Most Beautiful Thing I Ever Found! Can you tell me what it is?

I found this in the spring in Lake Michigan. I have never found anything quite like it before. I have asked around and have gotten a few suggestions on what exactly it is made from. A couple people seem to think it is a kind of basalt with agate crystal filling in the pockets. A geology professor from Ohio State University based on the pictures, felt confident it was not natural, and most likely some kind of industrial slag. Now I find a ton of slag in Lake Michigan, but certainly nothing remotely looking like this with the orange and white crystals. I actually cut this one and made it into a sphere. The white crystal part seems to have a little subtle banding to it. But from my experience, it did not seem quite as hard as agate. So, I was hoping maybe someone here, might have an idea! Thanks for looking.

I have more photos of the rock here:
[spheremaker.com]

And pix of the sphere here:
[spheremaker.com]

Sorry, Jim, but I'd go with the professor. A very unusual slag, but the bubbles are the giveaway. Industrial things are loaded with bubbles, but natural forces and eons of time are not kind to bubbles. Pumice is not old volcanic rock, comparatively speaking. Vugs are another story...
I walk the beaches along Lake and Kenosha counties by me, I'm surprised how many things i only find one or two of, and i go for hours when i can. (On week days and cold days having half a mile of beach to myself is surprising, and exhilarating, let alone finding cool stuff...
The 'not quite as hard as agate seems telling, too. I'd expect that of slag. I had kept a few 'cool' slags, but they have made way for more natural finds in my limited space...Thanks for posting.

I would vote for a slag of some kind. Iv'e never seen any natural rock or mineral anything like it. Has anyone?

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Thanks for the replies. There are a couple things that make me want to believe it is not man-made. It did not have the traditional slag smell when cut. All the slag I cut has a stink to it when cut, this did not. Also, I attached another picture of the crystal looking part which has some banding from the white to the orange. The fractures in the crystal are very similar to other rocks I have cut and polished, but certainly never saw the orange color before. So, would the crystal part of the rock be a form of slag type glass do you think?

Attached pic is of the crystal part after cut and before polished. And also a second pic of the kind of slag I typically find in that area, which was South Haven, Mi.

Thanks again! I have some scrap pieces saved from cutting it. Are there any tests that can be done to find out what it is? Any experts here be willing to do something like that? I don't know why this one really intrigues me.

If it is not a slag type, then it certainly looks like a piece of basalt with carnelian inclusions, and the last photo shows agate banding!

Hi Jim,

Greetings from a former Grand Rapidian! Well, actually the suburb of Wyoming. It doesn't look like any type of slag that I've seen and it certainly looks like some variety of quartz. I would take it to the next Indian Mounds Rock and Mineral Club meeting in Wyoming (www.indianmondsrockclub.com) and have Roger King or Don VanDyke have a look at it---Don is especially knowledgeable about cutting materials and Michigan material in particular. Both are great guys and have been collecting for decades.

The material is certainly very attractive and is a wonderful find even if it turns out to be man-made. Keep us posted!

Cheers from Arizona!
Dana

Those colors are so loud it does seem to be yelling "Man made!" But is easy to see why you find it intriguing...it is! If you do get an analysis, I hope it isn't super toxic. I wade in the same lake and handle the similar slags, maybe ignorance IS bliss...for now. Like Dana said, keep us posted.

Hi Dana

I had the opportunity to meet a few of the guys from the Indian Mounds club. I stopped by a show they were putting on and Don was the first person I met. Real nice guy. He seemed to think that this was a kind a basalt (for the life of me I can't recall what kind now!) and that the crystal was agate that had filled in the holes, he believed it had come down from some island near the U.P. I was supposed to get with Don sometime and do a trade for making him a sphere. Real nice bunch of folks there at that club. I'd join if I didn't work when they hold the meetings!

herkimer diamond cluster with marcasite inclusions.