u/DredgenYorMom

I've always assumed it was quartz. However, I just got a new industrial mohs kit from Mineral Lab and it tested at 8.5. I tested a few spots and verified with my loupe that it was not being scratched at 8; there were clearly visible streak marks left by the test tip. I also found some orange fluorescent inclusions under 365nm backlight seen in the last few photos, which I assume is calcite (ignore the blue color, I had a white towel nearby that was reflecting back onto the crystal 😵‍💫). Any ideas? Any other tests I could perform that would help? If it is quartz, why can't my mohs 8 test tip scratch it?

I'm no expert in geology, identifying crystals, or the various terminologies used to describe characteristics of crystals, gems, and rocks. I've self-taught anything I think I know and am trying to learn all I can 🫶🏼❤️

I imagine his inner dialog was something along the lines of, "Dis is bullsheet, unhand me now!"

Two very different looking and unique rocks, yet both are technically considered to be Unakite! It's my favorite hobby rock to collect and I will never have "too many" in my storage bins and on my shelves 🤭

I've been leaving shelled peanuts out for about a week now and unshelled peanuts for about a month. There is already a local crow murder presence and I'm so excited that the befriending process is progressing!! 🥰 There are also a ton of bluejays around, I wonder if they've ever been known to leave gifts as well?

We've recently been having some fox visitors to the wildlife buffet I put out every evening and he enjoys watching them with me! Thats what he is doing in photo #4 😂🫶🏼

Sorting through the treasures from my latest haul and I realized that I must've been hungry when I collected these 😜😆

Just needs to be cleaned up a bit! A neat little find that will sit on my shelf of trinkets and things 🫶🏼

I found the bones scattered across a dirt 2-track and followed a game trail on a hunch to find the skull about 20ft away from the majority of the bones, which had been driven over and picked at by scavengers. I really tried to find the beak, but was unfortunately unsuccessful.

I found a birdshot pellet lodged in one of the bones, which I think is a super cool find (final photo). I know nothing about identifying bird species from the bones. I know found some vertebrae, ribs, and part of the clavicle. But just based on context, I'm pretty sure this is a Canada goose that continued flying for a while after catching some birdshot before succumbing later on because, as a hunter myself, I know these things are flying tanks. I just wanted to share my find and just get some second opinions on my hypothesis.

TYIA! 🫶🏼

The photos here are after I applied mineral oil and removed the excess. I calculated the SG using dry weight/(dry weight - water weight) which averaged 1.65. So unfortunately the density says no to this being a sapphire, or any gemstone really. But it's also really light to be an agate, which would've been my next guess. Any ideas??

I made sure my scale is calibrated properly and it claims to be accurate to 0.01g. I added a touch of jet dry to remove any air bubbles from the equation and even tared the water with my tweezers suspended. I tested yesterday and today with the same result in both grams and carats, just in case something was weird with the scale.

I have a loupe if anyone wants to see close up photos of any part of this specimen.

You need a pretty wild imagination to even try to understand this and why it is here.

I'm very hesitant to call it a sapphire just because of how large it is! It scratches my steel file, has a pale blue color to it, and I swear I can see silky inclusions... I've included photos of it backlit, on my hand, on my calibrated scale next to my 4.5" tweezers (I didnt have time to measure with my calipers before work), and in my container of sapphires I've collected from my order so far. If it isn't a sapphire, what else could it be? It doesnt look like quartz to me personally, but I can always be wrong.

I'm hoping to get some second opinions on this, I'm relatively new to all this and still learning. Thank you!!

One of my new favorite sentimental rocks ❤️✋🏼

I was able to shave the surface away with a penny.