While touring some new galleries on the coast of Maine, I ran
across some gem material I had never seen before. As the
proprietor was unable to enlighten me, I thought maybe someone
out there might know. It looked like a very fine textured druze,
mostly charcoal grey, but with a rainbow-like luminescence. Any
ideas?
Sounds like Rainbow Hematite to me - was it fairly soft? I also
got an ad for Rainbow Pyrite Drusy yesterday. The picture looks
like what you describe.
Jan McClellan
sounds like irridescent hematite or pyrite druze. I’ve seen both
matterials look similar to what you’ve described. The hematite
tends to be grayish, with rainbow irridescnce.
later,
Arthur
It could be rainbow hemitite. I bought 7 pieces today. I love
the stuff and it is getting very scarce, at least here in
Baltimore, and the prices have risen dramatically. It is
wonderful set in jewelry though.
Iris in Baltimore
It was probably titanium coated druzy. A very thin layer of
titanium is deposited on the surface of the base material giving
the color to the material. I’m not sure of the process used to
make the deposition.
Dave
Probably vapor depositied from a plasma, with the Ti forming one
electrode in a vacuum. This is the way objects are coated with
gold or palladium for inspection in electron microscopes. Any
company or university with an electron microscope probably has a
gold-coater.
The Correspondent Formerly Known as Tas