Unidentified pieces of my collection

CatEyeSapphire

Greenie
Jul 15, 2020
11
17
North Carolina
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Recently I was reorganizing my collection and I found a bunch of unidentified pieces I had forgotten about and just stored away. Iv'e picked out my 4 favorites if anyone could help me figure out what any of them are It'd be greatly appreciated!

The largest piece is the one I'm most curious about but sadly have the least amount of information on. I don't know where It's from I got it as a gift years back. It's heavy, looks like metal, resembles Pyrite on the silver portions, pretty standard until we get to the insanely bright colors. I can't tell if the color is artificial it does not scratch off or flake. The colored areas range from bright pink to gold to royal blue.

I've been trying to identify the purple crystal growth on the Quartz cluster but I'm clueless I can't say I've ever seen anything like this. The little purple specks on the crystals are perfect little square crystal growths. They have a very deep purple color but are somewhat see through. I picked this piece up from an estate auction in North Carolina with some other pieces I assume it came from the North Carolina area but I don't know for sure.

The green and gold piece I found in a creek in North Carolina. The areas with gold coloration look similar to layered Mica but the sides of the stone are very light green and have a somewhat chalky appearance. The stone can be scratched pretty easily with a steel blade.

The silver splinter amalgamation as I've been calling it leaves splinters in everything including me if I'm not careful. I've carefully scrubbed it with a steel wire brush and it seems pretty solid overall, just has a few points of weakness that splinter. It's mostly a silver color but has areas of brown or orange discoloration I can't tell if this is a result of me not cleaning all the red clay off it or if this is just how the stone is colored. It's formation is fibrous pillars that have grown into each other. It's from North Carolina I have found Kyanite in the area which is my best guess for this rock but I can't say I've ever seen Kyanite like this.
 

Clay Diggins

Silver Member
Nov 14, 2010
4,862
14,180
The Great Southwest
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The colorful piece is an ore of copper.You were close - it is a pyrite. It could be either Chalcopyrite, Bornite or a combination of both.

The soft green/gold rock is Mica Schist. A fairly common rock in highly mineralized areas. It's probably soft because the Mica disintegrates into clay over time so this rock may be well along in the process.

Generally there is no reason to speculate about the colors seen in quartz minerals. If we knew more about where you collected the quartz it might be interesting to speculate but all in all just about every color in the rainbow is associated with quartz and the reasons for the coloration are almost as numerous as the colors.

It does look like you might have some Kyanite but your description might indicate several other minerals. It's entirely possible your rock is actually Tremolite which is a form of asbestos in which case I would avoid scrubbing or exposure to the "splinters". Be careful some rocks and minerals can be dangerous.
 

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Back-of-the-boat

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Apr 18, 2013
6,872
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California
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I have heard the term Peacock ore on your very colorful rock and if you look it up you will see the two examples Clay mentioned.Your quartz crystals look to be a poor quality Amethyst which may have came from Shaver Lake Ca. I have seen some examples and they don't have the color South American Amethyst has IMO.
 

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