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Identity HelpGreen mystery from Montenegro

18th Sep 2011 08:38 UTCRichard De Nul Expert

Dear list,

Is there anybody who might have an idea what this green mineral might be?

It comes from a very small place near Gusinje at the border of Montenegro and Albania.

The rock measures 13cm x10cm x8cm and is well provided with beautiful but often complex crystals (twins?), going from a few millimeters up to 3 cm.

There’s no reaction with acid, no fluorescence and hardness is between 8 and 9.

No other minerals have been observed on this rock.

Thanks a lot for all suggestions !

Richard

18th Sep 2011 10:01 UTCAntonio Borrelli Expert

Looks like 'fassaite' although the hardness is not right.

18th Sep 2011 10:26 UTCPeter Slootweg 🌟

Hi Richard,

Did you find the specimen yourself? To me it looks very much like the lab grown green quartz from China.

especially the small crystals appear to have good quartz morphology.

Regards,

Peter Slootweg

18th Sep 2011 17:40 UTCNoah Horwitz

I agree with Peter; synthetic green quartz was my first thought as well. The small crystals do look like quartz in either case. Might be worth rechecking the hardness: can you scratch the specimen with quartz (or topaz, tourmaline, etc.)?

18th Sep 2011 20:23 UTCJosé Zendrera 🌟 Manager

I agree with Peter, it very looks a lab heat treated quartz from China. I have a very similar piece, look the picture. I bougth it on e-bay from a China dealer who did not advertise his artificial nature. After I received the piece and realized its artificial nature, I contact the dealer and he confirm it's heat treated and colored.

19th Sep 2011 07:10 UTCRichard De Nul Expert

Hi list,

Thank you all very much for solving this mystery!

I though too that something wasn’t right when looking at the bottom of the rock.

I bought the rock from some people near a cave (mine?) entrance high in the mountains in the middle of nowhere at the border between Montenegro and Albania, no roads, no infrastructure, no tourist, nothing at all and all went very mysteriously and behind doors. Don’t ask me how such a specimen ends up here; luckily I only paid a few euro’s…

The hardness (between 8 and 9) was measured with specials stylus for measuring hardness on a crystal face.

Richard

19th Sep 2011 12:34 UTCSpencer Ivan Mather

Yes, I have a small piece of this material from China, it is deffinately lab treated green quartz.

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