FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Volkmar Stingl]

Clearly chabazite and stilbite in the matrix. The small crystal on the black quartz is also quartz (2nd generation).
My guess is still Wulian.

Volkmar

[James Catmur]

[Riccardo Modanesi]

Hi to everybody! James, yes, transparent obsidian DOES exist, it's called "apache tears", small spheres in perlite, from Arizona, USA and Mexico (I don't remember the proper locality anymore, I apologize).
Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.

[Gagat Minerals]

[Volkmar Stingl]

Hi,

Now I found it. When checking the chabazite pictures, I must admit, they look also similar, except one difference: Most of the chabazite from Tongbei is combined with clear quartz, only few with smokeys (additionally, I am amazed at the missing spessartines). So I agree, it could be a possible source. Additionally, Ottens mentions few chabazites from pegmatites near Babu, Guangxi Zhuang, in his book from 2008.
So I have to relativise my statement, the piece could be also from other places than Wulian.

Volkmar

[James Catmur]

[briggzi31]

Thank you all for your hard work!! It means so much to me.

@Volkmar, the second quartz makes more sense that spessartine, I just assumed because the color matches spessartines, and it was transparent and smokey/spessartines is a common combination found in China. But I see now that the elongated shape would suggest quartz.

To clarify what I mean when I said as opaque as black obsidian, I meant as opaque as the massive black obsidian that is very commonly available. I have picked some up myself on the coast of California, as well as near Portland, Oregon. When held up to a light, only the edges where the quartz crystal is very thin are transparent, and only slightly so, just like massive black obsidian is. I have included a picture from my collection for reference. Hope that clears up any confusion!

Best,
Sam