Rock Foolers and Other Thoughts.

Some stones confuse or surprise rockhounds by looking different from the norm. For April Fool’s, let’s take a look at some of these Rock Foolers!

Sodalite Granite pendant by Snob Appeal Jewelry — Fluorescent Sodalite Granite Pendant from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This stone has many names, Filrefly Granite (my own name), or YooperStones, found by Johnny Gladstone. It is a fine grain granite found on the shores or near Lake Superior
when hunted with UV lights at night. It is typical granite in the daylight, but….

Fluorescent Sodalite Granite Pendant under UV light — but under UV lighting, this granite sports amazing bright yellows and oranges.

If you have ever attended the Tuscon Gem Shows you know how massive they are. 50 some shows with hundreds of dealers at each. Anyone experienced at Tucson knows that many times the same stones are sold by different dealers, but have different names. This is done for marketing purposes and fools many unwary buyers. Blue Pectolite, for example is sold as Larimar. A picture jasper might be sold under three different names even though it is the same thing.

Cold Mountain Thunderegg is surprisingly like Butterfly Jasper

Sometimes these deceptions are intentional, but sometimes a dealer might not know or remember what it is, and randomly gives it a name. You can be fooled at the shows! I have also benefited from dealers not knowing what they have. One time in a major dealer show in Tucson, I purchased an amazing Black & Red Kentucky Agate because a facetted gen dealer did not know what she had.

In my own barn I have come across material that has fooled me into thinking it was something else. In this blog I show you a few surprising variations, that might fool us into thinking it is something other than what it really is!

In my business, I won’t sell something that I’m not sure what it is. Sometimes it takes a lot of research to discover the identity of a stone.

I know that turquoise is somewhere in the turquoise range. Sometimes people say they have white turquoise, but there is no such thing. There is white buffalo which is sometimes sold as Turquoise.

Petrified Wood from Holbrook, AZ, just outside the Petrified National Park. Here it is dressed in rainbow colors with no indication of the normal patterns associated with Petrified Wood.

Another fooler is Picture Petrified Wood from Holbrook AZ.

Rhodochrosite Pendant by Snob Appeal Jewelry — The common Rhodochrosite is basically pink, or even brown. Rhodochrosite color varies from brown to brightr pink. This piece has yellow bands alternating with pink Rhodochrosite.

Crushed Pattern Petoskey Stone by Snob Appeal Jewelry — Michigan’s State Stone is the Petoskey stone. Ocassionally we find Petoskey Stones that are very unusual and might not be readily identified as our statre stone. This stone has a crushed pattern with unusual blue mottling….