⭐ Gemstone & Mineral Show n Tell

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Very Nice - being a first and having some definite attractive colour, I would like to suggest that you have a go at skin polishing it, and keep the hexagonal base shape or cabbing it into a button. I think it would produce a unique and usable gem that will be a reminder of your fossicking trip, for at least a couple of million more years.
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I had an odd night prospecting just before Christmas. Half the night had already passed and the 7 hadn’t even brushed over a micro slither of tin and nothing for the rest. But just before midnight i dropped a mark and set tracking on hopefully a new addition to home if i could get missy ( my car ) back in there.
And it’s a gem of a coffee table.
 

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Gem people call this Moonstone.
Moonstone is a member of the feldspar family, a really broad family of minerals which are contained in Granites and of gem size in Pegmatites.
Feldspars are aluminium silicates of Sodium, Potassium or Calcium.
Other well known minerals in the Feldspar group are Labradorite, Albite, Sunstone and Aventurine and Orthoclase.
Gem quality Moonstone can be found between Hughendon and the Lynd in Queensland at a place called (wait for it!) Moonstone Hill.
The property that gives Moonstone and some other minerals a cat or tiger eye appearance is called chatoyance. Moonstone is a mixture of Albite and orthoclase and during cooling of the magma those minerals separate into crystalline bands giving Moonstone its chatoyant property. Other minerals that can display chatoyance are Sapphire (Star sapphires), aquamarine, labradorite, beryl, quartz (tiger eye).
Feldspars are the most abundant rock forming minerals and compose over 50% of the earth’s crust but pure and clear gem quality specimens are rare.
Realised the topic was show and tell and I had only shown, so thought I’d do a little research. Good to learn a bit.
 
I reckon his hens are getting too much silica in their diet. 😁
Can you tell me what this might be in side of this rock when I Google was it tells me it's Black diamond this is true
 

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Can you tell me what this might be in side of this rock when I Google was it tells me it's Black diamond this is true
Lol, no it almost certainly isn't true. That rock is most likely a Charlevoix Stone (also called Favosites), which is a glacier-worn fossil coral, which often contains inclusions of other material:

https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/07/...ow to tell these,in irregular columns or rows.

https://umorf.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/wp...n as 'Charlevoix,coral can be found worldwide.

https://www.visitcharlevoix.com/pet... coral,on their unique exoskeleton structures.
 
This is just a small few that me and the Mrs have found at a local spot close to us at grabben gullen
If anyone is heading that way we would love to meet people who share the same interest
 

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This is just a small few that me and the Mrs have found at a local spot close to us at grabben gullen
If anyone is heading that way we would love to meet people who share the same interest
Size looks good but they need a backlight to show their colour. Perhaps you could try photographing them sitting on a small torch.
 

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