Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:06 pm Posts: 2267 Location: Chapel Hill, NC / Toronto, ON
Hey folks! A friend of mine has a piece of some weird stuff and it's not really consistent with anything I'm familiar with. It was sold to him as yellow beryl...but very obviously is not. Yellow-gold crystal with no identifiable crystal habit.
RI = 1.75 SG = 3.4 Hardness = between 8 and 9, by destructive scratch test
My first thought was idocrase, but the RI would be on the high end and it's too hard for that. He's got a polariscope somewhere and a few other tools that he's digging out. Thoughts?
Between the RI, SG and hardness I can't think what else it could be. That hardness is very restrictive. I don't think yellow chrysoberyl is very pleochroic. The polariscope can give deceptive results with rough, between the angled faces and (potentially) internal fractures repolarizing light.
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