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 Post subject: Erinite?!!
PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 10:45 pm 
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Location: wicklow Ireland
here is a strange one [url]

Who can tell me what this is?erinite has me stumped


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 10:58 pm 
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Hmm, google doesn't come up with much! i'd buy it just to test it if they weren't charging 5 bucks postage!!


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:30 am 
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If you won it for $2.99, the $4.99 postage added on would still be worth getting it and testing it to see what it really is. :wink:

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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:22 am 
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I'm bidding... the seller is about 5-10 miles from me. Should make potential returns pretty easy. ;)


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:44 pm 
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i found a little info on Erinite,seems it is named after Ireland (Erin).
ah sure t'is an irish stone!!
although this may be a misnomer as it was first found in cornwall,a synonym of cornwallite?Does this mean its the same as cornwallite,or a long lost irish cousin?!! :)

http://www.mindat.org/min-5132.html


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:37 pm 
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Hope than one really is a wonderful new gem rather than something else...

Eirinite that large, blue, and from South Africa begs some more reference. You'd think that a spectacular find would get some press.

Are you going to test it, Karim ?


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:45 pm 
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If I win it. ;)


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:31 pm 
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Ive found several references to Erinite on the net that match the chemical description provided by the auction. As pretty as this gem is it's hardness is only a 3 on the mohs scale. Not much good for anything other than looking.

Jason


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:42 pm 
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Interesting. On many places on the web, Erinite shows up as Swarovski crystals and not the real deal from Ireland.

http://www.amazon.com/Shizen-Erinite-Cr ... B000P9OO4E

I am going to take a guess that these stones are not the real deal.

The other Erinite from the seller has a photo that looks manipulated by photoshop. Coupled with the 1 feedback rating for the seller. All of this looks suspicious.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:59 pm 
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brimsjewelry wrote:
Ive found several references to Erinite on the net that match the chemical description provided by the auction.


Ben P wrote:
On many places on the web, Erinite shows up as Swarovski crystals and not the real deal from Ireland.



Hm... yeah. Found the same, of course.

It looks as if the obscure mineral name (eventually complete with references to its chemistry and the Mindat record) have been hijacked to represent all sorts of stuff. Granted, the description on eBay is the only one mentioning a 'new locality' and the only one with that piece of 'news' (or whatever, until further evidence turns up).

What does not appear anywhere else are notes about a find of facetable Eirinite in South Africa. Or any other note of large Eirinite crystals, let alone facetable material. Or any other note of larger crystalline material at all. If the wonderful mineral samples of brilliant green needle-like crystals or amorphous botroidal mass are all there is... those stones must be something else, or otherwise be better served by a visit to a lab or some alternative reputation-building move. :?

The auction pictures remind me of blue zircon... Perhaps even blue zircon on sale at another web shop a while back. :(


PS. If you didn't look on the Mindat record, some of the pictures are well worth the trouble, I would think. :P The one below came on top for me - the little balls look like the most perfect jade threaded through with fairy dust... or something of the like.

LINK TO PICTURE SOURCE
Image


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:54 am 
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The other Erinite from the seller has a photo that looks manipulated by photoshop. Coupled with the 1 feedback rating for the seller. All of this looks suspicious.


The other one looks like a Zircon to me. You can see the doubling in the larger picture.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:55 am 
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"Erinite" is the name of a green-blue type of Swarovski glass and of a greenish hue of flame-fusion synthetic spinel. It's also the name of a genuine mineral, Cornwallite aka Olivenite aka Erinite. I believe I've seem the name used for other green synthetic gems as well.

I agree with Val there's no apparent South African connection for the real mineral. Here's another image of the stuff that's quite interesting and an excellent example of what's meant by "botryoidal":

Image

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:01 pm 
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Ben P wrote:
Interesting. On many places on the web, Erinite shows up as Swarovski crystals and not the real deal from Ireland.

http://www.amazon.com/Shizen-Erinite-Cr ... B000P9OO4E

I am going to take a guess that these stones are not the real deal.

The other Erinite from the seller has a photo that looks manipulated by photoshop. Coupled with the 1 feedback rating for the seller. All of this looks suspicious.
Hey Ben- I bid a hot five bucks on the other Erinite. I think its going to be glass. With the $5 shipping charge I should have invested this money in a nice pizza. :-({|= I hope I lose.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:27 pm 
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Nicky, if you want I can outbid you and take both in one parcel... should reduce shipping... or eliminate it if the seller will let me pick them up.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:42 pm 
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gem-n00b wrote:
Nicky, if you want I can outbid you and take both in one parcel... should reduce shipping... or eliminate it if the seller will let me pick them up.
Hi Karim- Sounds good, go for it.

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