FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Lou B.]

Got this cigar box labeled Pitcairn Island. Not sure what they are the dark ones are attracted to a magnet and look like gold

[Peter Lemkin]

I am sorry to likely pour cold water on your dream that these possibly polished mineral beads are either from Pitcairn Island or contain gold. Pitcairn Island is formed by what is called a 'hot spot' in the Earth's upper mantle. Volcanic Pitcairn Island, which has surface lavas with apparent ages between 0.45 and 0.93 Myr. Most [but not all] volcanic minerals are dark colored. While lava may contain some metals, I personally am not aware of any lavas that are magnetic nor that contain more than 'trace' gold [detectable only by sophisticated laboratory techniques], and even those would be very rare. I doubt that most [or perhaps all?] of the polished beads you have there are from a volcanic island, unless some are polished coral or anthropogenic materials. The box does say 'Pitcairn Island', but you didn't say how you came to believe that the necklases inside now are what were labeled to be from Pitcairn.

Also, this forum deals in unpolished minerals and rocks in their natural state for the most part [>99%], and perhaps a forum on jewelry or polished stones could be more helpful.

[SteveB]

You need to find a lapidary club, this forum is NOT the place for stuff like this, tumbled/polished rocks or jewellery. This forums is only for naturally occurring rock and mineral specimens and their location occurrences. Tourist stuff is just that, stuff. Please reread the forum rules and scope and the post about testing before making “what is it” posts.