I was going through the inventory in the back storage area looking for some chalcanthite crystal clusters to put out on the floor. Chalcanthite is a blue crystal mainly composed of copper sulfate.
There has been some debate as to whether it is chalcanthite or just copper sulfate, because it is lab grown. However, this particular specimen had it's crystals extracted from a natural piece and regrown on a matrix to provide more crystals. It has all the mineral composition of copper sulfate, alum and other copper minerals as apposed to just copper sulfate.
Under the scope the crystals look fantastic.
As I was retrieving these I notice another crystal cluster that is in a collection we purchased just over a month ago.
It is a red Crocoit cluster found in Tasmania. (an island off the coast of Australia).
It is a monoclinic crystal structure that are long and spindly.
Because of the delicate nature of the crystals, natural terminations are rarely found.
While the color of the crystals is predominantly red/orange, when bright light is shined on them an iridescent yellow comes out in the less dense crystals.
As I was checking out the crystals under the scope, I noticed little white specks between the crystals. This made me very curious, so I put on the 20x eye pieces to get a better look.
I wasn't able to get a clear picture at the higher magnification but the specks are okenite crystals. I am sooo tempted to take this piece home for my personal collection, but if I keep doing that I won't have a store :-D
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Hello, regards @roswellrockman
The knowledge you have about geology and your impressive mineral samples can contribute a lot in our community #stem-espanol, but precisely the official language is Spanish and your profile does not define which site you are from.
I invite you to join the channel https://discord.gg/PbRuCS today Thursday we will discuss topics of interest in the areas of: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. We will wait for you!
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I saw the preview pic and immediately thought 'copper sulfate'. One of my favorite mineral colors.
I took a look at some lab grade copper sulfate a few weeks ago, if you're interested.
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Copper sulfate is lab grown in a pure form and is a richer blue. We have some single copper sulfate crystals in our store. They are 2"-3". The crystal above, I was told by my resource, is extracted from an actual chalcanthite cluster in matrix. It has impurities in it that are found in the natural state. It is a darker blue than pure copper sulfate. I did check out your post on copper sulfate crystals and cupric sulfate. Pretty cool. Too late to upvote though.
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I had no idea that the color was different. Cool.
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No comment on the crocoit?
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It's pretty, but I knew nothing about it, so I didn't have anything substantial to say about it. Now I know it's a short Wikipedia walk from the mineral to one of my favorite paintings. Thanks for inspiring me to learn a few things!
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I was sorely tempted by a Crocoite at our local rock shop just yesterday, hubby was in love with a vanadinite though, so we went with that. Red/Orange is always a tough color to come across with mineral collecting!
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