right now...its just a rock.

[charbie]

i have a rock that was found in north carolina and supposedly has a big aqua in it. if you hold up the rock to the light, you can see through it a bit and see the greenish/blue color inside. i have no idea if it is something really worth cutting into, and have no idea what in the world i''m supposed to do with this big honking rock and how to potentially turn it into something beautiful.

i don''t want to waste my money, but i''d love to see something made from this if possible.
i don''t want to sound stupid, but honestly, i have no idea what in the world people normally do with something like this. i''d love to "unleash" the beauty inside, if indeed there is something there.

what am i supposed to do with the rock?

 

[chrono]

Do you have a picture of this “rock”? How big is it? Depending on the size and quality, it might be facetable, tumble material for cabochon or at worse, best kept as a mineral specimen.

 

[charbie]

Date: 12/21/2009 12:38:31 PM
Author: Chrono
Do you have a picture of this “rock”? How big is it? Depending on the size and quality, it might be facetable, tumble material for cabochon or at worse, best kept as a mineral specimen.

i''m at work now, i''ll post a picture when i get home. the rock is sort of white and brown, but sort of translucent so you can see the color inside when looking at it with light in the background. its probably 2-3" long, and maybe an inch "fat"

 

[T L]

Sounds like a crystal inside of it''s host matrix. Looking forward to pictures. Do you know for a fact it''s an aqua?

 

[chrono]

Date: 12/21/2009 12:59:34 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
Sounds like a crystal inside of it''s host matrix. Looking forward to pictures. Do you know for a fact it''s an aqua?

Yup. It depends on how much is crystal (and its quality/cleanliness) and how much is the host material. I''m looking forward to pictures too.

 

[charbie]

Date: 12/21/2009 12:38:31 PM
Author: Chrono
Do you have a picture of this “rock”? How big is it? Depending on the size and quality, it might be facetable, tumble material for cabochon or at worse, best kept as a mineral specimen.

here it is...i''ll attach a few pictures.

 

[charbie]

next to a paper clip to see the size...i guess i had the measurements wrong since i only could see it in my head.

 

[charbie]

another view.

 

[charbie]

Date: 12/21/2009 12:59:34 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
Sounds like a crystal inside of it''s host matrix. Looking forward to pictures. Do you know for a fact it''s an aqua?

let me tell you how i came upon this "rock." after the story, i''ll understand if you think i''m completely nuts and have a hunk of crap in my hands. i mainly came over to colored stones just to figure out if there might be something worthwhile in the rock, and if so what to do with it. i really won''t be disappointed if i have nothing here.

we were in north carolina 2 years ago visiting a college buddy of my hubs. all over the mountains they have those "gold and gem mining" places, where you pay for a bucket of dirt and sift it through water until you find something, or go home with a bunch of funky rocks. we actually found one where we heard it was a bit more reputable, so since none of us had done it before, we thought we''d take our chances. they say if you find anything worthwhile, they tumble it or whatever. the guy saw this that i had found and said, "well, thats a nice sized piece of aqua you have there!" i didn''t feel like getting ripped off by some crazy rock man from the hills of north carolina, so i just took the rock with me and figured one day i''d find out if there was anything actually worthwhile there.

 

[charbie]

do these pictures help at all?

 

[T L]

Thank you for the story, but that does not appear to be facet grade material. I think it would be best suited as a mineral in it''s undisturbed form for a collection.

 

[T L]

It also doesn't look like aqua, but it looks like it could be quartz. Aqua (blue form of the mineral beryl) forms in long hexogonal crystals like this.

 

[dzop]

I'm going to disagree with tourmaline lover, and while I'm no professional, I do have a master's in geology and I've taken a few minerology classes--

-- I believe you may have an aqua with a poor example of crystal-whatchamacallit, habit? There looks like there's cleavage in the lower right corner of the sample in one of your pictures, and quartz has no cleavage, and that's definitely not a sapphire b/c the crystal habit of sapphire is totally different. I have a heliodor that I collected in CT that looks something like that, albeit with a much better hexagonal crystal habit and more gemmyness, so I wouldn't be shocked to find out its a beryl. There are a few 120ish degree angles in your specimen which would be consistent with beryl.

So in sum, I think you have a sample of non-facet grade beryl.

EDIT: i looked on mindat.org and many of the paymine places in NC are listed as having beryl/aqua, so this is consistent with your story.

 

[chrono]

Whatever it may be, I''m afraid it does not look to be facetable.

 

[T L]

I could be wrong about the material. It does remind me of quartzite, but in the end, the only way to know for sure what it is, is to have it tested.

 

[charbie]

thank you all for the responses- i really apprecitate it! its nice to finally know what the rock possibly could be at the very least, it is pretty to have!

i guess i have to go tell my hubby he will just have to find a big honker for me

 

[PrecisionGem]

Looks like typical Aquamarine from North Carolina. While it''s not facet grade, it could cut an attractive Cab, which I''m sure would also have special meaning to you. If you look around, you should be able to find someone to cut a cab for you. Actually they guys at the place you were at in NC may be a good place to start. They have local lapidary''s working on the side for them cutting mostly cabs.

 

[Michael_E]

Date: 12/21/2009 10:07:26 PM
Author: dzop
I''m going to disagree with tourmaline lover, and while I''m no professional, I do have a master''s in geology and I''ve taken a few minerology classes--


-- I believe you may have an aqua with a poor example of crystal-whatchamacallit, habit?

Whatchamacallit? I use that term all the time...that''s hilarious ! Lot''s of times aqua doesn''t form good individual crystals since it fills cracks and fissures in the rocks which it forms in and there''s just no room to grow complete crystals. Materials like the bulk sample you''ve got can sometimes be hiding good rough, but usually not. The way that the rough is cleaned of poor quality material is called "cobbing". A person will take a bag of promising stuff and just start whacking at the pieces with a small hammer that has a flexible, almost whip like handle. Anything which is loose or crumbly gets knocked off and any crack free material gets trimmed a bit. If the piece has nothing of value it just gets turned into gravel. The only way to find out what you''ve got is to start whacking at it and seeing if there are any pieces worth cutting. You might get a decent cab or two out of it OR you might just add to the gravel in your fish tank. It''s probably more valuable to you as a memento though.

 

[Largosmom]

I think it would make a cool cabachon stone if you can get it cut.

Laura

 

[innerkitten]

Are there any cabbing classes in your area? It could be a fun project to take on yourself if you have the time.