And one more close-up

Here's a close-up viewIt does not fizz when HCl is applied, so it is not calcite.

Here's a question for the group about the colors of siderite. This is a piece from Tsumeb labeled as siderite, and the tan color of the overall piece is certainly a match, as is the discoidal hexagonal crystal shape. The puzzling thing is that in the few areas where there are broken crystals, the ...

Ralph, I understand your question and reasoning behind it. The small glassy white prisms are quartz. The cream colored blades (not rhombohedra) are the typical appearance of paradamite from Tsumeb, and none were sacrificed for XRD testing. The bright yellow rounded aggregate of fine platy crystals ...

Yes, just paradamite, with a few little quartz crystals. No need to be sorry, as it is a terrific paradamite. I would recommend deleting the picture and its description, given that most of it is incorrect. I will upload my own picture and description after this photo is deleted.

I now own this specimen. I had XRD and Raman testing done, demonstrating that the bright yellow crystals are paradamite rather than queitite. Please see below attached:Sample 02 – adamiteXRDThe main mineral phase is paradamite, with anorthic structure, space group: P-1. The highest score shows a ...

OK, I have changed the MinID

This photo has a “user gallery only” designation, but it is not clear why or what I should do to clarify. Can somebody help with this? Thanks. 

This photo has a “user gallery only” designation, but it is not clear why or what I should do to clarify. Can somebody help with this? Thanks. 

This photo has a “user gallery only” designation, but it is not clear why or what I should do to clarify. Can somebody help with this? Thanks. 

This photo has a “user gallery only” designation, but it is not clear why or what I should do to clarify. Can somebody help with this? Thanks. 

Got it, Jose. Title now is "Beryl, ver. Emerald, lab-grown." But when people, want to look at samples of beryl, it won't come up, will it? It might actually be useful if it came up under "emerald," for example if someone was offered a similar piece, but was not informed by the seller that it was ...

It currently has "No title" as its listing on Mindat. Is there some way to title it "Beryl, synthetic," instead?

Many thanks to the reviewers for their hard work.Neal

Is there something I can help with to get this photo approved?

Is there something I can help with to get this photo approved?

Is there something I can help with to get this photo approved?

OK, got it. Thx Jolyon.

I have a "Chatham Emerald" that I would like to post in my photo gallery, but because it is man-made, there is no "locality'" so I can't complete the download process. Is there a way to enter man-made crystals? I know that they are not natural, and therefore not mineral specimens per se, but they ...

This piece previously belonged to Piroska Magyar, and I think the locality attribution is reliable

If it was found near a hospital, could it be a kidney stone, or a gallstone?

I bought this specimen from Dan Weinrich many years ago. I had Raman spectroscopy done, which demonstrated it to be siderite, and clearly not from Tsumeb either. Labels must have gotten mixed up at some point long ago. Please delete it

OK, will update

I listed the quarry name because when I bought the specimen in Tucson, the dealer, Pawar Exports, was from India, and her provided me with a label for the specimen that stated the locality as above.

I'm not sure why this photo has not been approved. It is not an exotic mineral, though the fan-shaped configuration of crystals is perhaps unusual. The underside has the typical diamond-shaped cross section of heulandite

Attention, admin:This is another photo of GQ5-6PL

Here is the "before" picture for comparison. Yes the natural integrity of the piece was lost, and if it was a rare specimen that was needed for scientific study I would not have corrupted it, but as a collector piece I'm happy with the result.

Seven years later, I have a postscript. I immersed it in HCl, leaving a penny-bright copper specimen. I then immersed it in hydrogen peroxide for a few hours, leaving it with a pleasant patina.

I hope someone can explain this one to me, as I have never seen anything like it. It is a crystal of apatite from the Tormiq Valley, 9cm long. A sharp hexagonal prism, it has a distinct and pronounced helical twist along the c-axis. The prism faces are sharp, and smoothly curved, like a quartz ...

Thanks, I have added the photo to the listing on Mindat.

Specimens from this locality, La Morita Mine, Sierra Mojina District, Chihuahua, Mexico have been available from several dealers since last winter, but the locality has not yet been added to the Mindat database. Please add. Minerals are wulfenite, mimetite, barite, and quartz.Thanks

There is dioptase on the specimen, but I could not add it as Mindat does not have Dioptase as a species reported from M'fouati

Thanks for the information, and for the photo.

This is a rock question rather than a mineral question, but hopefully there will be someone on Mindat who can answer it. I just saw the new movie "The Martian." No big spoiler here, Matt Damon's character gets stranded on Mars, and there are many panoramic views of rock formations. At one point we ...

My collection is all euhedral crystal specimens, except for one shelf, which is a collection of polished eggs, all 30mm x 40mm. They are mainly of minerals and rocks that are generally not well-crystallized, but when polished have aesthetic appeal, such as labradorite, banded fluorite, rutilated ...

It looks like it might a penetration twin crystal.

Would meta-auntunite and metatorbernite fall in this category?

His contributions to our community cannot be overstated. He also was a wonderful man, a real gentleman.

I had no problem running mine on an old iMac.

I will change the locality to only Pakistan, but I will ask the dealer for more information. He doesn't strike me as being unreliable. Neal

Number 4, the green tourmaline, looks to be way too large a crystal to be from Stak Nala. It could be from Brazil, though a generic green tourmaline like this one could also be from Afghanistan of Africa.

Thanks, Steve. Here's another Duftite from Tsumeb, in this case as an epimorph or pseudomorph of wulfenite. There are some rhombohedra of calcite on the bottom as well. 10 x 6.5 cm

Calcite with duftite preferentially deposited on the rhombohedral faces of the calcite crystals. Tsumeb mine, Tsumeb, Namibia. 9.5 x 7.5 cm

Topaz, from the Tribute Pocket, Agnus Dei Claim, El Paso County, Colorado. This etched crystal fragment is interesting in that the faces of the prism are frosted, while the rehealed etched faces roughly parallel to the cleavage plane are glassy and lustrous. There is some color zoning, with the ...

Could it be Cruzeiro? Looks much more typical of that mine.

This siderite after calcite is from the Gheturi Mine, Turt, Romania. 11cm in height. There's an interesting band of tan coloration amid the reddish-brown crystals, perhaps calcite or dolomite?

I hope this is cranky enough. ;-) An old beryl crystal form Russia. 9.5cm in height

Here's a piece i've had for about 7 years, but had trouble taking a good photo of it. I finally figured out what to do with the lighting to bring out the fan-like arrangement of the crystals. It is my favorite photo of the day. Hemimorphite from the Ojuela Mine, Mapimi, Durango, Mexico. 6cm wide

Jolyon, I haven't bought a rock on eBay in a long time. I don't even browse on eBay, but this dealer for some reason has postings on facebook that I see from time to time, and I just marvel at the fact that he has the nerve to falsify his offerings so blatantly. He can do whatever he wants to, but ...

This thread has digressed away from the point that I was making when I first started the posting, that certain sellers on eBay are not accidentally distorting the color of their pieces. Thery are deliberately manipulating the color to make the piece more attractive. I have taken two more pictures ...