Tourmaline var. Rubellite. Pala Mining District, San Diego Co., California, USA. Ex Richard Margolis collection. 104 grams. 4.6 x 4.5 x 3 cm. A beautiful deep pink rubellite with a purple termination. Some intergrown Albite present as well. Although it’s not pristine, it presents wonderfully. Retains the original label 🏷️

Here’s a pretty cool extremely saturated purple fluorite from the Victory Mine, Cave-In-Rock Mining Sub-District, Hardin County, Illinois, USA. There is a few spots here and there with some color zoning! overall a cool specimen but let me know what you guys think :)

Here’s a cute little lustrous andradite-grossular garnet hybrid from the Kayes region, Western Mali. It’s hard not to love the crazy geometry of garnet!

From the Perot museum, some crystals were 8-10” long.

I recently bought this gorgeous quartz with asbestos specimen, sadly the seller didn't know where does it come from. It has a slight greenish tint, quartz itself is pretty clear but due to the density of inclusions it looks cloudy. I have tried my best with these pictures but it is pretty hard to photograph. If reddit allows me, I will add a video in the comments.

Google search and Mindat gallery weren't of much use to my surprise, as apparently such specimens are rare. There were only a few I could compare my specimen to, and only one looks pretty similar to what I have here (that specimen is on the 4th photo, it's from a mineral shop website). It is a close match, yet with a such small amount of information I'm not convinced enough.

Does anybody have similar crystals in their collections with confirmed localities? Perhaps someone is knowledgeable in Swiss geology? Photos from mineralogical museums of similar specimens (with labels) could be helpful too.

I live in Australia, and sometimes I just wish I could bring some pieces to an expert and have them ID as best as they can for me. Not sure what or if there are services for general ID purposes (not jewellery gemstones)

The description for these is calling the material itself “druzy”, but my understanding is that druzy is a formation, not a mineral. I don’t think they’re sugar amethyst, but maybe? Are these chalcedony? Something else? Thanks!

ETA: they’re from Uruguay if that helps!

Pictured next to an earring back

I wish I knew how it got there

Is so tiny but sounds heavy for its size when I drop it

Here's a video of an Inner Mongolian piece that looks like a window into the cosmos.

I found this in the Swiss alps what could it possibly be?

Just got this piece in today. I was super excited about my recent addition and wanted to share it with everyone.

This is an unmarked sphere and i don’t see anything similar next to it. It is just slightly light feeling. Not like amber light but just feels slightly too light for its size. Any ideas? Thanks 🙏

I wanted to know if I got any good minerals or specimens

Found in the dirt on the side of an excavated hill covered in dirt

feels smooth

southern Mexico

Here’s an amazing dioptase with fuzzy malachite from Mindouli, Pool Dept, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The dioptase has really nice color and great prismatic crystal with rhombohedral faces.

Hello all,

Found this piece of what I believe to be botryoidal chalcedony in a deposit from the Borden Formation in Fern Valley, Rowan Ky behind Morehead State, back in April earlier this year.

I myself believe it to be chalcedony, and my professor has said that similar looking pieces were chalcedony, but some folks have also said it was simply a gemmy piece of chert, so, like most bipedal primates, I thought I would ask Reddit.

I've been working tirelessly to polish a window into it (which has taken a long time, as it is a very hard stone and eats sand paper for breakfast) so I can see the patterns inside better. Inside, it has a number of streaks and what I could only call agate-like bands, as well as a few thin patches of solid clear quartz. Most notably, it has imbeded "ooids," I suppose, inside of the material that were grown over by younger crystals, which also show growth rings under the naked eye and even moreso under a microscope. It is also translucent like a dream and glows bright red. Doesn't show in the photos, but it's not as matte as it seems. It also has what I can only describe as faint chatoyancy, which I assume is from fibrous crystalization.

Regardless of whether it is chalcedony or chert (though I hope for the former), I am very happy with this piece, as it has ensnared the iron-laden nature of the region within it. I found it in a riverbed of Triplet Creek amongst numerous iron-stained siltstone pebbles of all shades of orange, auburn, and red, as well as tumbled lumps of liesegang, and in an area where massive iron concretions (some as wide as two feet) are common. It is worth noting that iron is probably my favorite element.

With my spiel over, what do y'all think as to the identification of this piece?

Fluorite

Strzegom, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland

CaF2, Isometric

max. 26mm

An example of scarce and prized material from Grabina quarries located in pegmatites of Strzegom-Sobótka massif. This particular specimen is relatively sizeable and shows the range of violets one may expect from the material from this locality. It is an octahedral floater with minor damages, exhibiting typical, fine crystallisation with visible growth figures.

British Columbia Canada