More Specimens from my Papa!

[Regal]

Hello!

 

My Papa gifted me more rocks from the collection he and my Gramma gathered over the years.  Just thought I would share them with my buddies on the fossil forum. 

 

As you may (or may not) have seen in my post “Beautiful Mixed Rock/Geode,” he already gave me a magnificent piece earlier this summer.

 

I just washed these new ones up so they are wet in some of the photos. I always thought rocks looked their prettiest that way and it allows you to see more detail but let me know if you do not agree.

My grandparents lived in Illinois, Wisconsin, Arizona and Florida.  In case that gives context.

 

The things that I am most curious about are

-The white piece on top of the rusty colored geode.  I broke some of it off thinking it was a spider sack.  I had to clean some off those off a couple rocks.

-The silver fleck in the oval bumpy rock (mica?). It is hard to get a good picture.

-The blue, green and bronze/gold in the one rock

 

But, any info that you would like to share is great!  I am a beginner and love help with identifying things.  Hope you like the pics!  It is a beautiful day in boring Illinois but rocks make it more fun.  Hoping it is as beautiful where you are today.  

Edited October 1, 2023 by Regal

[Ludwigia]

It would have helped if you had numbered the photos. What I'm seeing here is calcite, quartz and azurite/malachite.

[Regal]

Oops!  Good idea.  Does this photo help?  I have a hard time knowing what is calcite and what is quartz.  I don’t want to scratch it on purpose.  I read that is the easy way? It’s more of a curiosity I suppose and helps me know how to care for these in the future.

[Ludwigia]

49 minutes ago, Regal said:

I have a hard time knowing what is calcite and what is quartz.

 

Calcite fizzes in acid, for instance acetic acid. Quartz does not. Calcite's crystal system is trigonal, quartz's is hexagonal. 4 is azurite and malachite copper minerals. The rest are either calcite or quartz.

[Coco]

Hi,

 

2 : quartz

3 : quartz "citrin"

4 : Azurite (blue) / Malachite (green)

5 : calcite

6 : perhaps quartz

 

Coco

[Wrangellian]

I would be willing to bet the Azurite specimen is from the Morenci mine in Arizona, given that your folks lived in AZ and that I have some pieces that look the same which are said to be from there (didn't collect them myself).

Wetting rocks often does make them 'pop' for photos, but I would be careful of doing so too often - if any of your minerals are soft like calcite, they can start to dissolve and crystalline luster can be dulled a little each time you do it. I learned the hard way...

[Regal]

7 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

I would be willing to bet the Azurite specimen is from the Morenci mine in Arizona, given that your folks lived in AZ and that I have some pieces that look the same which are said to be from there (didn't collect them myself).

Wetting rocks often does make them 'pop' for photos, but I would be careful of doing so too often - if any of your minerals are soft like calcite, they can start to dissolve and crystalline luster can be dulled a little each time you do it. I learned the hard way...

Thank you!  This is great information.  I assume this means I should not display them outside?  My grandmother always displayed them in her garden so that is where they were kept until now.

[Wrangellian]

17 hours ago, Regal said:

Thank you!  This is great information.  I assume this means I should not display them outside?  My grandmother always displayed them in her garden so that is where they were kept until now.

I guess it depends on how much you value them. The ones that are just quartz will probably last a long time, though they will get dirty and you might want to clean them now and then like you've done already, but I would not leave any calcite or azurite outside if they are valuable to you as specimens at all.