FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Paul]

I've spent the last few days slowly working through about a hundred more specimens, and have a few that I just have no idea about.

[Paul]

This one seems to be a Pseudomorph of Limonite after Pyrope,

60mm x 60mm x 80mm, and weighs 546 gm's

[Paul]

And one more,

I Suspect that this is Descloizite, however it was labeled Goethite, it is very heavy for it's size, the growth is over a matrix that is no loinger there, so it is hollow inside, it Measure 30mm x 20mm x 19mm and weighs 16gms, very hard.

[Debbie Woolf]

It does look like Descloizite & possibly a Tsumeb one too.

I don't think the 1st one is Cerussite but I could be wrong & the 2nd Garnet specimen ??

[Paul]

I spent a good deal of time today trying to identify the first one,and I'm starting to think it could be a selenite ball, the second one is probably a Garnet var Pyrope, it looks like it's been pseudomorphed by limonite, what threw me was the size, it's as big as my fist.

[Debbie Woolf]

Selenite ? don't know about that ? Can you describe the crystal form, as it looks like square shapes, rhombs, as on edge ? which reminds me of Fluorite but some look flattened/squat at the top which reminds me of Smithsonite as a guess ?

[Debbie Woolf]

It's also helpful to show the back/base sides of specimens. Pictures are getting better too, good work.

[Montanpark]

Hi Paul,
Selenite should have a Hardness of 2 .. my first thought was Colemanite. hardness is 4 1/2 so would fit. I have seen similar specimens from California and Turkey .. but only a guess. Third one looks like Desclo to me also. Second could be a garnet as you already presumed ... with some iron oxide coating.

cheers
Roger

[Debbie Woolf]

Is this a collection of worldwide minerals or is it mainly focussed on African material ?

[Paul]

#1 is much harder than a 2 so it is definately not selenite then, I think having been cataloguing hundreds of specimens every day for the last few weeks have started to take it's toll.

[Paul]

The Majority of the collection is African, However thare are specimens from all over the world in it, Dave had a habit of trading specimens for samples of certain minerals from many different locations, there are for example Pyrite specimens From Africa, Europe, Asia, South Amarica etc.

[Paul]

One Last specimen for this thread, I'm truly clueless about this one and I'm not sure that the photos portray enough detail to make it identifiable.

[John S. White]

I do wish that we could use the mineral name gypsum, instead of selenite. Selenite is another one of those terms that has been so abused that it has pretty much lost its meaning. Why not use the proper mineral name, although the specimen in the photo does not appear to be gypsum since I believe that Paul said the hardness is about 5.

[jorge santos garcia]

Hi Paul

The specimen on photo 57 looks like smithsonite, maybe the type with a yellow core, I think I saw pieces like that labelled as 'cadmiun smithsonite'.

Jorge

[Jordi Fabre]

It don't looks as Smithsonite to me. I would suggest Calcite from N'Chwanning or some other diposit from Kalahari manganese field. Could you please try if it effervesce with ClH?

Jordi