Unidentified rocks/minerals in collection.

[bjj8383]

I'm a science teacher; my areas of expertise are physics and astronomy, not geology by any means. So, I'm asking the internet for help identifying some stragglers from a rock/mineral collection I inherited with my classroom. I know that some of these look pretty generic, and it can be hard to ID a rock from a picture in the most of times, but I'm operating under the assumption that these are at least fairly interesting examples, because they were amid a collection of "Mineral of the Rock Club" packages from 1978-1980.

 

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[G Freeman]

bjj8383 nice rocks, would be better if you post just 3 or 4 pictures at a time because sometimes hard to reply to that many pictures. Great pics but hard to see the blue one in plastic bag.

 

[DDancer]

The silver metallic pics with the very small clear crystals appear to be galena and quartz. The bits with the clear crystal clusters are quartz clusters. The two pics with the brown glassy interior and chalky white surface are obsidian nodules the chalky exteriors possibly vitrified ash. I've seen those flat hexagonal crystals before but I cant find the name just now~ nice bit there. Same for the orange crystals.
The two pictures that look like plates of crystals stuck together are probably selenite clusters. The other possibility is gypsum.

The lumpy specimines with the black crystals in them remind me of metamorphic rocks~ the black crystals possibly tourmaline. However I'm curious about the structure of the host rock it almost seems faceted.

 

[BurntBear]

I was looking at those hexagonal-like crystals DDancer and was wondering what those were. It would be photo #33 I believe. I have some specimens like it and couldn't figure them out.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I agree with G, so many pictures at once can be hard to help with.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1052711&d=1410648306

This one could though be Illmenite. Looks trigonal. I think hematite can also form similar crystals, but am far from certain.

 

[bjj8383]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

After a lot of internet searching and paper shuffling:

G: The blue one in the plastic bag is a low-grade Celestite.

DD & EU: The silver metallic lumps with clear crystals is Bournonite; the black-iridescent hexagons are lab-grown Moissanite; the plates stuck together are gypsum/desert rose, yes.

The red/yellow crystals are Orpiment and the black/shiny arrowhead-shaped one is just schist.

I'm still very curious about the dalmatian-spotted one, the one with the faint pink-speckles, the conglomerate red-hexagons with some kind of intrusive growth, and the "lumpy specimen with the black crystals."

 

[Eu_citzen]

Finding rough moissanite is rare, even lab-grown. I know several in the gem industry that have been trying to get pieces for more then 10 years. Perhaps it has changed recently, I am not sure but.. If that really is what you got then: Congratulations!