Here is some good news for you!!
As you will know, we are waiting for our new stock to come. We expect it to be here within the next 3 - 4 weeks. We will keep you updated in any case!
I bet you are wondering what the good news is.......
Gerdus already bought his ticket to buy new stock AGAIN!! He will be going on the 3rd of July. If you want something, please please PLEASE send us your wishlist!! We would really like to source it for you! If it is small items, Gerdus will bring it back with him, otherwise it will come with the rest of the shipment which will take about 6 weeks.
I got so many positive feedback from last weeks newsletter that I decided to write more about stones. In this newsletter I will give you some more information on Unakite, Amazonite, Kyanite and Purpurite.
You are probably asking yourself, "Why these specific stones?". No reason actually. Gerdus cleared the yard last week and we found a lot of rough stones laying around, so we thought that we would clean it up and sell it in the shop. There are more rough stones, I just randomly selected these few.
Please note that the images I am going to use is the actual images that we took of the items.
These stones are not available on our website yet!!
They will only be listed in a week or so. They are, however, available in our store. So, if you really can't wait, pop your kiddies in the car and make it a fun day! Come visit us here in Hartbeespoort!
We are open 7 days a week from 10h00 to 16h30.
Enjoy!!
Unakite
First discovered in the United States in the Unakas mountains of North
Carolina, unakite is an altered granite composed of pink orthoclase
feldspar, green epidote, and generally colorless quartz.
It exists in various shades of green and pink and is usually mottled in appearance. In good quality unakite is considered a semiprecious stone, will take a good polish and is often used in jewelry and other lapidary work such as eggs, spheres and other carvings like animals.
It is also referred to as epidotized granite. In some of the Blue Ridge occurrences an epidotized augen gneiss is present exhibiting foliation structures.
It exists in various shades of green and pink and is usually mottled in appearance. In good quality unakite is considered a semiprecious stone, will take a good polish and is often used in jewelry and other lapidary work such as eggs, spheres and other carvings like animals.
It is also referred to as epidotized granite. In some of the Blue Ridge occurrences an epidotized augen gneiss is present exhibiting foliation structures.
Unakite can be found as pebbles and cobbles from glacial drift in the
beach rock on the shores of Lake Superior. It occurs in Virginia where
it is found in the river valleys after having been washed down from the
Blue Ridge Mountains.
Unakite is not limited to the United States, but has also been reported from South Africa, Sierra Leone, Brazil, and China. Some material labeled unakite lacks the feldspar and is more properly epidosite.
Amazonite
Amazonite is a mineral of limited occurrence. Formerly it was obtained almost exclusively from the area of Miass in the Ilmen mountains, 50 miles southwest of Chelyabinsk, Russia, where it occurs in granitic rocks. More recently, high-quality crystals have been obtained from Pike's Peak, Colorado, where it is found associated with smoky quartz, orthoclase, and albite in a coarse granite or pegmatite. Crystals of amazonite can also be found in Crystal Park, El Paso County, Colorado. Other localities in the United States which yield amazonite include the Morefield Mine in Amelia, Virginia. It is also found in pegmatite in Madagascar and in Brazil.
Unakite is not limited to the United States, but has also been reported from South Africa, Sierra Leone, Brazil, and China. Some material labeled unakite lacks the feldspar and is more properly epidosite.
Amazonite
Amazonite is a green variety of microcline feldspar.
The name is taken from that of the Amazon River, from which certain
green stones were formerly obtained, but it is doubtful whether green
feldspar occurs in the Amazon area.
Amazonite is a mineral of limited occurrence. Formerly it was obtained almost exclusively from the area of Miass in the Ilmen mountains, 50 miles southwest of Chelyabinsk, Russia, where it occurs in granitic rocks. More recently, high-quality crystals have been obtained from Pike's Peak, Colorado, where it is found associated with smoky quartz, orthoclase, and albite in a coarse granite or pegmatite. Crystals of amazonite can also be found in Crystal Park, El Paso County, Colorado. Other localities in the United States which yield amazonite include the Morefield Mine in Amelia, Virginia. It is also found in pegmatite in Madagascar and in Brazil.
Because of its bright green color when polished, amazonite is
sometimes cut and used as a gemstone, although it is easily fractured.
For many years, the source of amazonite's color was a mystery.
Naturally, many people assumed the color was due to copper because
copper compounds often have blue and green colors. More recent studies
suggest that the blue-green color results from small quantities of lead
and water in the feldspar.
Kyanite, whose name derives from the Greek word kuanos sometimes
referred to as "kyanos", meaning deep blue, is a typically blue silicate
mineral, commonly found in aluminium-rich metamorphic pegmatites and/or
sedimentary rock. Kyanite in metamorphic rocks generally indicates
pressures higher than four kilobars.
Although potentially stable at lower pressure and low temperature, the activity of water is usually high enough under such conditions that it is replaced by hydrous aluminosilicates such as muscovite, pyrophyllite, or kaolinite. Kyanite is also known as disthene, rhaeticite and cyanite.Kyanite is used primarily in refractory and ceramic products, including porcelain plumbing fixtures and dishware. It is also used in electronics, electrical insulators and abrasives.
Although potentially stable at lower pressure and low temperature, the activity of water is usually high enough under such conditions that it is replaced by hydrous aluminosilicates such as muscovite, pyrophyllite, or kaolinite. Kyanite is also known as disthene, rhaeticite and cyanite.Kyanite is used primarily in refractory and ceramic products, including porcelain plumbing fixtures and dishware. It is also used in electronics, electrical insulators and abrasives.
Kyanite has been used as a semiprecious gemstone, which may display
cat's eye chatoyancy, though this use is limited by its anisotropism and
perfect cleavage. Color varieties include recently discovered orange
kyanite from Tanzania.The orange color is due to inclusion of small
amounts of manganese in the structure.
Kyanite is one of the index minerals that are used to estimate the
temperature, depth, and pressure at which a rock undergoes metamorphism.
Purpurite
Purpurite is a mineral, basically manganese phosphate, MnPO4 although with varying amounts of iron depending upon the source of the mineral. It is a striking pink purple color as might be expected of a manganese-containing mineral.
Purpurite is a mineral, basically manganese phosphate, MnPO4 although with varying amounts of iron depending upon the source of the mineral. It is a striking pink purple color as might be expected of a manganese-containing mineral.
No comments:
Post a Comment