Red Obsidian

I have noticed in the past few months on ebay that mahogany obsidian has change color to red . Or it looks like mahogany obsidian to me . Has anybody else noticed this ?

Anything that will help this common lapidary material sell, they will do.

No, but I do have a couple of deep garnet red obsidian specimens I bought in 1973. Spencer.

I've got a magical pony from 1973 too. And some red slag glass.

Here in East Africa we have always called it Red Obsidian locally. It is found in several areas in Tanzania and Kenya.

Bahati Njema!

Here in Nigeria someones late uncle who has passed away needs to wire 200,000,000 million USD into your bank account. All they need is your bank account number.

Oh, and some Red Obsidian. It is inside the ark of the covenant.

For crying out loud, tell me how this "red obsidian" forms outside of the glass factory. Then again, I've seen a blue garnet, so I guess nothing should suprise me. But Red Obsidian has ALWAYS been proven to be slag glass. I WANT PICTURES!!! IN SITU!!!

Hello,

Even though you are correct Justin, I think your comments are rude and said with very little thought for anyone else.

Spencer would you be able to attach a photo of your specimen for me to view with any other information you have avaliable, I'm very interested in African minerals especially older ones.

Regards Cheryl.

Doesn't Cheryl's message style remind you of another australian who was recently banned?

Oh dear. Another IP to the ban table.

Jolyon

The Rift Valley area is riddled with obsidians of various colours in Kenya. Tanzania also has some stunning specimens. Justin is not correct, although it can be tempting for some to speak of only what they know. By the way Justin I am in Kenya as I type this response. Where are you? Remember...you didn't believe in blue garnet before you saw it. Never say never in Africa. Hope you're keeping well Jolyon and thanks for reinforcing that this is a science based forum.

Paul

Just like religious people get upset when you slander their god, I get upset when people defend fakes and fraudelent notions.

My religion is skepticism and I am skeptic about Primary Colored Obsidian. Not a speck of red, a hint of green, the tinge of blue. I am skeptic about RED Obsidian, about BLUE obsidian and GREEN obsidian. I am MAD that people sell GLASS to people as Obsidian and then they come to me showing me the great piece of slag glass they bought for $100! It makes me mad! Nobody likes me when I'm mad because I turn into a jackass. Rightous indignation. It blinds me. Fills me with rage. Should I "get over it"? I don't think so. SOMEONE has to be the person who calls out the scammers. I'm more than happy to fill that role, along with the people who are fighting the good fight with me.

Anyone who questions my rage is defending the scammers.

Who defends the scammers?

Paul, I don't want to jump on your back, but I simply don't believe that there is a vein of brightly colored red obsidian anywhere on this earth. If there was, I would love to know about it. I don't want to see a single chunk. I want to see the entire deposit. I want to see the whole thing. My skepticism requires that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2008 05:43AM by Justin Butt.

I agree Jolyon, I smelt something in the air when she/he came to the defence of someone, who has been using the Mindat name, even the initials are the same, or am I a silly old cop.
fred

"science requires proof"

Nope, Science requires only imagination, proof is for Scientism.

Science starts with imagination, but where it differs from superstition and from beliefs is in the scientific method. Many beautiful and imaginative theories have fallen by the way because experiment and observation proved them wrong. Keppler's circular orbits of the planets is a fine example.

Ibn al-Haytham, from Iraq in the 10th century was a pioneer of the scientific method:

"Truth is sought for its own sake. And those who are engaged upon the quest for anything for its own sake are not interested in other things. Finding the truth is difficult, and the road to it is rough."

Jolyon

Nice to see another ex-copper here Fred. As a man on the ground here I do not enjoy being berated by someone who seems to have been consuming vats of wine prior to posting. I could go on, but I will not reduce myself to his level. I think it's time to swing that banning bat Jolyon.

Bahati Njema!

Paul

Heya Paul,

Pictures.

Pictures.

In Situ.

Red Obsidian.

Pictures.

Where are they?

Red Obsidian.

It does not exisit.

Redact and repent.

Justin,

Check out this page.

[volcano.und.edu]

I believe the term "red obsidian" emerged because people got lazy and dropped mahogany from the term "red mahogany obsidian".

Yes, I understand that some people call brown/tan obsidian red, because, hey, red would be a LOT cooler!

But, it is brown. Like the dirt. Dirt Brown.

And I don't like to be a jerk, but if someone is going to tell me that there is RED obsidian out there, I want, no, I DEMAND proof.

Because if I saw some RED obsidian, I might believe in Santa Claus again.
I would feel so BOLD as to proclaim (make sure your kids don't read this) that Red Obsidian is just as real AS santa claus. Or the easter bunny.

The same goes for the Blue and Green "Obsidian" you see on eBay non-stop.

The people who sell this stuff should be beaten. Anyone who proclaims this stuff exisits without proof should be forced to prove it or be lumped in the with sellers. I can't stand frauds and if I had $1.00 for every metaphysical person who has shown me their prized piece of Red/Blue/Green Obsidian, it has been GLASS. Oh, and I'd have about $14.50.

There is some natural green obsidian (although the majority of stuff they sell on e-bay may not be natural).

The material can run a bit more gray-green, and isn't a vivid grass-green. It is often found as meso-american artifacts.

[gsa.confex.com]
[www.famsi.org]
[www.jstor.org]

The Green Obsidian you are refering to is certainly more Gray-green, I'd call it a HINT of green. In fact, the photo in the link...nice of them to take it on a GREEN background!!!

As my wife is an artist and graphic designer, I'm run over with color theory all day long. It accounts for a great deal of our conversations. Exciting, eh?
When someone includes the word "Red" to mahogany obsidian, that is wishful thinking. I feel the same about this Gray obsidian.

I'd love to see some Obsidian that is actually Green...or I'd love to see...

#008B00
or
#00CD00
colored obsidian

Don't give me
#748269
or
#5A6351
Cause that doesn't count! =)

I e-mailed James Miller who wrote [volcano.und.edu]. He was kind enough to send me this information about red obsidian:


Some of the red mahogany obsidian from Glass Buttes, Oregon has streaks of red glass that are truly red. I’ve also found some chunks of brown mahogany obsidian that contained small "islands" of blood red glass. Is suspect that somewhere at Glass Buttes there are some nearly pure zones of blood red obsidian. But despite searching, I have never seen or found them.

Most of the "red obsidian" that I have seen personally on eBay is human-made glass. This material generally has translucency or streaks of other colors and is alleged to come from China or India . (See the "Red Obsidian Sphere" that is currently running on eBay. This is manufactured glass, not obsidian.) Also, check out the "Red Fire" Obsidian that is running on eBay. This is not obsidian – it is common opal or a jasper-opal mix.

Some genuine red mahogany obsidian appears on eBay from time to time.

Several years ago I purchased a slab of "red obsidian" on eBay. It was indeed natural obsidian. The color was deep reddish brown (more red than brown). The red obsidian contained occasional natural spherical nodules in the glass. I was never able to find out where this red glass came from. So I suspect that limited quantities of true red obsidian exist somewhere in the world…

Jim Miller



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2008 02:00PM by Mike Salotti.