Tn. Crystals? Name?

[tncreeker]

Hello all,
I find these anywhere thats been eroded, bull dozed, some in the ditches in the woods. I`m in the greeneville area. I`ve seen pics of the mosheim crystals but they are all clear and pretty much perfect. I had thought that most of these were busted, but then when I found them in the dirt attached to that flakey rock I realized that that was how they were formed. So does anybody know what they are? I`m guessing that the colors are due to the dirt that they formed in. If I had a name for them I might be able to look up more info. Thanx for any help you might be able to give.

[Bajahunter]

What is the hardness of your crystals. You can scratch quartz with a hardened steel file. The same file will not scratch topaz, sapphire, or diamond.
Check out these links:
http://www.minerals.net/gemstone/diamond.aspx
Look at pics of raw diamonds at bottom of page.

http://www.minerals.net/gemstone/quartz.aspx
compare the pics of quartz crystals at bottom of page

http://www.tnagate.com/
A link to agates in Tennessee. Bottom of the page describes what you might have. no pics though. Agates are quartz so they will have similar hardness.

[tncreeker]

Thank you so much for the info wizard. After reading your post I got to looking (and paying attention) there are different shapes and structures within these crystals. That was interesting. I realy do just spot things like this. I grew up with sesame street,,,,one of these things just doesnt belong here, one of these things just isnt the same,,,remember that song? hahahahaha. The bonus is that they are treasures to me and I paid $0. I have given many away and they always bring a smile to someones face..

Thanx for the linx Baha, hardness,,,I`ll check that out later today. It finally rained here last night so maybe theres something sweet waiting for me
Thank you both again,,

[Lakemonster]

Wow...

I see some quartz!

I grew up in SW Arkansas and used to dig what you have there... minus the rosey color (Im a bit color blind...possibly rose quartz). The dark ones are known as Smokey quartz. The ones that have points on both ends are terminated quartz.

Far out!

[tncreeker]

Hey monster,
Thanx for lookin and the info. The red and orang come from the diff. clays that I find them in. I`m not digging them though, I find them on the ground, too lazy to carry a shovel with me. So theres probably alot more out there. I`ll just wait till it rains again