Tennessee Moonstone

[BurntBear]

This is a nice example of some gem quality Feldspar from S.E. Tennessee. There are some big specimens down that way.

 

[niffler]

Wow that's cool!

 

[G Freeman]

BB is that a rainbow I see in it. Mighty clear too.

 

[worldtalker]

I thought the title said"Tennessee Moonshine"......had some of that when I lived on Cosby...more than once by the way.

Nice stone !

GOD Bless


Chris

 

[BurntBear]

Thanks guys. G, yes. The rainbow effect is from an internal fracture.

 

[Eu_citzen]

When I used to live above the artic circle we had 2 rivers/creeks that had moonstones in them. We always collected them during panning/prospecting.
Literally picked up several kilos. But it wasn't gemmy like this! What colours do the effect show? Blue?

 

[BurntBear]

I can't determine any effect like say the Blue Flash Moonstone or Rainbow Moonstone from this piece. The colored effect on this specimen is from an internal fracture if I'm not mistaken. I think the effects of Moonstone are usually a variety of translucent Labradorite which is technically separate from Moonstone even though it's the Feldspar family. It's too dang complicated if you ask me, lol.

That sounds really exciting EU! There are massive pieces of Moonstone in S.E. Tennessee. Boulders even. Beautiful oranges especially. Hard to find the gemmy stuff and I think this specimen is a great example of the Monoclinic crystal system!

 

[Eu_citzen]

I know about the internal fracture, or actually cleavage. I didn't know you could call it moonstone without any optical effect?
The optical effect is caused by thin alternating(?) layers of feldspar (albite and..?) which break the light differently. It makes nice cabbs.
I should get some pics of some feldspars from Sweden.

Oh, and this isn't a crystal per se, but a cleaved piece of feldspar.

YES! I've been looking for a clear piece to facet for ages, one with the optical effect. And I did get one, from Madagaskar I believe.
Should make a fantastic gem, feldspars really shine, even without any optical effects.

 

[BurntBear]

I think I could locate that kind of rough here from some of the local mining sources. I will check around because I know several people looking for glowing Blue Flash to mount in jewelry.