i know this isnt a gemstone but he folks here seem to have a lot of knowledge pertaining to all sorts of related natural elements, minerals and metals. so i was just curious about this piece of obsidian because it seems to have very rare properties. first of all its packed with The inclusion of small, white, radially clustered crystals spherulites of the mineral cristobalite, giving it the snowflake appearance on one side. secondly its translucent even though it appears dark green almost black when viewed indoors with no light behind it. but its filled with those inclusions mentioned, so when viewed with light behind it, the inclusions reflect and create the most incredible aqua blue that it almost looks fake.finally, its very heavy, as it weight 27lbs. is there any value to a huge piece of natural obsidian like this?
It has great color. It should make really pretty Indian arrowhead-points. This guy does it: Flint Knapping, Arrowheads and Obsidian knives by Obsidian Arts
I canât speak with authority, but as someone who loves unique pieces and who frequents sites where natural stone is sold, I can tell you Iâd certainly find interest in buying a piece like this one, so I would imagine someone else would as well. Personally, I think itâd be a sin to carve it up into arrowheads, as the large / overall impression and color is stunning. Iâd prefer to see it turned into something nearer its current size / shape (maybe to an artist for sculpture?), to maintain what makes it so beautiful. I do hope someone can provide a more solid answer on value for you, but from a tangible buyerâs standpoint I would think it has resale value. Honestly, it looks like frozen water. Just gorgeous.
What a waste to carve it into a skull, cult-art, spiritual-meanings, whatever (IMHO). On the other-hand this guy does awesome work with flint-knapping. If it were me and there was more than one piece, then I would be talking to him. Obsidian Knife Gallery by Obsidian Arts I have some of his obsidian knives and Iâve given them to people for Christmas. People hunt with his points too.
What you have, I do not believe to be obsidian. I would offer that you have a large piece of slag glass. Slag glass fractures like obsidian, and therefore you might want to classify it as such. Another clue is the tiny bubbles that I see in the one close-up. Obsidian does not have bubbles within. So was the area you found this specimen volcanic at one time or the other? Slag glass is typically found in areas where there was mining and smelting of some sort.
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Wasnât trying to be offensive, Woodrow. My comment was purely based on the size of arrowheads vs. something larger that would allow the color to be displayed. Your sarcasm and reference to cults or spirituality was uncalled for. I actually agree with you that knives would be a nice possible use for a colored obsidian (if thatâs what this is).
I beg your pardon, Songbird, but I put âcarved obsidianâ in my google search engine to see what you were talking about, and most of the images that showed up were cult-art. I guess that isnât what you meant (I hope not). On the other hand I do like Tonyâs work. Have a great day.
It is beautiful. I agree that itâs size adds to the beauty. BTW â love your sink with all your goregous rocks around it.
i dont want to sound like a jerk, but your knowledge of obsidian is very much limited. i find it kinda amusing when people comment about something they know nothing about, as if they are an authority in the subject. whats more, these persons usually never gain any knowledge in the subject at hand, because their pride will stop them from doing some research on the topic based on the reply from the poster, to their erroneous comment. but i will attach a screenshot, if you would like to gain some accurate knowledge , where yours is lacking, you can check it out because its a screenshot explaining, from the gem societies page on obsidian, where it CLEARLY STATES, THAT OBSIDIAN CAN INDEED HAVE GAS BUBBLES, THIS IS WHAT GIVES IT THE DIFFERENT COLORS, THE DARK GREEN, ALMOST BLACK, IN INDOOR LIGHT, AND THE VIBRANT BLUE YOU SEE IN THE IMAGE TAKEN IN NATURAL SUNLIGHT. WHEN THE LIGHT IS REFLECTING OFF THE GAS BUBBLES, THIS IS WHAT CREATES COLOR YOU SEE HERE. PLEASE, BEFORE YOU REPLY WITH MORE NONSENSE, I WOULD LIKE TO ASJK THAT YOU DO A LITTLE RESEARCH FIRST
Well, you certainly accomplished your goal.
Iâm kind of following this post out of curiosity, this material has a beautiful color and I thought Iâd throw in my 2cents.
After looking at the obsidian that I have I believe what we are looking at is rough Helenite from Mt St.Helen. I have set , sold and most of all broken or chipped more of this material than I want to think about . Iâve always loved the color but the problem is that it is very brittle.
Tough to ID something from a photo and with limited info . Tons of info on the internet about this , I have no idea of value but this is my take on this pretty blue - teal stone.
I would counter with these two points.
- obsidian colors are seen as translucent not transparent and 2) just because itâs on the internet, doesnât make it true. (Even from geologyPage)
Check out these sources:
Fake or Real Obsidian
Obsidian
Transparent/Translucent Obsidian:
A lot of gem-quality water-clear variously coloured âobsidianâ has been offered for sale on the internet (in particular on auction websites) with a variety of sources listed. The material offered for sale is, in fact, an artificial glass mass-produced in places such as Indonesia.
Maybe show a picture of clear aqua-blue obsidian with gas bubbles in it. I looked for it, and all the ones that I found were fake, like this example. No such thing as aqua obsidian according to this guy, and Iâm starting to think youâre a fraud. InVogueJewelry: Genuine Obsidian v. Fake Blue, Green, Aqua, Yellow, Red Glass "Obsidian"
How did you go from this:
to this?
Why did you come here and ask people, and then you shot the messenger when he gave you a fair answer? You have a pretty piece of glass, thatâs all. Youâre trying to sell it as something more than what it is. Youâre a con man along with your entourage of âadmirersâ that some out of their caves, or join to make one post just to talk it up. This really puts me off to the IGS-forum. Iâm about ready to leave it.
Garden stones. You can buy them at a landscape supply company for next to nothing.
Just to clear up some points raised in this thread:
- Natural obsidian can indeed have inclusions of bubbles. On the other hand, artisanal glass can also contain bubbles and is often sold either erroneously or deliberated as âobsidian.â
- Natural blue obsidian can occur. However, the material marketed as âaqua obsidianâ is most likely artificial glass. Transparency can occur in natural obsidian, but thatâs very rare. Beware of large quantities of âaqua obsidianâ marketed as natural.
Now everybody relax, please.
