Hi everyone,

Brand new here! Have always been interested in mineralogy, but just recently started trying to identify the things I have found and learn more about them! Hopefully this forum will help with the process!

I have found some awesome amazonite and a few smokies (nothing too special... yet) but was wondering if anyone could help identify these. I am thinking it is just a nice hunk of quartz. There are some chards in the following photos from the same area. The large crystal has a bit of champagne color to it, as well as the longer chard pictured (I know, hard to see that color). My companion from this outing also found a larger chard that is completely champagne- I will try to get some photos of that up here. Also pictured is some very pale microcline and a chunk of (??) with some nice crystals on both sides. All of these have been soaking in Iron out for around 24 hours, but I think I'm going to give the larger specimen an oxalic acid bath to try to remove some of the staining..

Thoughts?

Thanks for all of your help!

D

After a little investigation, I took the specific gravity of the large crystal and a sample piece of the clear chard based on this awesome guide: http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbn...fic_gravity.htm

Looks like the SG of the larger crystal was 2.6526... Quartz.

However, the SG of one of the sample chards was 4.4! Topaz! (I think!)

They were found in very close proximity to each other in the Pikes Peak Batholith.

Input appreciated!

Welcome D and thank you for posting up pics of those beautiful specimens!
Your Topaz finds have excellent clarity judging by the pics. I really like the large combo too! Regarding cleaning tips, we have a good topic which Denise started a while back for this. It has helped me a lot: Specimen Cleaning
The larger combo might benefit from a toothbrush, and/or textile gun wash.

great looking pieces! Way to work towards identifying them!

THe middle one looks like some light amazonite (feldspar)

Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forum!

Topaz or phenakite?

Welcome to the forums D!

The specific gravity reading of 4.4 is very heavy and significantly higher than topaz(3.49). I recommend re-testing the piece to be sure. The smaller specimens are tougher to get a accurate reading. The only mineral that comes to mind in the 4.4 range is barite.

The black mineral coating on the last 2 pieces is likely a coating of goethite or hematite.

Hope this helps!