Chlorastrolite and Large Michigan Greenstones

Michigan Greenstones or Chlorastrolite can be found in the old Delaware mine and sometime very large Chlorastrolites and these are extremely rare. Three to five hundred carat stones have been found there, considering the average size is about 1 carat for most Greenstones or Chlorastrolite that are found in this area around the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Personally, I have only found a handful of these beautiful gems stones of this larger size. The reason why is most of them have ended up broken up due to the process of breaking the basalt rock that carries the greenstone in this matrix.

The larger gem quality stones are the most beautiful of all the stones and if you are lucky enough to find copper inclusions in these Greenstones they are worth five times or more per carat weight. Greenstones are priced between 50 to 200 dollars a carat, so a Greenstone or Chlorastrolite with these inclusions can be worth up to 1000 dollars a carat.

When looking for larger greenstones all you have to really do is find the small one. The reason being that with the small greenstones on that rare occasion is really very large greenstones in the matrix once you open it. You will have to go through thousands of rocks of basalts to find even the small stones. If for some reason you find some Greenstone and break them out of the rock and if you would like, I can polish them for a very reasonable price. I also will give you the stone that you found. I have been cutting greenstones for 10 years and black opals for 20 years. Black opals gave me the experience to cut chlorastrolte because they are very similar.

If you find a large greenstone send it out to be cut up, because this is the only way to really see the beauty of this stone is once it is polished up. Good luck hunting the large greenstones that the Delaware mine can and will give up. Rock hunting is one of the last God given rights that we still have in are lives, so be safe and courteous.

Connecticut Gems (Part 2)

As I was talking about in part one there are some really nice aquamarines in Middletown Connecticut. Although they are usually light in color, in small pockets, they can be found in the size of a large fist. There are a lot of areas that look like there would be tons of beryls but they just don't show up. You have to look real hard to find them, if it wasn’t hard enough the light colors make it even harder to find them. If you do find some don't forget to look for elbaite crystals (one out of 20 areas may have them). Finding these gems anywhere is very rewarding. Connecticut has many articles on areas to find aquamarines but most of the mines are lost or closed down so finding areas with them are priceless.

Unfortunately there are very few large vug but no matter how little they are, it’s always worth looking for. Once again, there are vugs in this area. Sometimes there are a lot of theses beryls in a given area, so if you find one you many find many more. There is nothing like the color of aquamarine, like someone has frozen water in your hands and nothing brings this out like a raw crystal from the ground. So whether it’s a gem or just a crystal it’s well worth keeping as a specimen. It is much harder to find any type of gem material from this area so if you find some large gem material consider it priceless. So look hard and never give up on your hunts. There are gems to be found in the great state of Connecticut.

See: Connecticut Gems (Part 1)

Connecticut Gems (Part 1)

Living in Michigan has caused much change in my life for the better and the worst. Being that construction has been slow and I had an opportunity and received a job referral from my friend Bill to go to Westbrook Connecticut to work with a gentleman named Crag. Crag who has a wonderful wife whose home cooking was great with two students in college.

Before going to Connecticut I had spent years researching the gems in Connecticut with the hope that one day I could go there to hunt these gems. The state of Connecticut has a lot to offer, and man does this state really have some great gems stones to be discovered there.

The trip is about 12 to 13 hours from Michigan going through New York, crossing the Hudson River, to finally end up in the great state of Connecticut. On my way do some tile work there in Westbrook. My first night I spent the night in Middletown. When I woke up in the morning it was kind of cool outside being it was fall when I made this trip.

After I found some coffee and I was ready to go find some Connecticut gems. Good luck. If you know anything about gem hunting is that it takes as much skill as it does luck. I was looking for beryls and maybe I would also find an elbaite crystal (tourmaline) as well. I looked for hours, nothing. Eight hours had past from road cuts, to bad directions, to just taking chances.

Then I found some nice rock near the Connecticut River. I followed some quartz rocks to an old mine that had some very large blue beryl (aquamarine). After searching until dusk then I found a large boulder of Amazon stone at about 300 pounds. So I broke it in half. In my surprise there was a large blue green tourmaline crystal (three quarter of an inch by about 3 inches) surrounded by smaller ones and a one inch by one inch Aquamarine crystal in the same matrix. This is probably the nicest gem in matrix that I have ever found. (To be Continued)

See: Connecticut Gems (Part 2)