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Glossary Page 1
| agate
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One of the many varieties of chalcedony (cryptocrystalline quartz).
Best known in its curved, banded form, it also occurs in straight,
parallel bands (onyx) and in a translucent form with dendritic inclusions
(moss agate). It is found in virtually of low intensity, and translucent
to semitransparent. Most gray-banded agate is dyed to improve its
color. |
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amazonite - is the
bright green laminated variety of microcline feldspar. Sources: Russia,
Virginia (USA) and Colorado (USA).
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amber - is a fossil
resin, transparent to translucent, occurring usually in yellowish or
brownish but sometimes in red, orange, black, whitish, greenish, bluish or
violetish. It was exuded from Pinis Succinefere pine trees
that flourished about 20 million years ago. They are very much
sought after by collectors if they contain the remains of insects and
plants. Amber can also be pressed or reconstructed
by melting small fragments of the material and compressing it into blocks
by hydraulic pressure. Sources: Southern shores of the Baltic Sea in
Poland: shores of East Germany; Sicily; Mediterranean Sea off Sicily;
Upper Burma and Rumania.
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| apatite
- this mineral comes in gem quality. Occurs in a transparent
green, blue, violet purple, pink, yellow, or colorless material. Grays and
brown are the non-gem varieties. Sources: Ceylon, Burma, Bohemia,
Mexico, and Maine (USA). |
| aventurine
- Translucent, grayish, greenish, brown or yellowish
(a massive granular kind of quartz) that exhibits bright or strongly
colored reflections (aventurenscence) from inclusions of tiny platelets or
flakes of another mineral. Fuchsite, a chromium mica, produces a greenish
spangled effect (the most commonly encountered kind); mica, a silvery
brassy or golden glitter: and hematite or goethite, reddish metallic
reflections. Hence when the color green , it is known as green
aventurine,
and when the color is brownish orange it is called honey
aventurine. Sources: India, Russia, Brazil, Spain and
Chile. |
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| black onyx
-
Incorrect name for black single colored agate or chalcedony which is
usually colored artificially. Correct term will be black chalcedony.
See onyx. Most material called "black
onyx" sold in the market are reconstructed
material. See reconstructed stones. |
| bowenite
- A translucent, massive, fine-grained, greenish-white
to yellowish-white variety of serpentine that resembles nephrite jade in
appearance and sometimes is sold as such, when it is known by the popular
misnomer of "Korean jade." Sources: China, New Zealand,
Afghanistan, India and R.I. |
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calcite - is
a very soft mineral that occurs in a transparent to semitranslucent
material, in a wide variety of color and patterns. Some of the varieties
include Iceland spar, satin spar, marble and travertine. Sources:
widespread. |
chalcedony
- is the cryptocrystalline variety of quartz. They form in massive semitransparent to translucent
material, often found in white, gray, black, browns and varying
intensities of all colors.
Variety name: chalcedonyx
- chalcedony with alternating stripes of gray and white; Sard
and carnelian - clear red to
brownish red; Sardonyx
and onyx
- sard and carnelian in layers with alternating stripes of reddish brown and
white; heliotrope
(bloodstone)
- bright green with spots of red; agate
- variegated, banded; moss
agate - with moss-like or treelike inclusions; chrysoprase
- apple-green; jasper - variegated and mottled red, yellow and
brown; Blue
lace agate - white material with lacey blue lines and
swirls. Crazy
lace agate - material with alternating brown, red and
white in swirls and lacey patterns. |
| electroformed -
to form "shaped articles" by electrodeposition on a mold. |
| electroplate
- to plate with an adherent continuous coating by electrodeposition. |
| fluorite
- The compact, massive variety is used in carving figurines, lamp bases,
snuff bottles, animals, boxes, etc., being a relatively soft material of 4
on the Moh's scale of hardness. The transparent to translucent
variety comes in a large variety of colors predominantly in the pale to
light tones of green, blue, violet, yellow, orange, red brown or
colorless. They are rarely cut into gems. Major sources are England
and Arizona, USA. |
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| fresh
water pearls - Pearls found in a fresh water mollusks. When the concretion with orient and pearly luster are of
high intensity, the value increases. |
| geode
-
Cavities in clay or other formations which have been incrusted with a wall
of quartz or other mineral and which (later) separate as a hollow mass,
the interior walls of which are usually studded with crystals. |
| howlite
- an opaque white ornamental stone veined with black
consisting of an aggregate of monoclinic crystals. Has been stained a
turquoise-blue color. Found in California. |
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| hematite
- An opaque mineral; yielding pigments when red and earthy; fashioned as
intaglios and other carved gems when dark gray to black with metallic
luster. The latter variety is translucent and red in very thin
sections. Leaves red streak which identifies from most imitations.
Sources: England, Scandinavia, U.S.A.(Lake Superior region). |
| jade
- A gemological group of two minerals, jadeite and nephrite, of
differing chemical composition but rather closely related in appearance,
in physical properties, and in uses which include jewelry, carved objects,
and various ornamental objects. Occurs in large compact masses and
its color is often unevenly distributed |
| jadeite jade
- A semitransparent to opaque mineral species that furnishes the most
valuable and desirable jade. It occurs in a wide variety of colors,
including green of high intensity (so-called Imperial Jade), white,
mottled green and white, violet, brown, orangey-red, yellow and
grayish-green. The black to dark-green variety is known as chloromelanite. Principal sources: region of
Mogaung, Upper Burma.
Minor sources: Gautemala, California, Mexico and Japan. |
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| jasper
- occurs in semi translucent to opaque, red, yellow, brown, green,
grayish-blue or lavender (or any combination thereof), fine-grained impure
chalcedony (cryptocrystalline quartz). This material is widely
distributed and often dyed blue and sold incorrectly as "Swiss lapis" and
"German Lapis". |
| lapis lazuli
- In its finest colors, an intense violetist blue to a
slightly dark blue, makes this a very desirable gem. It is a semi translucent
to opaque rock, composed mainly of lazurite and hauynite with variable
amounts of pyrite and calcite. Less valuable materials comes in various
tones and intensities of blue with or without pyrite inclusions, and light
blue to greenish blue with white calcite inclusions. Main sources: Afghanistan,
Chile and Russia. |
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malachite -
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| nephrite jade
- An exceptionally tough, translucent to opaque member of the
tremolite-actinolite series of the amphibole group, the less rare and
valuable of the two kinds of jade minerals. It usually occurs in
green of low intensity ("spinach jade"), gray, white,
blue-green, yellow, black (black
jade) and red-brown colors.
Sources: Siberia, New Zealand, Wyoming, California, Alaska, China
and many other localities. |
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| phantoms - Crystals
are formed in layers over millions of years. During its growth,
particles of some different substance or substances, usually a mineral,
were deposited in one or more adjacent atomic (growth) planes, producing
an outline of the former crystal, parallel to the faces or to the possible
crystal faces of the present crystal. Several phantoms may occur in
the same crystal at different intervals. |
| pyrite
- a pale yellow to brass-yellow metallic material that will often tarnish
with brown film of iron oxide. Has a hardness of 6-6.5. Pyrite is well
known as "foo'ls gold" so called because it is easily mistaken
for native gold. Sources: Throughout North America. |
| quartz
- one
of the most common minerals, occurs in massive, granular, concretionary,
stalactitic, and cryptocrystalline habits. The coloring is amazingly
variable, and quartz may be gray (smokey-quartz), purple (amethyst),
pink (rose-quartz),
yellow (citrine),
green (Prase), brown (Cairngorm), and black, as well as being white or
colorless (rock crystal). Also see chalcedony. |
| quartzite -
A metamorphic rock produced by the recrystallization of a sandstone under
heat and pressure, consisting of a granular, interlocking mass of
disoriented quartz crystals with irregular boundaries. moss-in-snow
quartzite is the given to this material when it
has specks and splashes of light and dark green molted with white (found
in China). |
| rhodonite
- |
| Reconstructed
stones - Stones
made by fusing together small particles of the genuine stone. |
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| rutilated
quartz - rutile (roo'til)
are needlelike crystals, transparent to opaque brownish to red to black
mineral of a higher refractive index than diamond that occurs in a variety
of minerals. It is accepted as an important acicular inclusions
in many gemstones. When quartz contain numerous rutile needles they
a known as rutilated quartz, which are very popular among collectors. |
| tiger-eye
- is a gem variety of quartz. It occurs in a yellow and
yellowish-brown material that pseudomorphous after crocidolite (blue asbestos).
When cut cabochon with the base parallel to the fibers, it produces a
cat's eye effect. Principal sources: South Africa. |
| tourmaline
- is a transparent mineral that occurs in a very wide range of
colors. The most common includes a light to dark red, purplish pink
variety known as rubellite,
colorless variety is known as achorite,
green, blue,
yellow-green, honey-yellow, pale-colored variety is known as elbaite,
violet variety is known as siderite,
dark blue variety is known as indicolite,
brown variety is known as dravite,
and the black variety is known as schorl.
Parti-colored crystals are frequently found. When the central portion of
the crystal is pink and the outer regions green, this
combination is known as "watermelon"
tourmaline. Among
these, pink and reds (rubellite) are the most desirable and the rarer.
Localities found are in USA, Ceylon, Madagascar, Germany, Brazil and
Russia. |
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Below are some reference books that I have found very
useful. You might like to take a look.
Kathleen
Practical Gemology by Robert Webster
Buy it
today!
Crystal Healing
by Roger C. Croxson
Buy it
today!
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