red beryl?

[rockhoundrich]

Got this at an estate sale I believe it's red beryl hardness 7.5 no reaction to uv

 

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[DDancer]

That would be my guess as well. The structures right. The other possibility is tourmaline however the fracturing and termination are wrong. Nice stuff. If ya had not said ya got it from an estate sale I'd have guessed you'd gotten it from your mine in the other thread. Now that would have been odd Never heard of finding red and blue/green berly's in the same mine.

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Isn't beryl a different shaped crystalline structure than tourmaline? I'm not sure atm.
I just said something on your other thread about red beryl. Hmmmmmmm
Great finds, whether beryl or tourmaline.

 

[DDancer]

pat,
I've seen tourmalines with very similar shape to beryl's but yes typically tourmaline has a more rhombic shape and in large pieces shows a lot of striations along the flat surfaces. Only seen it in smaller crystals however. such a large piece though.... beryl

 

[Eu_citzen]

Your right, pat. Tourmaline is trigonal while beryl is hexagonal in terms of crystal structure. But, just as DD said - they can look quite similar.

That said, red beryl is very rare. IF it's beryl its a real find, but the odds are against it.
I'd for sure have a professional look at it in this case!

 

[rockhoundrich]

I plan to have it professionally identified but I'm around 90% sure

 

[mamabear]

nice find! My first thought was turmoline also. but I'm no expert. Please let us know when you are able to id it.

 

[smokeythecat]

Best guess is tourmaline. Cal. Had ruble lite tourmaline in abundance. Red beryl comes from Utah and is on a different matrix.

 

[JLeonhardy]

Leaning towards tourmaline here. If that matrix is rhyolite, red beryl - and would likely be from the wah wah mountains in Utah. If it's pegmatite, tourmaline -- likely out of Pala, Ca.

Here's 34 carats of Pala pink.

 

[DDancer]

Mmmmm watermelon.... likey hehh

 

[rockhoundrich]

It is a hexagonal crystal and there is no striations along the crystal I got it from an estate sale not from local mines

 

[JLeonhardy]

Can't wait to hear the end of *this* story!

 

[Jcloward]

Red beryl?

If it's red beryl then Wow! I went mining for this a few weeks back, but that would be an unusually large specimen. If it's truly a red, that estate didn't know what they gave up.

 

[MrLee]

I think Rich knows his tourmaline, he introduced me to a mine full of it. It's too hard to make a guess from photos though.

 

[StoneWhisper]

It's unclear if its Beryl or Tourmaline.. but one way to tell is if it has a cubic structure (Beryl) or a rough rounded structure (tourmaline)