Help identifying beach rocks please

[PennyG]

The last two have small chunks of what appear to be gold.

 

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[Eu_citzen]

Rounded rocks, which have a worn surface are hard to ID. We'd have a easier time if you exposed a fresh surface by breaking a piece - with a hammer.
Just use eye protection! Don't photograph it wet later - it hides the lustre of the piece. The lustre can tell a lot.

I can though guess that #1 is chalcedony or agate. And the last one is a rock with fossils.

 

[DDancer]

looks like you have a nice collection of agates, the banded stones, some nice bits of red jasper as well. Not sure about the green stones. The last two pictures are conglomerates of fossils the gold specks maybe pyrites~ not unusual to find in fossil conglomerates. Nice collection though If you have a tumbler for the agates you can put them thru a polish.

 

[PennyG]

Thank you both .
My husband and I have been discussing getting a tumbler for awhile. I need to start doing something with these rocks. I'll go on a walk and come back with both pockets full of rocks or fossils , always hoping to find the diamond in the rough.

 

[PennyG]

I thought the rocks in picture number 1 looked similar to the rocks in this picture I found on the internet .




Not sure but very pretty.
With agates , do you break them open or keep them as they are and possibly polish them?
As you can tell I'm a newbie.
Thank you

 

[Tigger]

Penny, don't break the agates!!! (Your one on the left is gorgeous). If someone is into lapidary stuff, they slice, make cabs, etc. but as a newbie, you should stick to admiring or tumbling. boring rocks can be smashed, but not the ones that are already awesome! you can get a hobby tumbler at Michaels - use a 40% off coupon, but if you think you'd really get some use out of it, they say to go to a vibratory (sp?) tumbler - we haven't gotten one yet, but plan to. If you come home with pockets full of rocks, I'd also like to suggest contacting your local rock & gem type club - they may have field trips, certainly would have knowledgeable folks to help ID or chat about tumblers. One basic thing to remember about tumbling is to make sure the stones in the batch are all the same hardness. Good luck!

 

[DDancer]

Agates are best tumbled or cut depending on size and what you want to make of them. Few stones are worth beating with a hammer unless your just curious or want to make smaller bits.

 

[PennyG]

I have a few teenage daughters at home, thinking of possibly making jewelry with the rocks. Getting the girls off their electronics and spending quality time together.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I thought the rocks in picture number 1 looked similar to the rocks in this picture I found on the internet .


View attachment 1027010

Not sure but very pretty.
With agates , do you break them open or keep them as they are and possibly polish them?
As you can tell I'm a newbie.
Thank you

It seems that website is a fraud. That on the picture is clearly agate - not moonstone.

Depends on what you want done with them. You can have them cabochon cut or tumbled - the most common solutions.

 

[PamDF]

Looks like agate to me, I also have some agate pebbles polished naturally by water

 

[StoneWhisper]

True one has allot of Agates.. but the Grey, Reddish Brown and Dark Brown are known as "Caramel Jaspers" and getting a rock tumbler would be the next move assuming you're wanting to polish what is left of them. One must be mindful that these (all stones) will have pockets which carry debris into the tumble mix and could contaminate the mix and you would end up with an inferior tumble or polish there after.

Currently I'm a member of the "Rock Tumbling Hobby" site and I've just created my own tumblers site via Google+