Geologist and mineralogists, please identify these rocks

Dalboz

Way back in the day, I got my hands on some interesting rocks (I don't remember how). The problem is that I can't remember what they are. Most of these stones have been tumbled and polished, so I don't know how hard it is to identify them in this smooth and rounded shape.

Sample 1:

I seem to remember that this is sodalite, but I'd need a confirmation.

Sample 2:

Sample 3:

While it looks like amethyst, I vaguely remember someone saying that it was actually fluorite. Need confirmation.

Sample 4:
Yes, this does look like it has sort of a woodgrain, although one side of it looks sort of silver.

Sample 5:

I believe this is hematite, but again I'd need confirmation.

VeritasVR

Dalboz wrote: »

Way back in the day, I got my hands on some interesting rocks (I don't remember how). The problem is that I can't remember what they are. Most of these stones have been tumbled and polished, so I don't know how hard it is to identify them in this smooth and rounded shape.

<snip>

I used to collect rocks and minerals a while back. Eventually got more into metallurgy rather than geology. However, I can ID some of these just by picture.

Sample 1 is polished sodalite, indeed.

Sample 2 is likely polished green citrine, but may be jade. There may also be another one I can't remember.

Sample 3 is easy: amethyst.

Sample 4 is Tiger's Eye (jasper/hematite lamellar).

Sample 5 is hematite. I originally thought onyx but hematite would be the correct luster.

Peter Principle

1. I looked at that and lapis lazuli popped right into my head, and wiki says sodalite is a major component of lapis lazuli. So...yeah.

2. Jade? Mossy agate? Not sure on that one

3. Amethyst

4. Tiger Eye

5. Hematite

VisionOfClarity

3 looks like purple fluorite to me.

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud

quick do a scratch test

Dalboz

Okay, so far so good, although sample 2 seems to be the stumper. I'm pretty sure that it's not jade. It looks a little darker than the others because I too the photo without the flash since that flash was making it look washed out.

Are you sure that sample 3 is amethyst? I remember someone telling me it was actually fluorite because there's some striping in it (which you can't really see in the photo), but I was never really sure. If people are sure it's amethyst, I'll take your word for it, though.

VeritasVR

Dalboz wrote: »

Okay, so far so good, although sample 2 seems to be the stumper. I'm pretty sure that it's not jade. It looks a little darker than the others because I too the photo without the flash since that flash was making it look washed out.

Are you sure that sample 3 is amethyst? I remember someone telling me it was actually fluorite because there's some striping in it (which you can't really see in the photo), but I was never really sure. If people are sure it's amethyst, I'll take your word for it, though.

Sample 2 is tough. It's not agate due to the lack of striations.

Sample 3 could very well be fluorite. There's little difference between it and amethyst.

Peter Principle

The easy way to tell if 3 is fluorite or amethyst is the scratch test. Fluorite has a hardness of 4, Quartz a hardness of 7. Quartz will scratch glass, but fluorite won't. Your pocket knife should also be able to scratch fluorite, but it won't scratch quartz.

tofu

It's hard to tell from the photo, but I don't recognize any octahedral cleavage in that sample, I doubt it's flourite.

Dalboz

I took a couple more close up photographs of Sample 2. Hopefully these may shed more light on it.

Linked because they're big:
unknown2a.jpg
unknown2b.jpg

Thylacine

I'd say it's probably nephrite AKA Jade, without a particularly striking color. But it's been awhile since I've taken Geology.

elfdude

I have a jade bracelet which has almost identical markings as that though the spots aren't as dark. Jade can come in absolutely any color and it's imperfections very greatly, jade's hue (dark green light green etc) varies by mineral content where it's created. If you know the value of it you can roughly tell what it is. Jade is pretty expensive and a piece that size would probably run into the hundreds if not thousands. If you paid something else it could be just about any polished green colored rock.

NightDragon

#1 is sodalite
#2 really looks like serpentine to me.
#3 could be fluorite, but it looks a lot more like amethyst to me, mostly in how it looks like it's structured.
#4 is red tiger's eye (there's also a blue variant)
#5 is absolutely, as has been mentioned, hematite.

Woo! My working in a gemstone/beadshop for over a year has come in handy! haha

[edit] I just read that you mentioned that part of the tiger's eye looks like silver. That's probably a bit of hematite - they're frequently found together...and when they're combined in a single piece (sometimes with red jasper in, as well), it's called tiger iron.

Thylacine

You're probably right about the serpentine. I kept looking up "Serpentis" because I couldn't remember the name of it...I just kept getting Harry Potter and WoW sites for it.

VeritasVR

Thylacine wrote: »

You're probably right about the serpentine. I kept looking up "Serpentis" because I couldn't remember the name of it...I just kept getting Harry Potter and WoW sites for it.

Serpentine! That's the one. I knew I was forgetting something.

I had several of these that looked just like the one in the OP. It stands out to me because my mage in EQ had a Serpentine Braclet that I knew couldn't be right because the icon was an ivory color.