Larimar

At one of Wayne County Gem and Mineral Club’s  December workshops (and we had two!), Robert Webster arrived with some beautiful larimar to cut, grind and polish.  After his successful work he posted pictures of several of his creations to our club’s Facebook Group page.

Raw, cut larimar (left) and some polished pieces.  All prepped at the WCGMC workshop in December. Specimen and photos by Robert Webster, extracted from his post to the Wayne County Gem and Mineral Club  Facebook group site.
Raw, cut larimar (left) and some polished pieces. All prepped at the WCGMC workshop in December. Specimen and photos by Robert Webster, extracted from his post to the Wayne County Gem and Mineral Club Facebook group site.

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Classifying Geologists and Rockhounds

Column written for the WCGMC Newsletter, January 2017

Everyone likes to classify things: by shape, by color, by cost, by size.  You name something to sort by, and someone is busy classifying with it.  So, it should be no surprise that geologists get classified.  And perhaps the first way they get labeled is as either a soft rock geologist or a hard rock geologist.  No, it has nothing to do with the character of their head (although some might disagree) and it has nothing to do with their taste in music.  Rather it relates to the type of rocks they study.

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The Fleischerite Group of Minerals

Despujolsite, Mallestigite, Schaurteite, Genplesite:  OK, if you are honest with yourself you will admit you have never heard of these minerals.  I hadn’t.  And therefore you would not know that they are all hexagonal sulfates within the Fleischerite Group of minerals.  But naturally there is even more about them you do not yet know but should!

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