Gemstones of Poland

A precious lady from a group in Poland wrote probably a week
ago, and asked if anyone knew of gemstones that were indiginous
to Poland. No one answered that I know of. The only gemstone I
came across in my reading, was Amber. It does have alot of value
placed on it, and you can get it directly from the mines in
Poland. If anyone can give her more ideas, I’d love the
assistance. God Bless, Donna

I attended the Quartzite Pow Wow last week and one of the
dealers was selling zincite from Poland. Zincite is apparently an
unintentionally man-made substance- the crystals form in the
chimneys of the furnaces used to smelt the zinc.

Lee

Hi,

I am looking through some of my literature as well - I seem to
recall there is some specimen material from Poland that they cut
collector stones out of but not much more than that and amber.
There is some Nephrite in Poland as well - a white color rather
than green but not in commercial quanities.I know they mine coal
there as well so there may be some derivative material from that
source. If you will pardon the pun - I will keep digging.

Cameron Speedie
Island Gem and Rock

Regarding the Poland gems, I recently read (can’t recall where)
that there had been a deposit of chrysoprase in Poland.

Pam Chott

Hi,

Sorry for the delay - here is what I was able to find re:
gemstones of Poland. Besides the previously mentioned Amber and
nephrite there is:

Zincite - See Feb.Lapidary Journal pg. 10 - sort of a synthetic

  • it forms in the smokestacks of zink smelters

Jet - soft - great for beads or carving

Barite - From Grube Machow, Tarnobrzeg - very soft - you are not
likely to find this except as a collector’s stone.

Anhydrite - Wieliczka - again a very soft stone - more for the
mineral buffs.

Uvarovite - Type of green garnet - very rare in gem quality

It is not a very promising list if you are looking to work with
these materials. There may be localized deposits of other
materials too small to show up in the books - best to contact a
rock buff in Poland - perhaps a school of geology, to find out
any other materials of interest. There is an ad for Emeralds from
Afghanistan in the LJ - pg. 5 - based out of Poland -
www.ic-emerald.com.pl - ic-01@ic-emerald.com.pl - they might
know of some Polish materials.

Thanks,
Cameron Speedie
Island Gem and Rock