red sandstone?

[transcendental]

I got a box of assorted rocks from a friend, not sure who labeled them but I doubt it's accurate. This was labeled red jasper but I'm pretty sure it's red sandstone. Very brittle, I can scratch it with my nail

http://i.imgur.com/zS5zFdu.jpg

 

[curious kat]

First, welcome to the site! Yah, looks like it was mislabeled.....jasper would be slicker & have some shine to it & not curmble. I have a post on it down the list...lol Your other post rock is very pretty, don't know what it is, but pretty!

 

[transcendental]

Thanks for the welcome site looks like fun. Makes me want to buy a metal detector lol
About the rocks thx for the second opinion, im no expert but know quite a bit about rocks and that label just didnt seem correct and yes the rocks that were in this box were all beautiful, was thrilled to get them.... especially getting to identify them ^-^

 

[Eu_citzen]

Sandstone can't be scratched with your finger nail. I'm not sure what it is, though. To lazy to dig out my book.

 

[GatorBoy]

Looks like sandstone to me.. Of course there are many types of sandstone you can scratch with your fingernail.
Really high iron content in the ground wherever that came from

 

[transcendental]

Wish I knew where all these rocks were found, would help the identification

 

[GatorBoy]

I agree

 

[transcendental]

Could have been a lot harder to identify the box full than it was. Only 5 I wasn't sure about

 

[GatorBoy]

True..good job

 

[transcendental]

Wanna have a crack at another album? I bought these at a rock shop but they weren't labeled. The top pic is the undersides of the 2 specimens. The second pic might be a chalcedony with druzy? The third also chalcedony ( notice the banding) with quartz terminations? The fourth pic is the left side of the specimen in the third pic. Must have had a mineral infiltrate the structure while forming giving it that orange coloration. If it is chalcedony and quartz wouldn't having that orange color make them carnelian and tangerine quartz? There are a couple really nicely formed terminations on the quartz and a couple have iridescent inclusions.
I could be way off on my guesses here so I've been hesitant to sell them since a big part of my products are knowing what the base stones are. Although I really liked them so figured if I couldn't figure it out I'd keep them in my personal collection

 

[transcendental]

http://imgur.com/a/6tQEZ

 

[GatorBoy]

Beautiful stuff right there... it looks like a type of agate to me with some very nice druzy.
While I might not have the answer for you I might be able to help you out a little.
I have a few Native American artifacts from the Dakotas made a very similar looking material

 

[GatorBoy]

Sorry about the dirty hands working on a motor at the moment

 

[transcendental]

Very similar! Has that milkyness. Yeah they are both agates ( I asked when I bought them) but that's kindof like taking a lion and asking what it is and the answer you get is its a mammal lol. Was hoping to narrow it down a bit and the guy working the shop couldn't say for sure. Even calling it chalcedony is pretty broad but the coloration would narrow it down if I could determine it's a chalcedony. Your artifacts are really cool, know what they were used for? No problem about the dirty hands lol good luck on the motor and thanks for taking a look. Did a quick Google search for quartz chalcedony and ultraviolet spectrum should glow green ( it's bothering me I can't figure this out lol) should glow green so I'm going to go buy a blacklight bulb if I don't have one in the basement ( pics coming once it's dark enough )

 

[transcendental]

Ok so I was hoping that the blacklight would help .... but I need a short wavelength black light , sucks they aren't cheap. Saw a couple spots that are greenish but mostly purple reflection from the bulb.... still had fun .... stuck half my collection under that lamp lol a couple had pretty cool coloration ( makes me want short wavelength bulb that much more)
Top to bottom:
Amber
Ruby
Amber and Ruby
Quartz
Flourite
Banded pink agate
Mystery agate
Mystery agate
http://imgur.com/a/Zu5cE

 

[transcendental]

Just for ha has here's the same stones in white light, and one of the flourite with back light
imgur: the simple image sharer

 

[GatorBoy]

Cool stuff

 

[transcendental]

Yeah I definitely had fun doing this

 

[huntsman53]

imgur: the simple image sharer

The 3rd pic looks like it could be Agate with Druzy but has an appearance similar to Moonstone.


Frank

 

[transcendental]

According to all my research on agate and chalcedony the differences are in how it crystalized. Best link I found explaining an agate which are kindof a geological mystery: How Do Agates Form? | Penn State University

There are thousands of different agates, trying to narrow it down without knowing where it was found is near impossible. However, a main component of agate is chalcedony as that article explains it is usually the outermost band in an agate which is what I'm guessing the specimen I have with the druzy is because their is no banding unlike the other specimin, and it looks like it's mineral supply ran out so it stayed hollow allowing the druzy to form instead of filling up the cavity with banding.
I'm 100% positive it's not moonstone because there is no iridescence, it's matte.
I looked into getting a shortwave uv lamp but they are around $150+ for a good one, I called my grandfather to see if he might have one or access to one ( he's retired DEP it's possible ) he told me to either contact a professor of geology at the college next town over ( which I have already emailed about that hematite/silver and havent heard back from) or to call one of the local museums. I live in CT the best museum with anything geological is Yale peobody so I called them up and they transfered me to one of the geology professors. He knew they had a short wave uv lamp but it's probably in the basement. We exchanged info and he is going to ask a couple of his colleagues and take a look for it. He said call him back on Friday and hopefully he can find it and we will meet up to take a look at my rocks. - super excited lol ! Hopefully my persistence will pay off