Does anyone have an idea what this rock might be?

C

Cathieg

New Member
I have a rock / nugget that I need your help in identifying.

I bought a few rocks from a woman who inherited a huge rock collection from her father and grandfather who had been collecting for years. She had hundreds of rocks sprawled across her backyard and justed wanted to get rid of them as they were getting in the way of the kids play area. She had no interest in them and had no paperwork or history on them.
I cleaned this one up and it turned out to be a beautiful piece but I have no idea what it is. It wasn't tarnished - I just brushed off most of the grit, got a cloth and polished it and it came up like this.

Please go to this site to check it out. It has a strange formation from some sort of heat. Notice the layers. Do you think this is natural or has someone done something to make this look volcanic.
It weighs about 590grams, 8cm long x 6cm wide. It's not magnetic.
Have I got something precious or not? Is this worth getting tested and where do I get this done without costing an arm or a leg. I live in Sydney Australia. I could outlay heaps of money only to find it is worthless or it could be as good as gold.
Appreciate your help.
http://cathiegrima.wix.com/whatisthisrock
 
It's not gold. :(

You could contact Steve at aurora et luna (he's a member here), he may have an XRF machine I think. Or know of someone with one.
 
To be totally "anal" it's maracsite (pronounced 'Mark-a-syte').

It's chemically exactly the same as pyrite (FeS2), but it's crystal structure is different.

Where Pyrite can be identified by it's pefectly cubic cleavage...

179_pyrite_xls.jpg
179_pyrite1.jpg


Marcasite doesn't quite get to 90Deg cleavage and leads to the tetraheadral and tradepzoidal crystals (not cubic) as seen in your pic. ;)

179_marcasite.jpg
 
Clawhammer said:
To be totally "anal" it's maracsite (pronounced 'Mark-a-syte').
Click to expand...

Analhammer? :P

So there is a scientific reason to study cleavage, thanks claw, I'm going to tell the missus.
 
Eureka Moments said:
Clawhammer said:
To be totally "anal" it's maracsite (pronounced 'Mark-a-syte').
Click to expand...

To be totally "anal" it's marcasite (pronounced 'Mark-a-syte').
Click to expand...


Thats what my wife says to others if I have had too many Beers.

:D Marks-A-Sight :lol:

Cheers Markcoinoz
 
Hit it with a hammer, pyrite will shatter like glass
Or you can scrape it with your pocketknife, if it's gold, it will scratch, if it's pyrite, it will flake off
 
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