Extra-Ordinary Stone Specimen Thread

[CzechWoods]

This idea has been posted on our crystals forum and i find it brilliant.

so courtesy to you, for bringing it up and here is the thread now

lets post those extraordinary specimen, maybe a brief history. those kind of stones where we will stayawe struck for days, over and over again, or where even others feel the same.

maybe it is a nice pattern, or a special form

well you get the picture.

i will go first and post one beautiful agate slize, that has the form and formation of a dragon, and that has become the logo for my web-site. it is *of course* not for sale. sorry folks

it is a slize of natural (undyed) brazilian agate, probably minas gerais, polished from both sides

[Wolfsong]

That is a truely amazing Agate specimen Czechwoods.

One of my loves over the years have been Thunder Eggs in thier various forms. The first picture below is a sampling of some of the ones I have. All but the one pictured below are from the USA, mostly from Oregon.

The second picture is of one of my favorites. I have several others that stand out but for some reason I cant take a good picture of them. The one that is pictured reminds me of a prehistoric bird or thunderbird and its baby. The mother is very obvious, the baby is a bit harder to make out. This particular specimen comes from Australia.What sets this specimen apart from most of the others I have is that the little balls you see around the edge of the bird are suspended in the agate below the surface making it appear as if they are "floating" at different depths in the agate.

60171
60172

For those of you not familiar with thunder eggs here is a bit of a backround.

Thunder Eggs are round agate filled nodules which form in some types of silica-rich volcanic rocks e.g. Rhyolite. As the molten volcanic lava cooled , steam and other gasses trapped in the lava formed an expanding bubble. Silica minerals often crystalized around the bubble forming ball shaped spherulites. Sometimes gas pressure can force the spherulite apart to form a central hollow which is later filled with gels to form the patterned or banded core which may consist of agate, chalcedony, opal, quartz or jasper. Although Oregon and Washington are the best known localities for Thunder Eggs, they are also found in Australia and other countries.

And a legend pertaining to Thunder Eggs.

The Warm Spring Indians tell of Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson Thunder Spirits becoming angry with one another. They hurled spherical rocks back and forth during violent thunder storms. The spirits had stolen these weapons from the nests of Thunderbirds. Stray shots landed in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation where they can still be found today.

[Wolfscout1]

Here are two of my favorites..

a Prehnite matrix - unconditional love and a Heal the healer crystal. size is 3 by nearly 6"

a very nice abundance/soulmate / tantric twin clear quartz cluster. small bout 2" tall but very clear and beautiful.

[Pesha]

Czech I never noticed that before that that agate does have a dragon in it. no wonder I like it so much. Wolfe1, love your crystals. I have no camera at the moment so cannot give any pics of my stuff. Sorry.

[CzechWoods]

breath-taking specimen, and great info as well. the thunder eggs are very intense, the opalization. i do see both mother and child of the birds in them.

truely amazing. love wolfscouts two specimen much too, indeed the twin clear quartzes stand like the Victory sign, clear and shining..... and thanks for the info omn prehnite. didnt know that

[Pesha]

My late husband had a whole collection of Thunder Eggs. One summer we broke them open and had quite a few nice specimens.

[Wolfsong]

Lately I have been retaking digital pictures on many of my secimens. This is one of my oldest and dearest. Its a Celestite Geode measuring about 16 cm in diameter. I've seen this mineral braught up several times and thought some of you might enjoy this specimen.

61497

[adazakura]

i love serpentine i seem to of lost my piece which is upsetting... it was a lovely tear drop with a bump on top....

It just felt slick in my hand and my mind and smooth...very silky

i'm a bit confused as someone said it is new jade, yet its not its opaque and kinda banded not clear and translucent... am i wrong the chemical listings say its got nothing to do with new jade...

Serpentine facilitates aura and chakra cleansing bringing back balance and opens the heart chakra allowing you to love yourself and others.

It is also for happiness, success and manifestation. The stone is said to promote good luck and can help people reach their business and personal dreams and desires.

It heightens psychic awareness and aids past life exploration.

Serpentine aids calcium and magnesium absorption and is believed to help treat hypoglycemia and diabetes. Light Green Serpentine is especially good for pain relief caused by menstrual or muscular aches and cramps.


Chemical info: http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/silicate/serpenti/serpenti.htm
Serpentine is a major rock forming mineral and is found as a constituent in many metamorphic and weather igneous rocks. It often colors many of these rocks to a green color and most rocks that have a green color probably have serpentine in some amount.
Serpentine is actually a general name applied to several members of a polymorphic group. These minerals have essentially the same chemistry but different structures. The following is a list of these minerals, their formulas and symmetry class:

Antigorite; (Mg,Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4; monoclinic.
Clinochrysotile; Mg3Si2O5(OH)4; monoclinic.
Lizardite; Mg3Si2O5(OH)4; trigonal and hexagonal.
Orthochrysotile; Mg3Si2O5(OH)4; orthorhombic.
Parachrysotile; (Mg,Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4; orthorhombic.

Serpentine's structure is composed of layers of silicate tetrahedrons linked into sheets.

[CzechWoods]

the trem 'new jade' refers to precious serpentine, and is only a trade name. basically it is made to to fool customers into byuing serpentine believing they are buying jade

but serpentine is softer than jade and also has different capabilities.

i dont like the term 'new jade' and 'china jade' simply for that very reason.

serpentine not only is a wonderful stone in itself, but also has outstanding healing capabilities, and needs not to be sold as jade, as it is wonderful the way it is.

jade is wonderful too, but jade is jade and serpentrine is not jade

period

:D

here are pictures to clarify:
http://de.msnusers.com/czechwoodsgems/serpentine.msnw

[lightdragon]

Czech I never noticed that before that that agate does have a dragon in it. no wonder I like it so much. Wolfe1, love your crystals. I have no camera at the moment so cannot give any pics of my stuff. Sorry.
it does look like a dragon.

[vikinggoddess]

http://brotherhoodinc.net/926.7/268_6810.JPG

take a look at this one. epidote in amethyst quartz

[vikinggoddess]

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/136612main_pia03048-browse.jpg
microscopic space dust- olivine