Blue onyx
Misleading synonym for blue-colored (aqua) calcite from Argentina. This stone has nothing to do with true onyx (a black and white agate). Possibly the name…
Category: Gem or Scam? Library
Blue obsidian
Misleading commercial name for man-made, blue-colored glass. Sometimes with swirly “inclusions” but mostly crystal clear in various shades of blue. Sometimes clearly identifiable as glass…
Coquina jasper
Commercial name for a yellowish-brown to brownish-red sedimentary rock from the Indian Himalayas with light brown lines and arches. The curved lines are transverse sections…
Crimson Cuprite™
Commercial unregistered name for a combination of chrysocolla and cuprite from Mexico. Do you have a nice example of this stone and would like to…
Coromandel Stonewood™
Commercial unregistered name for petrified wood from the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand. Again, a fantasy name introduced by Robert Simmons (Heaven & Earth). Do you…
Cerasite (of Kikuchi)
Name for an unusual mineralogical phenomenon. This is a fusion of indialite and cordierite with a so-called trapiche habit (wagon wheel pattern). Usually largely or…
Dali jasper
Misleading commercial name for a red and white banded calcite. It contains no jasper or quartz at all. Inclusions of probably iron in the various…
Crack crystal / crackle quartz / cracked quartz
Commercial fancy name for quartz (or sometimes glass) with a variety of internal fractures/bursts in various colors (pink/yellow/orange), usually as polished tumble stones or polished…
Blue tiger’s eye
Commercial name for still unoxidized crocidolite with quartz, thus the precursor of tiger’s eye. The blue color is caused by 2-valent iron ions (Fe2+) compared…
Dalmatian jasper / stone
Commercial name for a light-colored, mottled stone reminiscent in appearance of the fur of a Dalmatian dog. Although the stone is often called Dalmatian jasper,…
