FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Jason]

Thanks Luiz..once again some great info! Would like to read that article, John! Was actually thinking of cruising ebay to see about picking up some back issues of Min. Rec. and Rock and Min. for cheap

[Tony L. Potucek]

As a further note, I provided Neil Prenn some reversed smoky scepters that I dug from the April Fool vein of Delamar, NV in the early 1970s. The gold mineralization is hosted by Cambrian Prospect Mountain quartzite. I did not find normal scepters in that pocket--pretty strange, in my opinion.

regards, tlp

[Luiz Menezes]

Annexed here are photos of some nice true and "false" scepters from my own collection.

All elbaite "false" scepters are natural, I am calling them "false" because they were not formed by the growth of one crystal on the top of another, but by the natural etching of the bottom of a pre-formed crystal.

[Luiz Menezes]

Hi Amethystguy, this is a photo of a natural bicolor elbaite "false" scepter, with an attached microlite crystal, from Maxixe mine, found in the big pocket on the late 1990's.

[vic rzonca]

Luiz, when found in-situ, is the etched tourmaline's c axis perpendicular to the horizontal or can it even be determined?

[Luiz Menezes]

Vic, I have no idea, I have never withnessed the digging of a pocket containing tourmaline scepters.

Luiz

[John S. White]

Luiz

I am really grateful for your input. Perhaps the term false scepter will be generally adopted. This was also the substance of my article in R&M which the new owner of the magazine will not allow me to post here.

[Jason]

nice pics luiz..well done..you have some nice specs. Does no one have any pics of a spec. from hallelujah junction? figured someone would....as ..sigh..I do not

[Scott LaBorde]

This is the closest thing to an amethyst scepter I have from Diamond Hill, SC.

[Scott LaBorde]

My friend found this crystal in Cary, NC. We have been debating if this is a scepter or not. It does seem to have the scepter shape although if it is then it is very subtle. Please review these photos. I am very interested in your opinions and ideas concerning this crystal. Thank you.

[Scott LaBorde]

Hello?

[Jordi Fabre]

Scott,

Everybody is in Tucson now, extremely busy and with very bad Internet connections. Please be patient, people will be back in a few days....

Jordi

[Scott LaBorde]

Of course, I should have known! Thanks Jordi.

[John S. White]

This does not appear to be a scepter. It has no stem.

[Amir Akhavan]

@Scott
It certainly looks like a scepter - just the stem is missing - oops ;-)
I apparently have a much lower threshold than John when it comes to calling something a scepter.

I can see why you ask that question.
The surface of the prism faces looks like that of a skeleton/scepter, so the crystal might have assumed a "scepter mode of growth".
Just cut the crystal into two halves to check if the stem has been overgrown completely - just kidding.

You could X-ray it and might see a hint of something.
I've seen X-ray images of crystals, but I do not know how to do it properly and if it also works for complete crystals instead of slices.

Or maybe you are referring to the steps in the rhombohedral faces.
That alone would not turn it into a (reversed) scepter for me.

Amir