Easter egg gem found in hillside of urban creek

[Rific]

I decided to pan for gold in a local stream and I found this chunk of rock in the hillside of an urban area...is this a natural mineral like an oligoclase or quartz or is this something manmade? I cant test its density but it will scratch glass and doesn't want to scratch steel. I only question it because of the weird perfect X on the bottom of it...I don't understand formation of gems all that much, but could this just be a depression of the mineral forming overtop of a differant mineral in its cubic expression?

 

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[wilfndgold1]

Vert unique.

 

[IAMZIM]

It's hard to tell from your pics, I was trying to look at the "x" to see if it was just an incidental fracturing that happened to make an "x", or if it could be cleavage fractures. It's just to hard to tell for me, and I am not an expert. I do know however that quartz or "chalcedony" does not have cleavage, but gems like topaz do. However, topaz has only one plane of cleavage, which would seem to indicate that it is not topaz, if indeed those are cleavage planes. The overall look of the stone looks like chalcedony to me. Some one with more experience than me might chime in.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Not cleavage planes, I think. My initial thought is slag/glass. But chalcedony can certainly bear a similar appearance.
Do a hardness test with quartz - if it scratches this unknown, I'd think my initial thought is correct.

 

[Rific]

After stumbling into the beryls from IAMZIMs comments, I now think its from one of their families. Beryl/morganite/chrysoberyl...look at these images I just took in the daytime hours of light...the gem exhibits more pink/purple/berry colors and the bottom if it with the impression looking EXACTLY like the one in the "chrysoberyl" wikipedia entry:



If possible, perhaps it started forming a chrysoberyl and turned into something different or formed over top of one? IDK but im due for a find so I have my slag shield up



This may be a stuipd question, but does the quartz have to be in any type of form? I have a lump of milky quartz..would that work or do I need to use the gem quality quartz?

 

[Rific]

and ugh ok eu_citizen...if we haveee to go with a glass I'll settle on a tektite/impact glass as I found another piece and located some interesting pock marks/inclusions on it. I'll take some pics of all the inclusions tomorrow so stay tuned

 

[Eu_citzen]

and ugh ok eu_citizen...if we haveee to go with a glass I'll settle on a tektite/impact glass as I found another piece and located some interesting pock marks/inclusions on it. I'll take some pics of all the inclusions tomorrow so stay tuned

Don't get me wrong, I sincerely hope I am not correct! Any quartz will do for the test. Best is to use a smaller piece with a sharp edge.

 

[Rific]

Welp bad news - quartz scratched the egg specimen without much difficulty! I still took some pictures of the inclusions just so you guys don't think I'm polluting the boards with BS :P...I've never seen glass change colors in differant types of light, and I havent seen much glass to talk about its inclusions, but these inclusions sure looked conducive of some type of gemstone to my untrained eye ie ludwigs and horsetails:



Also included is the star quartz used in the scratch test Good news is I think I've found my favorite gem now - chrysoberlys are so beautiful and my life wont be complete until I dig one up!


I like the bubble planes in this though so I think I'll still keep it and use it for a door stop or somethin :P

 

[Rific]

I almost forgot about this other guy found near same spot:

I think it looks like some type of tektite but maybe I am just optimistic

 

[Eu_citzen]

That style of inclusions is typically found in glass, I'm afraid. Looks like someone was making glass in the area.
Glass has a long tradition in my area.

Tektites are from meteor impacts and typically blackish to greenish, due to iron impurities of the sand that formed the glass.

 

[IAMZIM]

I almost forgot about this other guy found near same spot:

I think it looks like some type of tektite but maybe I am just optimistic

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Definitely glass, I can see bubbles in it. was it buried under dirt? Depending on how old it is, you could leave it in the sun, or make a short wave UV box to put it in and the glass might turn purple!

 

[IAMZIM]

Welp bad news - quartz scratched the egg specimen without much difficulty! I still took some pictures of the inclusions just so you guys don't think I'm polluting the boards with BS :P...I've never seen glass change colors in differant types of light, and I havent seen much glass to talk about its inclusions, but these inclusions sure looked conducive of some type of gemstone to my untrained eye ie ludwigs and horsetails:

View attachment 1441088View attachment 1441089View attachment 1441090View attachment 1441091View attachment 1441092View attachment 1441093View attachment 1441094View attachment 1441095View attachment 1441096View attachment 1441097View attachment 1441098View attachment 1441099View attachment 1441100

Also included is the star quartz used in the scratch test Good news is I think I've found my favorite gem now - chrysoberlys are so beautiful and my life wont be complete until I dig one up!


I like the bubble planes in this though so I think I'll still keep it and use it for a door stop or somethin :P

Sorry, I can see bubbles in pics 3,4,6,8,& 10, It is definitely glass IMO. Quartz can have bubbles in it, but not like that, I'm afraid. If I'm wrong, some one will tell me. Glad you are not giving up though! The more you dig, the more experience you are going to get!

 

[Oddjob]

Dude, you are not polluting anything here at all; I have been following this thread over the past three days just waiting to see because users like the ones who replied to you have the knowledge and will not slam you and your finds.

You learned something here, heck I certainly learned something, in the past 3 days you have had 345 views with only a few replies, so I am sure others learned as well here too.

Now on to your find, I think they are coll looking, clearly why I followed. I would likely use the second one in a wind chime. I would go back and look for more. It is eye catching, so if you found more then even better.

Just saying, man. No one here is an expert on everything. The site has some highly versed people for sure, and they help out where they can so that others can learn, its just another step in completing the story that goes with every treasure.

Take Care man and do not hesitate to post any other finds.

Welp bad news - quartz scratched the egg specimen without much difficulty! I still took some pictures of the inclusions just so you guys don't think I'm polluting the boards with BS :P...I've never seen glass change colors in differant types of light, and I havent seen much glass to talk about its inclusions, but these inclusions sure looked conducive of some type of gemstone to my untrained eye ie ludwigs and horsetails:

View attachment 1441088View attachment 1441089View attachment 1441090View attachment 1441091View attachment 1441092View attachment 1441093View attachment 1441094View attachment 1441095View attachment 1441096View attachment 1441097View attachment 1441098View attachment 1441099View attachment 1441100

Also included is the star quartz used in the scratch test Good news is I think I've found my favorite gem now - chrysoberlys are so beautiful and my life wont be complete until I dig one up!


I like the bubble planes in this though so I think I'll still keep it and use it for a door stop or somethin :P

 

[Rific]

I have def given up on it lol...i went back out before eu got back to me and yes I found them buried while digging for a hillside soil sample to pan. I suppose I didn't expect much but I got a little out of control when the glass seemed to have changed colors and I stumbled into beryls/chrysoberyls. Quartz test said it all though and Ill be using that one in the future.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Glass can change colors due to impurities, intentional or otherwise. Similar material is still sold to the lapidary community to get 'glass gems'.
But I hear you, it's hard not to get excited when you think you've hit the jackpot.

I've been an advisor for prospectors a couple of times and excitement often gets the better of them.
Sometimes so bad, that when they find gold and stake a claim, they forgot to look for the source of the gold in the first place!
Excitement can be an expensive teacher.

 

[IAMZIM]

Back in the 1800's, and probably earlier, glass was used to imitate gemstones as well, and it was easy enough to fool people in this way. I have found quite a few vintage pieces of jewelry that I had to take into a jeweler, just to find out they were glass, don't feel bad about it fooling you! It just shows you are watching out for the possibility of anything, and that helps train a persons eye so to speak!

 

[hvacker]

I live not too far from the Trinity site where the first atom bomb was detonated. As many know the blast melted the sand there and formed a new mineral called Trinitite. The force made the sand/glass/trinitite green. I have a piece around here somewhere. I guess I could find it with a Geiger counter because it's still hot.
The radiation never bothered me though.....

 

[Rific]

Back in the 1800's, and probably earlier, glass was used to imitate gemstones as well, and it was easy enough to fool people in this way. I have found quite a few vintage pieces of jewelry that I had to take into a jeweler, just to find out they were glass, don't feel bad about it fooling you! It just shows you are watching out for the possibility of anything, and that helps train a persons eye so to speak!

Haha yes I've been made a fool of at the jeweler too (I'm about about to make a post about it), but thank you and everyone else too for being positive and bearing with me as I hone in closer to some sort of find

I live not too far from the Trinity site where the first atom bomb was detonated. As many know the blast melted the sand there and formed a new mineral called Trinitite. The force made the sand/glass/trinitite green. I have a piece around here somewhere. I guess I could find it with a Geiger counter because it's still hot.
The radiation never bothered me though.....

You're nuts! I'm a little wary about touching slag just because I'm not sure what could all be inside of it! That brings up a questions I've been having though...are there any rocks/slag/meteorites in pennsylvania that I may want to exercise a bit of caution before handling or scrubbing them clean? I hear arsenic minerals can be poisonous, but in the solid rock form, would I be okay to hold them in my hand for a half hour at a time without gloves on? Any sulfides or anything I should be careful with anyone know?