My June 2021 blog posting identified long petite black mineral crystals which had not been seen by me before in over 14 years of cutting thousands of ‘Carver agate field’ geodes.
The June 2021 find was the only exemplar I had seen–until now! The new specimen photos below offer better views of the crystals. Interestingly, the crystals in both specimens appear to have grown out of and through an otherwise perfectly formed clear crystal lined geode center.
The crystals, while appearing very fragile, are actually quite robust, being resistant to damage from washing the stone (after being cut open) to remove cutting oil, and from polishing on a bull wheel grinder. There is tremendous vibration generated from using the bull wheel, which turns very high RPMs and utilizes a 100 grit belt as part of the process. So, the crystals are not fragile or water soluble, but are very rare among Carver geodes.
Close-up of rare mystery crystal
The crystal within clear quartz crystal lined geode center
Exterior of geode showing where the geode was cut open
The polished geode showing numerous petite black crystals
within the quartz crystal lined geode center
Well that’s different for sure!!!!
Ring,
If I were to send a specimen like this to you, Can you or anyone you know, identify the mineral?
John
I have also found some geodes with crystal formations like these from geodes that I dug in Keokuk several years ago. I’m not sure what they are either, but someone thought that they might be goethite crystals.
This is so awkward and I have never seen anything like this.I will be surfing the internet in search for info.