Not sure what stone this is

[Mercedes]

Well, from what I've observed, it's mostly a dark jade/forest green colour with a few tan/caramel streaks in it. It's easy to scratch if one works the fingernail for a little while. It has some parts where it's slightly lighter and a bit white-ish as well. I remember that we bought it at some store many, many years ago, but no one bothered to label it or remember what it was...

[CzechWoods]

Well, from what I've observed, it's mostly a dark jade/forest green colour with a few tan/caramel streaks in it. It's easy to scratch if one works the fingernail for a little while. It has some parts where it's slightly lighter and a bit white-ish as well. I remember that we bought it at some store many, many years ago, but no one bothered to label it or remember what it was...

if you can scratch it with the fingernail, and given the colours you describe it is most probably a soapstone

[Mercedes]

Hmm. Soapstone. That doesn't sound that...great. Can it do anything?

[CzechWoods]

it could be serpentine too. a picture would help.
but i still guess it si soapstone. will get you the healing info asap, too tired now

[Mercedes]

I took a few photographs.

[Flar's Freyja]

It looks like a moss agate to me.

[EponaCapaill]

Looks to me to be either serpentine or epidote.

[lightdragon]

It looks like a moss agate to me.
moss agate would have more clear areas in it.

Looks to me to be either serpentine or epidote.
not sure on the serpentine. as i saw many types that would probably confuse it with tree agate. epidote i`m not sure on.Too dull for chrsyophase. Could be chryscolla.

[CzechWoods]

Thank you for the pictures.

I would say Seprentine due to the colour and the fact that you can scratch it with your fingernail. It could still be soapstone though, but the green variety from india.

Hmmm hard to tell without touching it.

it cannot be moss agate nor epidit because of the hardness issue

[Mercedes]

Well, I haven't actually scratched off anything...it just feels like it's going to scratch off. It takes a while to get to the point where it really feels like anything is scratching off...but I can tell it's not the hardest because it has a few little dents in it from when it's been dropped or hit or somehow mishandled.

[CzechWoods]

Well, I haven't actually scratched off anything...it just feels like it's going to scratch off. It takes a while to get to the point where it really feels like anything is scratching off...but I can tell it's not the hardest because it has a few little dents in it from when it's been dropped or hit or somehow mishandled.

take a clear quartz point and try to scratch the surface of the tumbled stone. if you can see a scratch, its hardness is bellow 7, which will allow us to narrow down our speculations

I am a bit sure now that its serpentine though (aka New Jade)

[Mercedes]

I don't have a quartz crystal, unfortunately...though after seeing the following picture, it seems I do have a serpentine stone: http://www.spectrumwellbeing.co.uk/acatalog/worrystoneserpentine.jpg

[CzechWoods]

I don't have a quartz crystal, unfortunately...though after seeing the following picture, it seems I do have a serpentine stone: http://www.spectrumwellbeing.co.uk/acatalog/worrystoneserpentine.jpg

Pretty much looks like it.

Maybe you have another quartz stone though, with a natural point ? Maybe an amethyst or a chunk of rough rosequartz?

you could do that scratch test with it as well

because frankly it is possible you have genuine jad ethere as well, or nephrite

but only through the scratching thing with quartz, you can determin which it is (serpentine or jade, that is)

[Mercedes]

I have fluorite, but that's stuck in a necklace. I don't think I have any other quartz stones. The only stones I have in my possession are fluorite, obsidian, lapis lazuli, and jade...but none of which could help with it. My mother suggested one...She can't speak English that well, so I'm not sure what stone she really means, but it sounded like 'aventurin' or ... something. For some reason, I feel like it's serpentine, though I don't know why. I don't think we'd ever buy just a jade stone, and with an alien name like nephrite, I doubt we'd buy that either. We buy mainly better-known stones like hematite.

[Caradne]

maybe she was trying to say aventurine
I was going to guess you have bloodstone there.

[CzechWoods]

just came to my mind that onyx marble which is often called onyx in america but in fact is an aragonite often comes in deep greens too

it is scratchable by a needle (or a key or something like that)

and it would be solutable to acids

healing wise look for aragonite or calcite

[lightdragon]

maybe she was trying to say aventurine
I was going to guess you have bloodstone there.

green aventurine is usually a green to a light green with some dark green spots in it.
Bloodstone is another good guess,but the stone in question has brownish tan swirls in it where bloodstone wouldn`t have it it would have red spots in it. Some more profound than others.

good try though

[lightdragon]

just came to my mind that onyx marble which is often called onyx in america but in fact is an aragonite often comes in deep greens too

it is scratchable by a needle (or a key or something like that)

and it would be solutable to acids

healing wise look for aragonite or calcite
you know i almost forgot about green onyx. for some reason I am thinking onyx only comes in black. :weirdsmil

[CzechWoods]

you know i almost forgot about green onyx. for some reason I am thinking onyx only comes in black. :weirdsmil

well by definition onyx comes only in black

onyx was defined as the black variety of chalcedony (laced agate)

natural onyx is a dark shade of grey almost black

there is also another variety that qualifies to be natural onyx which inddeed is a mixture of chalcedony and onyx; it can vary from black to said grey-black colour yet with streaks of white in it.

some people will call the black-white variety sardonyx, which tecnhically is not correct either.

sardonyx is the mix of either 2 or 3 stones in one:
either sarder + onyx (black+reddish brown)
or sarder + onyx + chalcedony (black + white + reddish brown)

in any case sardonyx must be partly black and reddish brown


at my gemologist who has BUT untreated, not dyed etc stones, I had seen few years back some tumbled natural BROWN onyx stones, and i still am angry at myself I did not buy some for my collection, as I havent found them anywhere since. grrrr


so far the onyx.


now there are also other stones on the market that are called onyx but arent onyx in reality.

first of all the stones used in the lapidary/jewelry industry as onyx.

these stones are shiny black, and most often no natural onyx stones

in the better case, they are dyed agate.

either that dye is applied through a thousands year old method, that was already known by the Romans, and coud be seen as kind of artisan altering of the stone: the agates are cooked in sugar, the sugar making them turn black

but most often the black dye nowadays consists not of sugar but is of chemical origin.


because dyed agates were accepted to become black onyx and be called and declared as onyx, the newest fashin consists of naming artificially dyed red, blue, green, pink, purple etc agate as
blue onyx, green onyx etc which in fact they arent

but it seems that trade name becomes generally accepted, as many wholesale suppliers - even with cut gems - would carry those dyed stonnes, and calling them *colour* onyx

oh well


because the need and want for onyx is higher than the supplies, another method of substituting the black onyx is by using a stone called :
Black Stone

Black Stone can be many things. It can be dyed agate (see above), it can also be dyed quarzite stone, or dyed and reconstructed material, dyed pebbles etc.

Sometimes black obsidian is sold as Black Stone or even as Onyx


With exception of the black-stone
all onyx discussed above at least had one in common. they all were members of the chalcedony family, meaning their hardness is 7

But there also is the aragonite, a kind of marble. This one comes often in tan, brown and greens, and has laces to it.

This kind of laced aragonite marble, has been called Onyx Marble, because it looked like onyx just had not its colour. People started using the shortcut rather, and the trade name 'Onyx' for 'Onyx-Marble' popped up and adds to the confusion.

Aragonite (calcium-carbonite) has the mohs hardness 3,5-4. It is solutable to acids, which the Chalcedony varieties arent. You can also scratch it with a needle/nail quite easily (reason why it is used for Vases and animal carvings etc so much)

The Onyx Marble or 'Onyx Stone' as it is also called - comes in the above mentioned colours of cream, brown, tan, and greens.

here is a picture (its a former auction) of a Dinosaur carved from the Aragonite (onyx marble) http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6175724068&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEUS%3AIT&rd=1

But there are similar Marble kinds, that come in different colours:
1. Turitella Marble: sometimes called Coral or Fossil-Marble is from the Jurassic times. It contains a lot of fossils from that time period: brachiopodums, corals, turitella snails etc. The colour is beige-cream-tan-grey-brown
2. Landscape Marble, aka Burmateak or Barmatic. It looks like a lighter variety of landscape jasper, with colours of ivory, cream, brown and teal
3. the black marble or oriantal marble. sometimes also called Black Onyx Marble (ack!) - its colour is black with white streaks (!)

All of the above marble kinds are broadly used for beautiful carvings
and could be declared as onyx as well, albeit it would be a shortcut for onyx marble

It is crucial, that your stone supplier is very clear and frank with declerations of the stone. Unfortunately the world trade guidelines are not as strict, and thus a lot of "onyx" is sold to customers, that in fact has only the name in common with the natural (real) onyx stone

[(c) 2005 www.czechwoodsgems.de - all rights reserved ]

[Mercedes]

Er...so you're saying onyx naturally just comes in black? It has nothing to do with green colour?

[CzechWoods]

Er...so you're saying onyx naturally just comes in black? It has nothing to do with green colour?

yes. onyx as the chalcedony (laced agate family) comes only (almost) in black

but the other stone named onyx meaning onyx marble does come in green, see the picture of the dinnousaur on the link in my post

[Flar's Freyja]

maybe she was trying to say aventurine
I was going to guess you have bloodstone there.

Looks like it could be either of those as well, although green aventurine is a lighter green.

A friend who I consider to be pretty knowledgeable once told me, "When in doubt, it's an agate." :T :broomride

[Mercedes]

A friend who I consider to be pretty knowledgeable once told me, "When in doubt, it's an agate." :T :broomride

That's cute. :P

Well, I'd have to find some crystal point somewhere...perhaps I'll buy one soon. I think it's serpentine, looking around and whatnot...but it definitely could be jade. I'll check it out sometime. Thanks for all suggestions.

[Ivy Artemisia]

My original guess was aventurin. I have a bunch of aventurine stones that are about that shade of green. Does it seem to have any glittery properties at all? If not, then my vote is Serpentine. :)

~Ivy




Looks like it could be either of those as well, although green aventurine is a lighter green.

A friend who I consider to be pretty knowledgeable once told me, "When in doubt, it's an agate." :T :broomride