ynot Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 I thought it would be nice to show some of the gold that is found in the area that I live in. (The center of the California "motherlode".) These are some micro pictures. Largest piece is approximately 4 millimeters. Thanks for looking. Tony 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belemniten Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Thats absolutely amazing !!! Thx for sharing 1 Many greetings from Germany ! Have a great time with many fossils Regards Sebastian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Thats absolutely amazing !!! Thx for sharing Thank You-- Some more crystals from El Dorado county California.. Spessartine Garnet (1/2 inch) Chlorite (1/2 inch) Quartz with a plate of reticulated rutile inclusion. (Quartz is 1 inch) Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Smithsonite is a common zinc-carbonate mineral, found in deposits world wide. The color when pure is called "chicken fat" and is a ugly yellowish shade. It can be any color depending on the impurities, copper causes a nice blue to green color. The Kelly mine in Magdalena New Mexico is world famous for the color that the Smithsonite there came in (lots of copper). Kelly mine Smithsonite was a popular gemstone in the 1930 to mid 1950's when the mine closed and the supply dried up. I have several good examples of the "gem" quality material from there and will post it soon. My favorite mineral. You have some great specimens...I will have to dig out my best find from Kelly. 1 "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 My favorite mineral. You have some great specimens...I will have to dig out my best find from Kelly. It is one of Mine also!!! Thank You-- The ones already shown are self collected (I have been reluctant to picture the purchased pieces.) Here are a few that I bought... My largest piece of Kelly Mine Smithsonite, which is on limestone. More.... Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Front & back... And two more pieces.... More... Edited January 12, 2016 by ynot 2 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 more... front view... front & side view... Front & side view... More... 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 ...I will have to dig out my best find from Kelly. My best... ...Kelly Mine Smithsonite. 2 "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 (edited) My best... smithy1.jpg smithy2.jpg ...Kelly Mine Smithsonite. Hey-hi Mike. That is a very nice piece!! Here are some more of My Kelly Smithsonite specimens. Three views... (notice the layer of Aurichalcite sandwiched between the 2 layers of Smithsonite.) Top and side view of Aurichalcite with "rice grain" Smithsonite crystals... That is it for My purchased Smithsonite pieces. Tony Edited January 13, 2016 by ynot Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lissa318 Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Great stuff guys!!! . Tony, how did you get your quartz pieces so clean??? Were they heavily mineralized at all on the surface? I have been soaking quartz, quite a bit of which is turning amethyst, in vinegar for weeks and having a heck of a time... The outer surface of most are somewhat pitted though and calcium deposits all over them. I am not convinced any will come out a quarter as nice as yours! Here's a few pics. These I have scraped with dental picks a couple times now soaking in vinegar for a few days between each scrape... So is there a secret or yours just rinse off that pretty??? If so I'm jealous... lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lissa318 Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 (edited) And I haven't even attempted to tackle the really bad larger pieces. Look how purple the few tips that can be seen on this piece are! At the same time look how totally mineralized the majority of it is. :/ Edited January 13, 2016 by lissa318 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Great stuff guys!!! . Tony, how did you get your quartz pieces so clean??? Were they heavily mineralized at all on the surface? I have been soaking quartz, quite a bit of which is turning amethyst, in vinegar for weeks and having a heck of a time... The outer surface of most are somewhat pitted though and calcium deposits all over them. I am not convinced any will come out a quarter as nice as yours! Here's a few pics. These I have scraped with dental picks a couple times now soaking in vinegar for a few days between each scrape... 20160113_114758.jpg 20160113_114830.jpg So is there a secret or yours just rinse off that pretty??? If so I'm jealous... lol Hey-hi Lissa, Thank You, Most only require a rinse with water. The crystals in this area come out of the ground fairly clean, often having an iron oxide "crust" on them. They require only a scrubbing with toothbrush and soap. When I need to do further cleaning I use muratic acid (available at any hardware store.). There is a triangle with a number in it on the bottom of the jug-- match that to the same symbol on the bottom of a plastic bucket. (so Your bucket will not melt!!) Soak for about a week (may take longer with the heavy mineral coating on Yours.) and then place in plain water for same amount of time or longer. Change the water daily. After the crystal dries if any areas get a yellow-green stain soak with water again. I would love to see the crystals when You are done cleaning them. A few post back I showed some crystallized gold. Here are some better pictures of that material... more... 2 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 just a few more... More... Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 And just a few more.. (I like crystal gold too!) That is all for now, Thank Y'All for looking!! Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lissa318 Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 Thank you for the advice Tony and I am jealous yours normally clean so easily! Even the crystals on mine that are not bad dry more matte than shiny. Maybe I will try that acid and I made a mental note about the bucket. I would keep it outside but even then I'm guessing a melted bucket would be a bummer... lol. That crystalized gold is beautiful! Great pictures btw! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 14, 2016 Author Share Posted January 14, 2016 Thank you for the advice Tony and I am jealous yours normally clean so easily! Even the crystals on mine that are not bad dry more matte than shiny. Maybe I will try that acid and I made a mental note about the bucket. I would keep it outside but even then I'm guessing a melted bucket would be a bummer... lol. That crystalized gold is beautiful! Great pictures btw! Glad to help wherever I can! The "frosted" crystals are caused by concurrent growth of the quartz and the other minerals, and will not clean off. I do get crystals like that here also. Thanks-- gold is the hardest thing I have tried to photograph. Here is one of My "frosted" crystals... which has an interesting phantom that looks like a winking smiley face.. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amour 25 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 (edited) Oxalic acid will clean the Quartz. Nice minerals gets the blood flowing wish they had that here, coal and oil is about all. Hit the thrift stores, and get an old crock pot ,set minerals in, add water and the powder acid , warm and let cool by itself, rinse in cool water let dry, should be good to go. Edited January 15, 2016 by amour 25 Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 I have not had good cleaning results with oxalic acid, and loath the thought of "heating" a quartz crystal. If the crystal has to rapid of a temperature change it causes cracking. (To each their own.) Here is the only amethyst that I have found, it is from Virginia city, Nevada. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 Here is a large crystal with a chlorite phantom.... And some Staurolite crystals from Brasstown North Carolina... Would Y'All like to see more? 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 Well -- like it or not here is some more. A colored Rubellite (Tourmaline) in pegmatite matrix from southern California. The pegmatite is made of Cleavelandite (Feldspar), Lepidolite (Mica), Beryl and Quartz. A black Garnet with Epidote from Nevada... Tony PS To date the only purchased pieces I have shown are the gem Smithsonite pieces. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 This is one of My favorite crystals. It has seven different crystal structures included inside of the Quartz. There is Mica, Feldspar, 2 forms of Rutile, Pyrite, calcite and Brookite-- and a couple of unidentified things. The Quartz is 2 inches long. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amour 25 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 (edited) I have not had good cleaning results with oxalic acid, and loath the thought of "heating" a quartz crystal. If the crystal has to rapid of a temperature change it causes cracking. (To each their own.) Here is the only amethyst that I have found, it is from Virginia city, Nevada. DSCF4151.JPG DSCF4147.JPG Tony Strange there ,as all they use In Arkansas the home of the Quartz. I guess to each his own. Edit never have cracked one, reason of the crock pot, slow heat. Cheers Edited January 16, 2016 by amour 25 Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 Strange there ,as all they use In Arkansas the home of the Quartz. I guess to each his own. Edit never have cracked one, reason of the crock pot, slow heat. Cheers In all honesty that is just My opinion. There are dozens of ways that a crystal can be cleaned, it is all a personal thing anyways. No offence intended and none taken. Tony Here is another garnet this time from Mono county, California. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Love the gold photos Tony. The only gold my wife and I have found is about $0.37 worth that we got at a pay dig site in Georgia. Apparently, there is a deposit there that they claim pulled out huge amounts before the Civil War era. The pay dig was quite a tourist trap. Though they had real gold containing material that they would truck out of the working part of the mine and dump by the side of a river, you never really got more than a small amount of flakes about the size of ground pepper. My wife and I were not really expecting to "make money" on the pay dig site as we really did it just for the experience. We even rented a sluice box for the day so we could process more of the material. Given the cost of the fuel to drive up from South Florida, the hotel and meals, and, of course, the daily fee including rental of the sluice and gold pan, we were quite unprofitable in our short lived careers as gold prospectors. Had a heckuva lot of fun refining our panning technique and seeing the tiny golf flakes end up right where they were supposed to in the pan when you did it correctly. As I recall, there was some purplish mineral with the consistency of sand that also was the last to leave the gold pan. Don't remember what it was but when you cleared the rest of the material and that purple started becoming visible you knew you were doing things right. The main part of the operation old bags of "gems" mixed with sand and had a table running with water that you could effectively "wash off" your "gems" with a sifter. You'd buy little cloth bags of this material and families with kids would have a great time pretending they were miners while sitting in comfortable chairs under a canopy with drinks and snacks at hand--like I said, quite the tourist trap. They would offer to cut and mount your "gems" on site so you could take them home--for a cost. Most of the minerals, of course were rubies, sapphires, emeralds, aquamarines, and other minerals but none were really gemmy in quality. I assume they bought barrels of non-gemmy minerals from some supplier, mixed them together with some sand and filled the little cloth bags by the hundreds. The truly annoying part is that they decided people who chose to pan for gold would not be happy with the scant amount of gold flake they could recover from the pay dig and they "salted" the (barely) gold bearing material from the mine with a diverse assemblage of minerals from around the world--the same junk they put in the cloth bags of "gem" material the families purchased. So while running sandy material through a sluice you'd run into pieces of obsidian, quarts crystals, amethyst, ruby, garnet, topaz, fluorite, and one mineral (forget the name now) that was only found in Canada. All this in material from Georgia. Enjoyed the gold panning bit of that roadtrip but was disappointed by the salting of the material to make it more "exciting" for their customers. This was a place we found out about from that show that ran some years back on the Travel Channel that was called "The Best Places to Find Cash and Treasures"--the title says it all. We learned about this show when we went to Kemmerer, WY to dig Green River Formation fish plates. The guy we went out with (George) was featured on an episode of this show. It lead us to learning about Mark Renz in another episode which opened our eyes to fossil hunting in the Peace River. There were several more locations where the film crew went while filming this show that are still on our bucket list. After doing the "gold mining" in Georgia and finding it heavily "salted" with exotic non-gem materials, I dropped the producers an email about my disappointment. They actually wrote back and said they had discovered the concept of "salting" and were taking steps to make sure they featured locations that were a bit more honest and not tainted with this sort of activity. One day I'd love to find someplace to go pan for gold again--probably somewhere out west where we could have a more authentic experience. Of course, we would not take this up as a profession but it would be fun to experience the same sort of activity that holds an interesting place in the collective imagination of this nation. Watching newer TV shows like "Prospectors" on The Weather Channel makes me want to add gem hunting to my bucket list of experiences to have in this lifetime--without all of the drama and weather-related dangers highlighted on that show, of course. I consider my life richer, not for the baubles I collect, but for the experiences I am fortunate to be able to have. I was recently (yesterday) able to experience Shark Tooth Hill (Ernst Quarry) with Tony and count that rich experience among my treasures--much more than any fossil reminders of that experience could ever measure. (A full trip report of that expedition will follow soon.) Happy to see more of your collection Tony--keep the photos rolling. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 Love the gold photos Tony. The only gold my wife and I have found is about $0.37 worth that we got at a pay dig site in Georgia. One day I'd love to find someplace to go pan for gold again--probably somewhere out west where we could have a more authentic experience. I was recently (yesterday) able to experience Shark Tooth Hill (Ernst Quarry) with Tony. (A full trip report of that expedition will follow soon.) Happy to see more of your collection Tony--keep the photos rolling. Cheers. -Ken Thank You! I have been to the "GRUB-N-GOLD" mine in Georgia-- BIG disappointment (salted). I did find a native Corundum that the curators identified as a Garnet. There is plenty of unsalted gold deposits in the area where I live, and it is easy to find small amounts-- if You want to work hard for the small amount. (Pretty sure You can find more than 0.37$) It was a pleasure to be able to enjoy the experience with You and Mrs. Digit!!! Looking forward to Your trip report!! (Wish that We had done better though.) Thank You-- will do! Tony Some more Quartz crystals from El Dorado county California... Thank Y'All for looking, 1 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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