What is this

soloterryman

Tenderfoot
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Location
Valley springs California
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

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Found this by my mail box in valley springs ca. Doesn't look like any rock around here. Looks somewhat like obsidian but it's not. Kinda glossy maybe even metalic and heavy


Welcome to tnet!

Your item looks similar to Hematite.
 

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Soloterryman, being dull black (not glassy), with what is called Conchoidal Fracturing, but you say it is not Obsidian... it looks like it might be highly pure Asphalt (tar). There are natural Asphalt seeps in your state, California... such as the famous La Brea Tar Pits. Try chipping off a small piec and see if it melts or burns.
 

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Your item in the top photo looks like it could be slag from an old furnace. Are there any old furnaces in your part of CA?
 

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Your item in the top photo looks like it could be slag from an old furnace. Are there any old furnaces in your part of CA?

I agree X2 It would appear to be slag (Pelosi would qualify as an old furnace with the hot air)
 

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It is not polite to hi-jack someone else's post. You should start your own thread. That way you can receive answers to your own question.
I make a motion to the monitors that all the rocks picked up and posted here be moved to the Rocks/Gems forum. Rocks/Gems They need all the rocks they can get down there.
 

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It sure looks like obsidian to me. In eastern Oregon there is a mountain called "Glass Butte." That mountain is loaded with obsidian flows. Further east of Glass Butte is a mountain called, "Wagon Tire Mountain." It doesn't have the flows, but has lots of porous lava along with what I call a lower grade of obsidian. Those rocks appear to have been blown out of the mountain, (Glass Butte?) and landed in the lake that at one time covered the great basin. In my experience, the rock on Wagon Tire works like obsidian, but it's not the quality that's found on Glass Butte, which is only a few miles away. That's just from my experience. I also have a large bi-face point found locally, when they were digging footings for an apartment building. I figure the point is lower grade obsidian, but someone poo-pooed my idea and said it was basalt. I always figured basalt was kind of a country rock that is everywhere, and there is no obsidian or rock like it native to where I live. So I might be barking up the wrong tree, and need to learn a lot more about rocks.
 

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Sure looks like obsidian to my eyes, but then I'm certainly no expert on
rocks.

Solo Terryman....doesn't that also equal Terry Soloman?
 

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Looks like obsidian to me too, but maybe covered in mineral deposits. Chip off a piece and I wager it’s shiny black glass in there.
 

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I want to know why not obsidian, Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties all have obsidian deposits. Dunno if that's where you got it, but I have to agree with BosnMate. Low Grade Obsidian. or....or......or.....Smokey Quartz, (it's basically just irradiated crystal quartz(don't worry about rads)).
 

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