the blues you see in Kyanite and the crystal form is more like Kyanite. It could be Beryl but Beryl tends to be stubby and more rounded.

It's just a picture and that helps but if you have more information like where it might have been found or whether the matrix has other crystals in it ID would be easier.

Kyanite is strongly anisotropic. If you have a way to test for hardness you should see a hardness of about 5.5 on the end and a hardness of about 7 on the sides. Beryl is a lot harder at about 7.5 - 8 on the Mohs scale.

Yep, and I'm guessing it's from Bluebird Hill which is near the American Girl Mine at the Cargo Muchacho Mtns. in SE CA. 
I just posted about this in another thread. It is believed to take away all negative feelings. Great to have on your person when prospecting -- or looking for ghosts.

[jcervay 41]

On 8/4/2018 at 12:06 PM, 4meter said:

Well the peanut gallery is split; half think it Kyanite the other half Beryl.  Best to take the sample to a local Gemologist of a University with a mineralogy department and have them ID it.  If you do, let us know what the experts call it.

Great idea, definitely up for debate here