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Fakes & FraudsNuummite fakes
13th Mar 2013 04:24 UTCRobert Isaac
13th Mar 2013 06:49 UTCStephanie Martin
regards,
stephanie :-)
13th Nov 2021 23:46 UTCDesiree Jerome
9th Apr 2013 16:25 UTCL
Never heard of Nuummite prior to purchase at expo.
Seller said it was from Greenland.
Thank you kindly.
9th Apr 2013 17:38 UTCStephanie Martin
The picture is very blurry but it appears to be authentic. The wrongly identified ones have smaller flecks of pyrite that are not nearly as large as the gold flashes on your piece.
best regards,
stephanie :-)
10th Apr 2013 13:23 UTCRock Currier Expert
14th Apr 2013 02:14 UTCL
14th Apr 2013 02:25 UTCL
14th Apr 2013 07:14 UTCStephanie Martin
mis-identified nuummite cabs - - the flecks could be mica although I previously indicated pyrite
authentic nuummite slab, unpolished but wet for photo to simulate polish, dried quickly so colours are a bit dull, will try for better photos when able
regards,
stephanie :-)
15th Apr 2013 01:13 UTCRock Currier Expert
Are you sure that the cabs are not nuummite? Nuummite is a rock type originally described by a geologist with the Danish Geological survey from a locality in Greenland. The better grades of this rock type are apparently exploited and sold by a local collective. There are probably tons of lower quality stuff that might look like those cabs if they were worked up. Recently we have been importing a lot of cut and polished items (not cabs) from China which they call Nuummite and it may or may not be Nuummite. I sent some pieces of this material to the author of the paper but never heard back as to if he thought it was from Greenland or were in fact nuummite. He said he thought that this rock type occurred in other places. If my memory serves me properly, he found the reflective flakes in Nuummite are caused by crystals of an amphiboles one of which was gedrite, but the crystals grade from gedrite into another amphibole in other parts of the crystals. This is not an easy rock type to identify correctly.
15th Apr 2013 07:59 UTCTorben Kjeldgård
I can not confirm this information, but one of the sellers of the nuummite, told me that the original
nuummite from Greenland, is an old seabed that is metamorphed into Gedrite and anthophyllite.
But the fact is that some of the worlds oldest rocks are found in Greenland.
And not any of the nuummite I have seen looks like the cabs on photo.
regards
Torben
15th Apr 2013 11:44 UTCRock Currier Expert
The geologist in Denmark commented that he thought it a shame that the low grade material would degrade the value of the really nice nuummite. I told him that I didn't think that would be the case at all anymore than low grade turquoise, emeralds or diamonds would degrade the value of the really good ones. The more of it is around, the more people become familiar with the name and the more people who will want to get a good one when they can. Its like the use of others of the name Herkimer diamonds to describe the quartz from localities other than Herkimer Co. New York seems to have no effect on the price of really good Herkimer diamonds, probably just the opposite.
15th Apr 2013 14:07 UTCStephanie Martin
regards,
stephanie
15th Apr 2013 19:51 UTCTim Jokela Jr
The real shame is that they put an "ite" on the end, instead of calling it Mystic 8 or Zanzibar-42 or aqua aura...
15th Apr 2013 22:17 UTCRock Currier Expert
All words are made up. Nuummite is the name given to a particular rock type and was not intended to describe only the best of the pretty type from Greenland. It was intended to be a name for a rock type like basalt, or schist. Nuumite from other places could, and probably does have a different appearance. It would be better to call the good stuff from Greenland gem nuummite like the best grades of chrysocolla (for jewelry making) are called gem chrysocolla. When those who know about such things use the term gem chrysocolla they are talking abut a variety of chalcedony colored blue by just the right amount of chrysocolla to give it dollar per carat value on the gem market.
17th Apr 2013 16:45 UTCTim Jokela Jr
From http://www.mindat.org/min-30937.html :
----------------------------------
"An unapproved name for a metamorphic rock consisting primarily of two amphiboles - Anthophyllite and Gedrite, the material is sometimes cut and polished as a gemstone.
The name Nuummite which means "derived from Nuuk" in Greenlandic was given to the rock type which was found near Nuuk, by the town council of Nuuk. The government granted the company Nuummite Nuuk A/S, wholly owned by Nuuk commune an exploration concession for Nuumite in the Nuuk area, as well as permission to manufacture and sell Nummite jewelry. The company is based in Nuuk."
--------------------------------
Hence my assumption that the actual name, definition, locality, was no big deal, it's just marketing by a town council, and not even an actual rock type.
But I appear to be wrong! Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuummite) offers this:
--------------
"The rock was first discovered in 1810 in Greenland by the mineralogist K. L. Giesecke.<4> It was defined scientifically by O. B. Bøggild between 1905 and 1924.<5> Nuummite is also found in Finland and the USA. "
---------------
So there we have it, you're correct, Greenland is not the only locality for "nuummite", and the MinDat reference needs fixing.
17th Apr 2013 18:52 UTCStephanie Martin
I still don't think the cabs in my photo are any kind of nuummite because the flecks do not appear as blades and are not directional as anthophyllite would suggest. There is also apparently another type recently noted from Mauritania that has been confirmed by the GIA using Raman spectra to be anthophyllite and gedrite (with other traces) and has distinctive blue and sometimes green iridescent/schiller blades. They actually use a different trade name for it and call it "jenakite". I have recently obtained some and await the mail to examine. I don't want to get into a debate about location naming such as hiddenite vs kunzite but nuummite to me is synonymous with the Greenland material. The "jenakite" material was found in 2009 and while it has been marketed now for a few years I hesitated to buy it until there was more information about it. The cutting is apparently difficult to master the rock to expose the blade effects, so the yields are low to produce. There is nothing on mindat or gemdat about this material that I could find. I do have the reference material noted on my home computer for it but I am at work now so I will connect the dots with that later when able so we can get it into the glossaries.
Does anyone have a photo of the material from the Chinese sellers?
regards,
stephanie :-)
13th Jul 2013 02:22 UTCKristi Hugs
13th Jul 2013 16:03 UTCD Mike Reinke
Just some thoughts...
Mike
16th Jul 2013 20:15 UTCKristi Hugs
26th Jul 2013 19:10 UTCKatsdeelite
The piece that you presented reminds me of a meteorite storm, Stephanie, it's beautiful. Good luck to all! Kat
26th Jul 2013 23:49 UTCStephanie Martin
round stone 9.9mm
regards,
stephanie
27th Jul 2013 03:17 UTCD Mike Reinke
Is this rock the same two amphiboles, or is that not known?
27th Jul 2013 05:12 UTCStephanie Martin
Both the Greenland and Mauritanian material are gedrite with anthophyllite.
regards,
stephanie :-)
27th Jul 2013 07:43 UTCJoel Dyer
I noticed this thread by chance & wished to correct locality facts for nuummite. Indeed, it occurs in other places than Greenland, for instance in Finland. Could someone please update the locality list, please? Thanks in advance.
The Geological Survey of Finland has published for instance the document M06/3432/-93/1/43 by the author Risto Vartiainen, already in 1993. The small Finnish nuummite occurence is located in the Paltamo area. I'm including a picture pair copied from the publication: copyright owned by author & GTK.
24th Aug 2013 03:53 UTCBernie Keefe
24th Aug 2013 09:13 UTCnurbo
1st Oct 2013 03:25 UTCKristi Hugs
thanks!
1st Oct 2013 12:09 UTCRock Currier Expert
26th Feb 2014 07:01 UTCP. Pan
I just came back from Tucson show a week ago, I was also looking for Greenland Nuumite and ended up found the Indian vendor selling "nuumite" from China which I did not purchase. I came back and looked on eBay saw there is a Greenland vendor selling 40 grams of tumbled nuumite for $100. and a U.S. vendor selling 40 grams "Greenland" palmstones for $10 each. It is confusing. If you are interested, check out ExquisiteCrystals.com, you can see cabs over $100 which resemble the "real" nuumite Stephanie was talking about as well as $22 palm stones that look like the "fake nuumites". Does anyone know the so called "fake nuumite" - are they also gedrite and apophilite? or something else.
Peter
27th Feb 2014 10:32 UTCRock Currier Expert
1st Nov 2014 17:53 UTCKristi Hugs
1st Jan 2015 00:18 UTCJeanne Rhodes-Moen
1st Jan 2015 07:54 UTCStephanie Martin
Thank you for the info and link. This does look like the material that was being called nuummite or low grade nuummite. The site indicates that the flecks are caused by bronzite (enstatite), which may or may not be accurate but is plausible. I had once heard this material was from California but that was hearsay and this gives the quarry location as India. This is the best info we have so far.
regards,
stephanie :-)
1st Jan 2015 13:46 UTCReiner Mielke Expert
24th Dec 2015 02:12 UTCNOOmite
Fake or no? Looks like black galaxy granite to me. Its all black/grey with white specs, no other colours.
24th Dec 2015 02:30 UTCDoug Daniels
24th Dec 2015 04:41 UTCNOOmite
3rd May 2016 19:42 UTCFerhan Tanudjiwa
Nuummite From Lumajang Indonesia,the called Jenakite "Bulu Macan".Specific Grafity 3.15
19th Jul 2016 02:48 UTCLindsey
20th Jul 2016 04:53 UTCStephanie Martin
Yours does not appear to be Greenland or Mauritanian nuummite. It looks like the lesser grade material marketed from India/China, if you would call that nuummite at all. I still don't think that material is the same composition as the gedrite with anthophyllite that is known to comprise the other nuummites. Since the low grade kind has not had a confirmed analysis here yet. it is only a visual guess if it is a pretender or just low grade. It does look like natural rock however, rather than man made, so there is that at least.
regards,
stephanie
30th Jul 2016 19:29 UTCFerhan Tanudjiwa
all kinds of mineral rocks anthophyllite and gedrite in the world, that deserve to be jewelery,called also nuumite
12th Jan 2017 20:09 UTCKristi Hugs
Oh so sorry.....LOL....was excited to find info only to read that someone else had already posted this information with a link earlier. Once again, I am late to the dance.
16th Jan 2017 08:44 UTCIsmo Väisänen
And the Nuummite in Paltamo, Finland has been confirmed by geologists to be good quality Nuummite and part of it is very good quality Nuummite.
Our family company Kainuun Nuummiitti Oy/Nuummite Finland started to mine this Nuummite Finland last year 2016 and we have already 30 tons (kg) sawed and polished ready to be made as jewelry. We have been searching for companies around the world to do co-working with us.
In the future we will be attending Gem show In Tucson, Arizona.
Pictures of the Nuummite Finland can be found from our web site: https://www.facebook.com/nuummitefinland and from the articles of the official Finnish television/radio company's web site http://www.yle.fi/.
For your information: Best way to contact us is email: nuummitefinland@elisanet.fi or facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nuummitefinland
Still want to thank Joel Dyer for his information!
27th Jan 2017 00:41 UTCGregg Little 🌟
Just so the uninitiated who read our threads are not led astray, maybe we should identify black granite as a trade name. Nomenclature is specific and we should minimize the hi-jacking of it. Sorry to be a stickler but at some point .....
5th Mar 2019 15:38 UTCKM (Kitty Meguao)
Does anyone know the chemical composition of coppernite? I just want to make sure because I can't seem to find much info on coppernite. It looks beautiful but I am worried does it contain copper or any other toxic component through daily wear?
Thanks
5th Mar 2019 16:23 UTCKevin Hean
7th Mar 2019 13:57 UTCGregg Little 🌟
If you really want to know what you have bought then you have to understand the basic geology terminology, after all it is a piece of rock, period. Nuummite is a metamorphic rock that consists of the amphibole minerals gedrite and anthophyllite. Those two specific amphibole minerals are part of the relatively few common rock forming minerals.
To paraphrase geologyglasgow.org.uk, "There are over 5000 known mineral species, yet the vast majority of rocks are formed from combinations of a few common minerals, referred to as “rock-forming minerals”. The rock-forming minerals are: feldspars, quartz, amphiboles, micas, olivine, garnet, calcite, pyroxenes."
Coppernite does not exist other than in the fanciful naming's concocted by the marketing realm. They appear to be calling the same rock by a different name. Again this is an amphibole rich metamorphic rock.
Black Galaxy Granite is a rock that is neither granite nor from the galaxy but is indeed black. It is a name used by the decorative rock industry since the 1970's and applied to a type of metamorphic or igneous rock useful for making kitchen counter tops. This is probably the same or similar rock, this amphibole-rich mafic rock you have, all of which is very low in copper content and so non-toxic.
7th Mar 2019 14:04 UTCKristi Hugs
7th Mar 2019 16:56 UTCGregg Little 🌟
Ya I know. A cacophony of names to impart awe in natural materials whereas just reading and understanding earth's process and the rocks they represent should be awesome in itself. Introducing spiritualism or religion in all its permutations, aliens, ancient fictitious civilizations really does injustice to the wondrous natural forces that shape the planet. Oh well, what else would we have to rant about?
21st May 2019 18:17 UTCZed Lindberg
Since people still seem to get confused I will try to reiterate to clear this out.
Indian market sellers selling cheap stones as nuummite - that's going to be the gabbro from the mine in their own country.
"Black galaxy granite" is a typical term derived from Indian culture where they don't use scientific basis, they just use names. In the same way as they call all kinds of stones jasper erringly, this time they've tossed on granite.
A proper international term for GIA standards etc would be something like Black Galaxy Gabbro.
Gabbro is the scientific composition, and black galaxy a name for a certain locality with some flair. When you have a big slab that's polished, it might aesthetically remind you of space because of the bronzite.
Compare black galaxy gabbro to other fancy gabbros like indigo gabbro and larvikite gabbro.
8th Jul 2019 01:56 UTCSixta T Hall
I have attached a couple of pictures and request your assistance to identify is this is a genuine Nuummite.
I highly appreciate your assistance in this matter. Thank you kindly
Sixta Hall
8th Jul 2019 16:43 UTCDonald B Peck Expert
I do not believe that anyone will be able to answer your question. The rock is black, it shows iridescence, and it could well be composed of amphiboles . . . all of which fit nuummite. As I understand it nuummite is rather a local name for an amphibolite found at Nuuk, Greenland. Mindat has a page about it: https://www.mindat.org/min-30937.html
Wikipedia also has a page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuummite
Identifying rocks from a photo is almost impossible, it requires studying a thin section in polarized light.
Don
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Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: April 26, 2024 10:14:38