Help with some stone identifications? And polishing questions?

HallowedNight

I recently purchased an absolutely gorgeous lot of raw Indian stones and crystals, and I have a few that I've been stumped on when it comes to identification. The lot came with a list of possible stones and from that I've been able to identify all the rest of them, but these four don't seem to fit! Any help would be greatly appreciated~

The first is a reddish/purplish stone with a vaguely crystalline structure. The back is a silvery grey color with what looks like streaks of pyrite or some other shiny silver/gold mineral. The only stones on the list that it might be are amethyst (which I doubt because of the reddish color), red carnelian (which I also doubt because of the shine), and garnet. http://imgur.com/xg7Otow

The second is an off-white stone that I thought might be king quartz at first, but it doesn't seem to be white enough. (I got another chunk of king quartz in the lot and this stone is definitely more yellow compared to the king quartz.) It's fairly rough and opaque. http://imgur.com/t6HNUCT

The third and fourth I'm guessing are some sort of jasper. One is a tan color with tiny reddish flecks and splatters of green, and has many smooth facets. http://imgur.com/0PKZljJ The other is a dull greenish tan color with faint bands of coral pink, and is quite rough. http://imgur.com/0PKZljJ There were lots of different types of jasper in the lot, so that's really the only thing I can think of that would match these, but I could be wrong!

In addition, several of the stones I got look beautiful wet, and I would love to keep that property intact when I display them. I don't, however, want to display them in water. I know I've read somewhere about spraying or painting stones with acrylic or something along those lines to retain the shine; has anyone heard of something like that or done it themselves? Or found other ways to keep the polished look without tumbling?

Thanks so much to anyone who can help!
 

TRIANGLE

First off - I am no expert at all! But I thought I'd say, in case it's helpful - the second stone looks like some rough pieces of calcite that I have in texture, and it comes in many colours, including yellowy white. Just a thought though :)
 

JuniperPress

First one looks like a garnet and the second one I agree is probably calcite - not really sure on the third one
 

BodhiSeed

My guesses would be garnet, calcite and ocean jasper. :)
 

HallowedNight

First off - I am no expert at all! But I thought I'd say, in case it's helpful - the second stone looks like some rough pieces of calcite that I have in texture, and it comes in many colours, including yellowy white. Just a thought though :)

First one looks like a garnet and the second one I agree is probably calcite - not really sure on the third one

Thank you guys so much! Now that I look, that white one does look and feel a lot like calcite. Calcite wasn't in the list, so that was throwing me off, but it does fit the best! And I figured the reddish one was garnet, but it's great to have some second opinions!

My guesses would be garnet, calcite and ocean jasper. :)

Thank you thank you! You actually identified another piece of jasper for me that I had been having trouble placing as well. :p I had lumped it in with my leopard jasper, but it definitely looks more like ocean jasper to me; it has larger spots with more rings in them.

Thank all of you again! It's great to finally have a name to put with these guys. :p
 

Padma

I recently purchased an absolutely gorgeous lot of raw Indian stones and crystals, and I have a few that I've been stumped on when it comes to identification. The lot came with a list of possible stones and from that I've been able to identify all the rest of them, but these four don't seem to fit! Any help would be greatly appreciated~

The first is a reddish/purplish stone with a vaguely crystalline structure. The back is a silvery grey color with what looks like streaks of pyrite or some other shiny silver/gold mineral. The only stones on the list that it might be are amethyst (which I doubt because of the reddish color), red carnelian (which I also doubt because of the shine), and garnet. http://imgur.com/xg7Otow

The second is an off-white stone that I thought might be king quartz at first, but it doesn't seem to be white enough. (I got another chunk of king quartz in the lot and this stone is definitely more yellow compared to the king quartz.) It's fairly rough and opaque. http://imgur.com/t6HNUCT

The third and fourth I'm guessing are some sort of jasper. One is a tan color with tiny reddish flecks and splatters of green, and has many smooth facets. http://imgur.com/0PKZljJ The other is a dull greenish tan color with faint bands of coral pink, and is quite rough. http://imgur.com/0PKZljJ There were lots of different types of jasper in the lot, so that's really the only thing I can think of that would match these, but I could be wrong!

In addition, several of the stones I got look beautiful wet, and I would love to keep that property intact when I display them. I don't, however, want to display them in water. I know I've read somewhere about spraying or painting stones with acrylic or something along those lines to retain the shine; has anyone heard of something like that or done it themselves? Or found other ways to keep the polished look without tumbling?

Thanks so much to anyone who can help!

Your second stone looks like quartzite to me...I have some, looks just like that.

In regard to keeping your stones "wet" looking, just rub them with a bit of olive oil every few weeks. Won't hurt the crystals, and will keep the wet look. :)
 

linnie

Pretty much what they said :) (Hello Padma, hello BodhiSeed :) :heart:)

The first looks very like garnet, and the silvery speckles are probably from Mica schist, the matrix/bedrock that the garnet was bedded into.

The second one,yes, possibly a pale lemon calcite... Is it 'waxy' to feel? Otherwise, it could possibly be a piece of Heulandite, from the inside of a larger piece and not showing the plate-like scales... ??

The colouring of the third would match ocean jasper, for sure... a very cool stone... :)
 

BodhiSeed

Pops in for a quick hug for Linnie. :heart: :)
 

readings.by.mia

I can't help with last two because I have no idea, but I don't think the first one is a garnet because the cristalization doesn't match a garnet's. I think it could be spinel.

The second one looks like a very low quality pink quartz, I own one very similar :)
 

HallowedNight

(Wow, I haven't been on Aeclectic in ages... Why does life do this? The world may never know- Anyway-)

Thank you so much guys! :^D I think I've got all the identifications down, and I'm planning on trying some different methods of polishing in the near future. Maybe I'll post the results here!