I\’m new to the world of gemology.i hope gain knowledge of identifying rocks and minerals where I live in Montana. I\’ve started to make jewelry and would like to be certain about the identifying what kinds of rocks I use
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Knowledge comes with schooling and experience.
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I would suggest getting a book about Montana’s rocks and gemstones. I bought one years ago for Washington in it turned me into a rock hound. Not only does it have pictures of the types of rocks, but it has maps of where you can find certain deposits.
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Thank you. I haven’t been active due to technical issues… I do have a question for anyone I have a crystallized snail the eye seems to be a green gem when looked at 20x at first I thought someone had glued a small black dot on the piece. It wasn’t until I examined it closely that I realized it was possibly part of the whole crystallized fossil. Any ideas of how this happened or what I am looking at?
There are books on Amazon that are state specific. I bought Washington and Oregon Rocks and Minerals and Gem Trails of Washington and Rock Hounding in Washing, and I can’t tell you how often I’ve referred to those. They are my rock bibles In the back Rocks and Minerals, it has an alphabetized glossary of the rocks you can find, but then it also lists them by color. Each stone is accompanied by pictures and a map of where to locate them. I’m sure that there are similar books for Montana. I also know that Montana is well known for its fossil finds as it was once part of the inland sea. You could probably find some nice specimens in the shale deposits.
So, I would suggest going to Amazon or a local rock and crystal store and stocking up on books specific to Montana. You won’t be disappointed.