Brand New Rare Specimens! | Calcite, Aragonite, Scheelite and More!
Brand New Rare Specimens! | Calcite, Aragonite, Scheelite + More!
Join Rob in this week's gemstone unboxing as we reveal some of our brand-new rare specimens! Rob will take us through these unique gemstones' fun facts and in-depth history.
The first two boxes both hold precious raspberry-like blue aragonite but have different optical traits. While one of the specimens has more of a shiny and polished glow, the other aragonite has a matte look. Aragonite is a polymorph of calcite which we'll also be unboxing shortly. Aragonite's name is derived from the origin of Molina de Aragon, Spain, where it was first discovered but can also be found in Afghanistan mines. There are only a handful of aragonite mines, but there are fun tourist mines too!
Next, Rob unboxes an increasingly popular and exciting purple fluorite specimen from a Chinese mine. Fluorite comes in every rainbow color and can also be found colorless. It ranks four on the Mohs hardness scale, making it a fragile gem for jewelry wearing.
Then we'll be unboxing dioptase on shattuckite. This dioptase was discovered in a prominent copper mine in Arizona and is known to form in copper mines as a secondary mineral deposit generally. Dioptase ranks five on the Mohs hardness scale and can closely represent emerald-like green!
We'll now be unboxing both a rough scheelite specimen and a large faceted scheelite weighing in at 91.5 carats! It was named after a Swedish Chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheel, who discovered scheelite and the chemical element oxygen.
Next is February's beautiful and popular purple birthstone, amethyst. Amethyst has good toughness while ranking seven on the Mohs hardness scale; its purple color comes from iron.
Rob has another fluorite specimen, but it is attatched to sphalerite this time. Sphalerite is even more dispersive than diamond!
Lastly, we have translucent dog-toothed calcite, named after the optical crystal habit. If aragonite is heated at 300 degrees Celcius for a few days, it turns into calcite! There are actually over 800 different calcite crystal habits.
