Old Rock Day – January 7

This day is set aside (though no one knows how long it has been observed or when it was first celebrated), to consider how old the Earth is and how it has shaped our lives. It’s also a shout-out to some of the earliest geologists like the Theophrathes, Pliny the Elder, Ulisse Aldovandi, James Hutton and William Smith.

National Jewel Day – March 13

This special day is set aside to appreciate precious stones and jewelry. From the earliest examples of stone, bone, and shell jewelry, to the most lavish and intricate designs of today, National Jewel Day is meant to recognize them all. Those who choose to participate are encouraged to wear their most spectacular bejeweled pieces and take the occasion to gift jewelry to those important people in their life.

Geologists Day – April 7

This day is dedicated to those folks who make it their life’s work to explore, research and disseminate their knowledge of rocks and Earth’s history. It is also the time to appreciate all of those things in our lives that we have or know because of geologists. This includes such daily used items as toothpaste and even cell phones. Younger folks contemplating a career in geology can take this opportunity to discuss with practitioners in the field, what the job is actually like.

Earth Day – April 22

You can’t get any “Earthier” than rocks, gems and minerals. This is a day for rockhounds to explore and to appreciate Earth’s treasures.

Nickel Day – May 16

Devoted to the mined element, nickel, this day was created to acknowledge this important metal. Nickel has been used by humans for at least 2,000 years. By the middle of the 19th century, it was ubiquitous in American coinage as well as that of other European nations.

Dinosaur Days – May 15 & June 1

Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, but they’re top of mind today. So much is still unknown about these fascinating creatures. Celebrate what we know and anticipate what we don’t on this fun day for young and old alike.

National Caves & Karst Day – June 6

This day is dedicated to the majesty and importance of these amazing rock formations. Most people know what caves are, but few are familiar with “karst” landscapes. A karst landscape is characterized by rocky hills, aquifers, springs, sinkholes and caves. Hundreds of different minerals and gems are found in caves, and 40 percent of drinking water in the U.S. comes from karst aquifers.

World Oceans Day – June 8

Beach finds from shells to rocks, minerals and sea glass are a favorite. Celebrate the oceans that bring us this bounty.

International Drop a Rock Day – July 3

This a day for having a bit of fun while inspiring kindness toward others. Across the world, individuals, families, and groups of all types get creative and paint rocks with pictures, themed messages, or even advertising and hide them. Anyone can try to find them. When they are found, the lucky holder of that rock can keep it, hide it again, or if it is part of a local promotion, contact the sponsoring group. This highly popular activity is not restricted to International Drop a Rock Day; many groups do this throughout the year and hold rock-painting parties before going out and hiding them.

International Rock Day – July 13

Sometimes referred to as World Rock Day, this day is intended to celebrate and to contemplate the importance of rocks to humankind. It is to honor the rock as one of the most fundamental aspects of human survival. If there is one day per year to give rocks their due, this is it!

National Pet Rock Day – September 1

This tongue-in-cheek holiday is dedicated to the 1975 marketing scheme that led to the sale of over one million pet rocks. On this day, many people “adopt” a pet rock at functions planned to celebrate this phenomenon.

Collect Rocks Day – September 16

Held since 2015, Collect Rocks Day celebrates all of the diverse types of rocks and all of the different places they can be collected, no matter where in the world you live. It is a celebration of Earth and geology for everyone.

National Fossil Day – October 16

As the name implies, this day is reserved for appreciating and exploring fossils. Of the approximately 250,000 different fossilized species that have been identified, it is estimated there are millions more to be found. Many groups organize fossil hunts and expeditions on this day in early fall. Be sure to find one near you.

This story about rockhound holidays appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Original story by Chris Bond. Updated yearly to reflect current dates and holidays. 

The post 2024 Rockhound Holidays first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Throughout history, the precious metals gold and silver have been admired for their beauty, hoarded for their value, coveted for their workability, fashioned into jewelry, and coined as currency. But the story of platinum metal is much different. It was once cursed, discarded as worthless and used as a counterfeiting agent.

Platinum Metal

Platinum is a rare, silvery-white metal. Its specific gravity of 21.45 and Mohs hardness of 4.0 make it somewhat more dense and much harder than gold. Although not as quite as inert as gold, it nevertheless does not oxidize, retaining its gleaming, white metallic luster and taking a superb polish. Platinum also has excellent electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, and catalytic properties, plus a high melting point. Platinum is about as rare as gold but, unlike gold, it is rarely found in economic concentrations suitable for mining. Platinum occurs in some 20 minerals and is also found in nature, usually as silvery-gray grains and nuggets.

Platina

In the early 1500s, Spain’s colonial gold miners, in what is now Colombia, found platinum in gold placers. They roundly cursed this discovery because the metal then had neither use nor value and was difficult to separate from gold. The Spanish named the metal platina, a derogatory term meaning “little silver” and the root of our English word “platinum.” In the early 1600s, Spanish mint workers at the future site of Bogotá, Colombia, dumped large amounts of worthless platina into rivers to create extraordinarily rich placer deposits that would end up being mined centuries later. In 1670, Spanish metallurgists found platina’s first practical use as an alloying agent to enhance the hardness and durability of bronze cannon.

In 1700, metallurgists learned that gold alloyed with platina changed very little in weight or color. Spanish mint workers subsequently began adulterating gold coins with platina and pocketing the displaced gold. To suppress this rampant counterfeiting, the Spanish Crown banned private possession of platina under penalty of death. But when counterfeiting continued, it began offering a bounty for all platina turned in, giving the metal its first formal valuation. The Crown later secretly debased its own gold coinage with platina, using these “special” issues to settle foreign debts.

The Russian Experience

In 1824, Russian gold prospectors in the Ural Mountains discovered the rich Nizhne-Tagilsk platinum placers. The Russian government quickly monopolized platinum mining and refining, then began fabricating platinum jewelry which consumers promptly rejected as a cheap “silver imitation.” Determined to benefit from its platinum, the Russian government next issued legal-tender, platinum ruble coins. But by 1843, the number of circulating platinum rubles had far exceeded the official mint issues because European counterfeiters had been acquiring worthless Colombian platina and striking counterfeit rubles.

Coming of Age

During the 1850s, European scientists took advantage of platinum’s high melting point and chemical inertness to fabricate high-quality laboratory instruments and crucibles. Growing demand soon drove platinum’s price to $1.50 per troy ounce, higher than that of silver. By the 1890s, platinum’s extraordinary catalytic properties that accelerated many chemical reactions had made it the standard catalyst for acid manufacturing and petroleum “cracking.”

At the same time, platinum gained popularity as a jewelry metal when prestigious designers Louis Cartier, Charles Lewis Tiffany and Peter Carl Fabergé began combining platinum’s brilliant, white gleam with the glitter of diamonds and sapphires. By 1905, combined jewelry and industrial demand had driven platinum’s price above that of gold (then $20.67 per troy ounce) for the first time. Breaking the gold-price “barrier” earned platinum worldwide acceptance as a bona fide precious metal.

Industrial Platinum Metal

Platinum demand soared in the 1970s when federally mandated reductions in automotive-exhaust emissions required new automobiles to be equipped with catalytic converters to break down noxious hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides. Today’s automotive converters contain about one-half a troy ounce of platinum in a ceramic honeycomb called “autocatalyst,” which is currently the biggest use of platinum. Eight million troy ounces of platinum are now mined each year, mostly in South Africa and Russia, with lesser amounts recovered in Canada and the United States. The United States’ production comes almost entirely from Montana’s underground Stillwater Mine.

Jewelry Platinum Metal

About 1.5 million troy ounces of 85-to-95- percent-pure platinum are made into jewelry each year. Platinum purity, expressed in parts per thousand, is stated in hallmarks similar to gold karat marks. A “Pt950” or “Plat950” hallmark indicates a composition of 95 percent platinum; the remaining five percent is usually copper or palladium which enhances workability. Platinum’s white gleam complements or contrasts nicely with both colorless and colored gemstones. Popular composite jewelry creations combine the rich yellow of gold with the gleaming white of platinum—a fitting combination for a metal that, in less than 120 years, has gone from rags to riches.

This story about platinum appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Steve Voynick.

The post Platinum Metal’s Rise to Fame first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

The rocks that animals consume are called gastroliths which literally translates to “stomach stones.” Gastroliths can be found in a range of animals including birds, reptiles, fish, insects, and even some mammals. Any type of stone can become a gastrolith; it just has to have been swallowed to join that club.

Why Do Animals Eat Rocks – Herbivores

What is an herbivore? It’s an animal that primarily eats plants. (Did you know that rocks and minerals play a role in plant growth?) So why do animals that eat rocks include herbivores? Though animals that eat stones are not all herbivores, those that are, have a special reason to consume rocks. Plant material is made up of cellulose. Cellulose is one of the most abundant, yet hard-to-digest materials found in plant material.

Cellulose is difficult to break down inside the body with only stomach acid. Why do animals eat rocks? Because stones inside an animal’s gizzard help to break this material down further before transferring it to a second stomach for additional digestion. This process smooths the stones over time. Many animals then regurgitate these smooth stones in favor of more jagged ones to help with the breaking down of food.

Why Birds Eat Rocks

Birds are the most common group of animals that eat rocks. These rocks aid in their digestion. Folks who raise birds are familiar with this as many supplement their feathered friends’ diets with grit, which are very small stones with uneven, blunt edges.

Birds don’t have teeth, or stomachs like mammals, instead, have a gizzard which is a muscular mass attached to their version of a stomach. The gizzard is where their food is ground up and mashed with the aid of the stones that they have swallowed.

Most avian consumers of stones are ground-dwelling or flightless birds. Chickens, turkeys, ostriches, and even penguins routinely swallow jagged little rocks while they are out and about foraging for food to help their digestion. Research has found that in ostriches, between one-fifth and one-half of their stomach contents are gastroliths.

These account for about one percent of the bird’s total body mass. It is speculated that the ratios and percentages are similar for other birds too (at least the ones that eat rocks).

There are some flying birds though that have been documented to be stone-eaters.

Crows and parrots are known to eat small rocks to aid their digestion. Some swimming and flying birds like ducks are also known to eat small grit-stones to help them break up their swallowed food. It is very likely that all birds swallow stones in some capacity to help break down their food.

Why Reptiles & Amphibians Eat Rocks

The need for birds to swallow rocks is pretty well understood. The same cannot be said though for reptiles. The prevailing theory for decades was that for swimming reptiles like crocodiles, swallowing rocks helped with their buoyancy. Given that they like to hover just below the water’s surface, this might be a plausible reason. A bellyful of rocks could help weigh themselves down enough so they don’t float all the way up to where they can be easily seen by their prey.

Much recent research about why do animals eat rocks, however, has suggested other hypotheses for this behavior in reptiles. Scientists have found that gastroliths make up less than two percent of the body mass of reptiles. They calculate that for the gastroliths to have the previously believed effect of achieving buoyancy, that number should be more than six percent of the animal’s body mass. The act of breathing, filling, and emptying their lungs with air, has more of an effect on buoyancy than the two percent of their body weight comprised of stones.

Current speculation about why do animals eat rocks is that the swallowed rocks help to stabilize the reptiles’ bodies in the water, reducing the tendency to roll from side to side. Though not reptiles, frogs eat rocks too.

Like birds though, the hypothesis is it helps them break up the insects they eat to get more nutrients from them. Earthworms are another animal that consumes rocks. Their internal digestive muscles, along with teethlike structures known as “grinders” break up plant material so that nutrients can be extracted from them.

Why Do Animals Eat Rocks – Sea Life

A variety of sea life eats rocks. Fish, clams, seals, and even whales are known to eat rocks, though in some cases it is believed to be inadvertent. Like crocodiles, it was once thought that sea lions, seals, walruses, and whales swallowed rocks to make diving easier.

Like other hypotheses that have arisen in recent years, the thinking for these sea creatures is that since many find their food on the ocean floor, they inadvertently scoop up rocks while scooping in on their food. This is seemingly more probable than swallowing rocks to help them dive.

The problem with the rocks as a diving aid hypothesis is that they would have to swallow huge rocks to make a difference. There is no evidence that they seek out and swallow big, heavy rocks.

Several species of bottom-feeding fish are also known to eat rocks, though again, it is not entirely known if this is intentional to aid in digestion, or accidental consumption while grabbing food off the seafloor. Other possibilities have arisen to explain this phenomenon in swimming mammals.

Alleviate Hunger

It is possible that some of these, and possibly other animals that eat rocks, do so to help alleviate hunger. Taking up space in their stomachs could potentially make them feel more full. Another conjecture is that they, like birds with their gizzards, swallow rocks to help their digestion (sans gizzard) and to break down the wide range of items that they may accidentally swallow.

One of the more unusual sea-dwelling rock eaters is a type of clam found in the Philippines, Lithoredo abatanica. The name roughly translates to “rock shipworm from the Abatan River.” Many would not recognize this animal as a clam.

It is fattened, worm-like, translucent, at least four inches (10 cm) long, with a shell complete with shovel-like projections. It is not akin in either appearance or bloodline to the familiar Quahog or Atlantic type of clam, but instead is a member of the shipworm family. These clams eat wood, but the newly discovered Lithoredo abatanica eats limestone, not wood. It burrows into rock and excretes sand. It is not yet known if these creatures actually derive any nutrition from these rocks.

The consumption of gastroliths by animals is a more common practice than most people would realize. Whether it be for digestion (with or without a gizzard), buoyancy, diving, deriving minerals, or feeling full, it is a widely practiced behavior in the wild animal kingdom. The next time you see a small, unassuming, round stone on the ground, it may well have been on quite a journey inside of any number of animals before finding itself at your feet.

This story about why do animals eat rocks previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Chris Bond.

The post Why Do Animals Eat Rocks? first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

The Start

In 1935, a Depression-era government works program allowed the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) to continue operations and provide much-needed jobs to local unemployed workers. These new employees spent their days preparing the Museum’s Earth Sciences displays. In the evenings, they held meetings in their homes to learn more about the rocks, minerals, and fossils.

With the MPM offering use of its Trustee Room for meetings and the Milwaukee Journal providing publicity, the non-profit Wisconsin Geological Society was formed in early 1936.

Branching Out

The newly-found box revealed how active the WGS was in building a solid foundation for its club and also for clubs across the country to connect. For instance, in 1940, the WGS was one of three clubs involved in the creation of the Midwest Federation of Mineralogical and Geological Societies (MWF). In 1950, WGS members were among the eight delegates to the first American Federation of Mineralogical Societies (AFMS) meeting held in Salt Lake City.

In 1984, the Wisconsin Geological Society hosted a large joint rock and mineral show with the MWF at State Fair Park in West Allis that resulted in a 36-page document outlining all the activities including field trips. Joint shows were previously held in 1941, 1944, and 1954.

Blackjack Bonanza

Corn dogs, cotton candy, amusement rides, and a lead/zinc mine tour? Yes!

From 1963 to 1966, Blackjack Bonanza mine tours were a re-creation of a real lead/zinc mine at the Wisconsin State Fair. It was a 15,000-square-foot exhibit that sported a 65-foot headframe tower, an elevator shaft that shook to simulate the ride down into the mine tunnel, and a 30 by-45-foot processing room. A hidden 50-ton A/C unit cooled the mine tunnel making guests think they were far below ground. Mine tours cost fairgoers 75 cents per adult and 24 cents per child.

Like other fair attractions, the Blackjack Bonanza became a part of history as well as the role the WGS played in its existence.

The box revealed that in 1966, members of the WGS took over the 10-day, 12-hour per day, operation of the Blackjack Bonanza mine tours. Club members provided ticket sales, tour guides, and mine workers. They also provided mineral samples for a museum display as well as staff to operate the gift shop.

Naming the Wisconsin State Fossil

State fossils are nothing new. Lots of states have them. But through the box and personal interviews, WGS members found out that club members played a significant role in the process for their state. It took three attempts before the trilobite (Calymene celebra) was officially named Wisconsin’s State Fossil in 1986.

The first attempt was made in 1981 by a UWM geology student, Mark Shurilla, but he neglected to name a specific species of trilobite. The bill failed.

Wisconsin Geological Society members picked up the process in 1983, narrowing the field to the Calymene celebra, found primarily and prolifically in Wisconsin. Again, the bill was defeated.

In 1985, at the direction of the WGS Board of Directors, club president, and chief lobbyist for the bill, Margaret Pearson, made a final and successful attempt. This time, the bill was sponsored by State Assembly member, Jeannette Bell, daughter of WGS members Harold and Luella Jeske. Members of WGS were present at the bill signing on April 2, 1986, in Madison, Wisconsin, as Margaret presented Governor Anthony Earl with a trilobite specimen to mark the occasion.

More Fossils

The original Milwaukee Public Museum opened its doors to the public in 1898. It now houses the Milwaukee Public Library. The board room where the first official WGS meeting was held still exists and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1975, the Museum moved to a new facility across the street but did not have enough room for all of the geology exhibits, including fossils that WGS members originally displayed in 1936.

Fundraising is underway for a new facility with a groundbreaking scheduled for late 2023. It should be open to the public sometime in 2026. It will be a representation of ancient sea stack formations present in Wisconsin’s Mill Bluff State Park. The rounded edges of that building will showcase the glacial weathering that formed Wisconsin and deposited those fossils. Inside, will be displayed those original WGS fossils from 1936.

Plan, Collect, Verify & Store

While the plastic box brought history to life for WGS members, they soon found out its information was incomplete and that members had bits and pieces of history in lots of places; old newsletters here, photo books there. Records ended up in various places as officers and leadership transitioned over time. The club historian, and volunteers, made a plan to gather all of the documents. Here is a to-do list for other club historians that may have the same circumstances.

• Scan and identify all photos and documents and create a digital file

• Contact club officers, new and old, for any information in their possession

• Contact outside sources to verify and provide additional information

• Create documents and a presentation to share with members

• Develop a storage plan to preserve past, current, and future records

After collecting information from members, the first critical step for the WGS was to scan and identify photos and documents and place them in a digital file, backed up on a memory stick.

Finding More Photos

Next, was to contact club officers and members to see if any files or pictures had been handed down to them. Also, an article was published in the club’s monthly newsletter, The Trilobite, asking members who are no longer able to attend meetings to offer any information or photos.

Early on, Wisconsin Geological Society members took field trips, attended study groups, participated in mineral shows, and enjoyed parties and picnics just like they do today. One of the early members must have been an avid photographer as many of these functions were captured with lovely photos. The documentation and preservation of those photos were poor. Names of members and photo locations were often missing or destroyed the photograph by writing or gluing a note directly on the photo.

An Interesting Photo

One of the most interesting photos in the collection was of young boys, wearing knickers, admiring the rocks and minerals in a Wisconsin Geological Society display case. The photo had a typewritten note paper-clipped to it, “Hobby Show November 24-27, 1950?” A scanned copy of this photo was emailed to the Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) archives department for verification. They were able to confirm that a hobby show was held from November 24 to 27 in 1949, however, they could not verify that this photo was taken at that show. According to historical fashion records, knickers for young men had gone out of fashion in the late 1930s.

Photo identification is important. Always record the following information:

• Event

• Place/location

• Date taken

• People, use an easy format of left to right (L to R) and rows top to bottom

• Photographer, if possible

Community Help

Research to fill in the missing information became the next priority. Organizations whose history crossed the club’s path came first. Historical societies and newspaper articles provided another great resource.

Some sources responded immediately, while others required a longer response time. The most successful recoveries of information resulted from telephone calls which produced a real person contact. Additional details continue to be added to the club’s historical records as a result of these contacts.

Long-Term Storage

After a huge effort to gather all of this history, it became important for the WGS to change how it gathers and stores its data in the future. The Milwaukee Public Library has worked with club members to develop a plan for the WGS to donate its current historical records and future yearly updates. Current and future WGS members will retain access to all of their records during normal library business hours.

This story about the Wisconsin Geological Society’s history appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Sue Eyre.

The post Wisconsin Geological Society History first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

At an early age, John became curious about his uncle’s line of work, but his queries were often met with vague responses. As an adult, he devoted much time and effort to researching his uncle’s history.

The following is John’s perspective of that history, a few stories of the everyday life of the scientists, plus a quick rundown of naturally occurring radiation, including radioactive rocks, present in our lives today.

Philip Grant Koontz

Uncle Grant met his wife, Florence Eyre while both were undergraduate students at Hastings College in Nebraska where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1927. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska before earning his doctorate in physics from Yale.

After graduating, Grant served as an associate professor of physics at Colorado State University. Here is where the history becomes clouded in secrecy. Sometime during Grant’s tenure at Colorado State, he met and assisted Arthur H. Compton on Mt. Evans in his studies of cosmic rays.

In 1942, Grant was asked by Compton to join Enrico Fermi and the other scientists in Chicago at the “Metallurgical Lab,” for the creation of the Chicago Pile (CP-1). Shortly after the Chicago scientists achieved a sustained nuclear reaction, Grant and his family were spirited off to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Now the secrecy was stepped up.

Science, Secrecy & Real People

While both in Chicago and Los Alamos, the scientists worked feverishly on what is now called The Manhattan Project. But as history and several photos handed down through the Eyre family prove, those scientists were real people with families and interests outside of their laboratories. While still in Chicago, Uncle Grant and Aunt Florence hosted a picnic at their home. Family photos show that Enrico Fermi, his wife and young daughter, and a few unidentified scientists attended.

Once at Los Alamos, Grant took photos of several of the scientists collecting selenite in an area outside of the compound. Rockhounding must run in the family! But everyday life was hard for both the scientists and their families. All mail to friends and relatives was sent via a post office box in New York City and was carefully censored to remove any reference as to where they were, what they were doing or even anything about the weather. Grant could never tell his wife where he was going when he disappeared for days while testing bombs at Trinity Site or the Nevada Test Site.

Once some of the secrecy was lifted, Grant liked to tell a story about how he and a few of his fellow scientists discovered a hole in the Los Alamos compound fence. For fun, instead of simply telling the authorities about the security breach, a few scientists took their family dogs for a walk outside the compound. They signed out at the gate, proceeded to the hole in the fence; crawled under the fence and proceeded to sign out at the gate a second and third time before the guard caught on and they finally told him about the hole.

An Atomic Timeline

It’s time to tell the real history of these men. An easy way to do that is by using a timeline of their achievements.

The culmination of all of this work was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which effectively ended WWII. Our world was forever changed and the discoveries of these scientists are still present in our day-to-day lives.

Rockhounding

Radioactivity didn’t just appear in our lives with these discoveries, it was always naturally occurring in our rocks and minerals. The most common radioactive minerals found in nature are uranite, thorite, pitchblende and carnotite.

One of the byproducts of atomic bomb testing is “trinitite.” Scientists gave this name to the desert sand which fused into glass caused by the heat of the first atomic bomb test on July 16, 1945, at the Trinity Test Site, outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Uncle Grant sent several samples to John’s dad, a chemist who cast them into paperweights made of Lucite plastic.

Radioactive Food, Medicine & Household Items

Probably the most common food containing a radioactive isotope (K-40) of potassium is bananas. Not to worry, you would need to eat 70,000 bananas to get the equivalent radiation of a chest CT scan. Small amounts are also found in potatoes, kidney beans, sunflower seeds or any food containing potassium.

On the other hand, Brazil nuts contain small amounts of radium isotopes approximately 1,000 times higher than those found in other foods. Some salt substitutes contain small amounts of radioactive potassium (K-40).

Many generic brands of antidiarrhea medication contain kaolin clay that has elevated levels of uranium and thorium.

Still, no worries, as you would have to consume over 1,000 pounds a year to exceed the current EPA maximum exposure level. The name brand of this drug has discontinued use of kaolin clay.

Ionization-type smoke detectors contain small quantities of americium-241. Never try to disassemble one of these units.

Kitty litter contains bentonite clay which is measurably radioactive. The contents include uranium, thorium and potassium-40. Also, potassium chloride water softener salt contains measurable amounts of potassium-40. A standard 50-lb. bag would never make it past the highly sensitive radiation monitors used at nuclear power plants.

Radioactive Collectibles

Uranium Glass

Early civilizations used minerals to add color to their glass and pottery. Uranium, or Vaseline glass as it is sometimes called, was not known to be radioactive until 1896. However, some earlier glassware contained radioactive colorants for over 2,000 years. It is usually yellow to green and is fluorescent under UV light. It contains two to 25% uranium oxide and is slightly radioactive.

Uranium glass is collectible and was made into various items from everyday glassware to bowls, knick-knacks and souvenir items. The bowl this author’s grandmother used to make gelatin in every week as well as her special occasion stemware is still a part of our family’s collection.

Orange Fiesta Tableware

Uranium oxide has been added to ceramic glazes for many years to color pieces orange-red. The Homer Laughlin Company used it to produce their bright orange Fiesta tableware from 1936 to 1943. Its use ended in 1943 when the company’s supply of uranium oxide was commandeered by the U.S. government for use in atomic weapon production. To this day, all of these original pieces are fairly radioactive and should NOT be used for food purposes, but only as radioactive collectibles.

Lantern Mantles, Metal Alloys & Welding Rods

Non-nuclear uses of thorium compounds are limited. Thorium oxide is the coating used on gas lantern mantles in older camping lanterns. It’s what causes the lanterns to incandesce at high temperatures. Several types of nickel alloys have thorium oxide added to them to increase their strength.

Thorium oxide is also used as an additive to some tungsten-based welding rods. TIG welding rods are available with a 2% thorium content to help in arc stabilization and are slightly radioactive.

3M Model C-15 Tape Dispensers

Next time you wrap a present, take note of your tape dispenser. If it is old and exceptionally heavy, it may be one of the 3M company dispensers made in the 1970s. These models were filled with monazite sand for ballast. Monazite is a radioactive mineral containing thorium.

More Items

There are more radioactive collectibles than can be listed in detail, but here are just a few more:

• Firestone Brand Polonium Spark Plugs from 1946 to 1953—contain polonium

• Radium watch and clock hands—contain radium

• Glow-in-the-dark gun sights—contain tritium

• Military ballistic projectile penetrators— contain depleted uranium

• Cloisonne jewelry with orange or yellow glaze—contains uranium oxide

• Radio Brand Golf Balls 1910 to 1930— contain radium

• Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab Kit, sold in 1951-1952 as a child’s educational tool, was deemed to be dangerous and taken off the market. They are still available on the internet for upwards of $2,000 to $4,000—contain samples of autunite, carnotite, torbernite & uranite

Plan a Visit

Hands-on learning opportunities about the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Age are available with planned visits to various sites across the U.S. The National Park Service sponsors sites at Los Alamos, Hanford and Oak Ridge. You may want to visit the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. Special tours of Trinity Site and the Nevada Test Site are available on a limited basis and may require registration and possible security clearance.

Radioactivity has been and always will be present in our world. To the rockhound, if handled and stored properly, radioactive minerals and collectibles can provide an interesting addition to mineral collections.

This story about radioactivity previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Sue Eyre.

The post Radioactivity, Rocks & The Men Who Handled Them first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

After 30 years of procrastination, I purchased a brand-new rock saw and grinder/polisher. Wow, did I have fun! For that first few months of cutting and grinding, I was in seventh heaven. All those lovely rocks I had lusted after for so long were finally put under my polishing wheel: lapis, agate, jasper, tiger’s eye, malachite, turquoise, chrysocolla and quartz.

But I soon began to experience a nasty and completely unexpected cavalcade of health problems: coughing, hoarseness, difficulty clearing my throat, breathlessness, and a dull ache in the pit of my lungs. Of course, I had always worn safety glasses with side protection, as recommended in every manual, but a mask seemed a cumbersome hindrance. As the situation worsened, I tried several dust masks, but there was little improvement. It was time to do a little research, so I hit the books and started talking to fellow rockhounds. It was a revelation. Rock dust from lapidary work turns out to be more than just a nuisance; it can be deadly.

Dangerous Dust

A single heavy dose can cause crippling lifelong problems. It attacks the lungs in a variety of ways: First, by coating the inner lining and blocking the transmission of oxygen into the bloodstream. Second, tiny sharp fragments slice and cut into the alveoli, which coat the inner lining of the lungs, causing irritation and inflammation. Fresh dust seems to be more harmful because the sharp edges have not had a chance to be softened by moisture. Some forms of rock dust are quite poisonous in and of themselves. Whether it is inhaled, ingested, or contacted by exposed skin, the effect can be injurious to your health.

Copper Oxide Minerals

Among the worst offenders are minerals containing copper (II) oxide (CuO), the higher oxide of copper, which can cause damage to the endocrine and central nervous systems. These minerals include some of our most colorful and treasured semiprecious stones: turquoise (9.8% copper oxide), chrysocolla (45%), and malachite and azurite (70%). These percentages are only close approximations; each rock has its own signature of impurities.

It is worth remembering that other closely related copper compounds are highly bioactive and have been used in pesticides, fungicides, and wood preservatives for decades. This is dangerous material. These high-copper rocks should not be licked to bring out the color, and oil mixed with the dust should be carefully cleaned off exposed skin.

Several lapidaries who smoke have described their own novel test for overexposure: Apparently, copper-impregnated dust combines with nicotine and tobacco tar in saliva to form a sickeningly sweet compound similar to saccharin. When their mouths start to taste like a candy factory, these rockhounds know it’s time to quit. Another sign is influenza-type symptoms. Symptoms of CuO dust poisoning mimic the flu, causing headaches, coughing, sweating, sore throat, nausea and fever. Skin, eye, and respiratory tract irritation are also common, along with a distinct “metallic” taste. A common name for these health effects is “metal fume fever.”

Silicate Minerals

Almost all the rocks most favored by cutters and polishers contain compounds that can be dangerous when inhaled. Silicates are the most common family of minerals on Earth, and silicosis has long been one of the chief hazards facing stonemasons.

The ancient Greeks and Romans were the first to observe its ravages and correctly associated the problem with mining and rockwork. Similar to the “black lung disease” of coal miners, it came to be known in later years as “grinder’s consumption.” The simple steps taken to prevent it were a major achievement in the modern field of occupational health. Ironically, although silicosis is well understood today, thousands still die from its effects every year, mainly from mining and sandblasting in the third world.

The symptoms of inhaling crystalline silica (SiO) dust include shortness of breath, cough, fever, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis, lung scarring, and increased susceptibility to tuberculosis and cancer. Silicosis often takes many years to develop from repeated exposure to low doses of dust, but once established it is irreversible.

Widespread Silicates

The silicates include a bewildering variety of precious and semiprecious stones. In fact, it’s hard to imagine the world without them, as they can be found in every class of rock and occupy a niche in every conceivable geological environment on the planet.

The family includes quartz, chalcedony, jasper, agate, aventurine, bloodstone, carnelian, chrysoprase, amethyst, opal, onyx, beryl, petrified wood, obsidian, flint, chert, soapstone, sandstone, glass and tiger’s eye. In almost all of these, the content of silicon dioxide approaches or exceeds 50%.

It should be mentioned that African tiger’s eye also exposes the lapidary to another potent danger: asbestos. The vibrant optical effect of its chatoyancy is caused by parallel-oriented, finely fibrous amphibole asbestos. Serpentine has a high chrysotile asbestos content, but this is not considered quite as dangerous as the tiger’s eye. Some soapstone varieties also contain asbestos and should be cut or carved with caution.

Fossil Dangers

Radioactivity from fossils is a hazard that isn’t often top of mind. In a recent study of 300 randomly selected fossils from the Hagerman Fossil Beds of Idaho conducted by C. Neal Farmer, Ronald L. Kathren, and Craig Christensen, a handheld Geiger-Müller survey instrument detected discernible levels of radiation one to two orders of magnitude above the ambient level of background radiation in three-quarters of the specimens (“Radioactivity in Fossils at the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument”, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Vol. 99, Issue #8, August 2008, pp. 1355-1359). That is a huge difference.

In some areas, like the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (Idaho) and the Morrison Formation at Dinosaur National Park (Colorado/Utah), fossils have even been hunted using Geiger counters.

According to the study, radioactive fossils seem to occur most commonly between 900 and 1,000 meters above sea level in ancient sandy riverbeds, while clay-rich deposits and those at other altitudes do not seem to show these high levels. Apparently, naturally occurring uranium produces radium, which decays into radon, an inert gas. Ancient groundwater transported these radioactive elements into sandy fossil-bearing areas, where they precipitated out of solution during the fossilization process. Even small fossils like shark teeth and trilobites can have significant readings.

The National Park Service is so concerned that it put out a “Conserve O Gram” with detailed instructions for handling and displaying specimens. While it is probably safe to collect most fossils, at the very least, you should wash up and change your clothes after leaving the field. And always wear a respirator when you cut or polish the pieces—radioactive dust is highly carcinogenic!

Tips for Safe Handling

But enough of the doom and gloom. A few simple precautions can almost completely eliminate the threat of injury from most rock dusts. Here is a list of suggestions that will make your workshop a lot safer and allow you to enjoy lapidary work in good health.

1. Wear a Mask

Always wear a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) approved respirator with replaceable cartridges and dust filters. Some cartridges today combine a prefilter with the cartridge, which makes things simpler.

Respirators provide a wide variety of protection against dusts, solvents, fumes and mists. They are designated N, R and P, depending on the cartridge’s ability to filter out oil; N stands for “no protection”, R for “resistant to oil”, and P for “oil-proof”. The number that follows the initial tells you what percentage of the particulates is filtered out by the cloth prefilter. For example, an N-95 respirator will not keep out oil spray but will screen out 95% of airborne dust particles.

Avoid cheap dust masks; they don’t fit tightly enough and they filter poorly. If you can, try on several different respirators at the store to get the best fit. Shave your beard, if you have one, to get an airtight seal. Store the mask in a closed container or plastic bag when it’s not in use, and occasionally wash it with warm soap and water, both inside and out.
Try this simple negative pressure test on your respirator: Block up the air inlets, breathe in, and hold your breath for 20 seconds. If the mask is still held airtight against your face, it fits. Cartridges should be changed after about eight hours of use.

2. Work Outside and/or Ventilate

An open window or air conditioner does not provide adequate ventilation for the lapidary workplace. The simplest solution is to work outside. This keeps most contaminants out of your workshop and costs nothing, but it is not always possible.

If inside is your preference, consider setting up a local exhaust ventilation system. This would include a dust hood to collect contaminants, ducts to carry them outside, and a suction fan to power the system. Adjustable blast gates would allow a dust hood to be placed next to each appliance. Ducts should be circular, with as few bends as possible, and should exit the shop. If you have close neighbors or are processing a lot of rock, provide a dust collector to remove contaminants from the vented air.

Setting up such an elaborate system can be expensive and time-consuming for the part-time hobbyist. Some woodworking tool suppliers have come up with an ingenious alternative. They have adapted a wet/dry-type vacuum cleaner with a High-Efficiency Particulate Absorbing or Arresting (HEPA) filter to collect shop dust using a little extra pipe and some suction nozzles. There is no reason this system should not work for rock dust, as well. The vacuum should be placed outside the house because the dust-laden air sucked into the intake will be blown out the vacuum’s exhaust port. Even HEPA filters fail or become clogged, and some dust will always slip through. It’s far better for it to be blasted outside than into the shop or another enclosed area. Kits, diagrams, pipe and suction nozzles are available on the internet. Search for “dust collection” and “dust collection network”.

3. Lubricate

Always use water or oil as a lubricant when cutting, drilling, polishing or faceting, but be aware there are problems with both fluids. When water evaporates, it stops holding the dust down, allowing it to become airborne. A fine oil mist laden with toxic dust can be kept out your lungs with a good respirator, but it will settle on skin surfaces and stick like glue. Also, most lapidary oils are highly irritating or downright poisonous to breathe. Some, like old-fashioned kerosene, are dangerously flammable, as well. Everyone has their favorite method, but I work outside using mineral oil and a P (oil-proof) respirator cartridge with a built-in 100% particulate filter.

4. Cover Up

Always wear a head covering and apron and/or coveralls when grinding, and change clothes after you have finished. Rock dust loves to stick to clothing and hair, and you will carry it around the house and breathe it all day long (as will your family) if you don’t change. Take a shower after your lapidary work, shampoo your hair and use lots of soap. Launder coveralls and work clothes frequently. Disposable clothing, coveralls, and an apron might also be an option.

5. Don’t Sweep

Never dry sweep the workshop. Most of the dust will just become airborne and migrate elsewhere. Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter instead. If you really want to get down and dirty, use a wet mop on the floor and a wet rag with a water bucket on other surfaces.

Not all of these suggestions need to be slavishly followed. If you grind infrequently, you can probably forget some of them, but if you are an addict like me, you might want to implement most. Individuals vary greatly in their tolerance to rock dust. Some will go through life with nary a problem, but others can be extremely sensitive. Low doses on a daily basis will slowly accumulate, and that dust isn’t going anywhere once you breathe it in. Smoking and living with a woodstove or in an area with poor air quality will make you that much more vulnerable to problems. Listen to your body. If your lungs start to complain, take more precautions; you only have one set to last a lifetime.

FURTHER READING: Health Hazards Manual for Artists, 6th Ed., by Michael McCann Ph.D. and Angela Babin (Lyons & Burford Publishers, 2008)

This story about how to handle lapidary minerals safely previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story and photos by Douglas Hamilton.

The post 5 Tips to Handle Lapidary Minerals Safely first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Minerals are all around us and even within us. Consider iron in your blood or calcium in your bones. While humans have always sought food products, we’ve always used rocks. Our ancestors used cobbles as hammers to crack nuts. We later learned to use obsidian, chert, and flint to knap knives and spear points and to spark fire. We’ve moved on from the Stone Age to the Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages. Minerals and related earth resources continue to enable contemporary life and the built environment in which we live. They include metals, nonmetallic minerals, and fossil fuels. How little we appreciate this fact of life!

Take the Common Pencil…

Something as simple as a pencil requires more minerals than you might imagine. While a pencil casing is painted wood with a hollow core, the rod within the core is a combination of graphite (carbon) and kaolinite (clay). The more kaolinite, the harder the rod. This is why we have #2, #3, and other pencil grades that leave either a wide dark streak or a slender light streak. While the pencil eraser is a natural or synthetic rubber, it may contain pumice to provide grit. Holding that eraser to the pencil is a tube constructed of aluminum (from bauxite) or brass (from copper plus zinc, or sphalerite). Four to six minerals in a common pencil. Who knew?!

To appreciate the number of minerals used in everyday life, deconstruct other objects. A salt shaker often has an aluminum top (derived from bauxite) and a glass body (from sand, or silicon dioxide) and is filled with salt (halite) crystals. Although it’s on its way out, an old-fashioned incandescent light bulb has a glass exterior (made from silica, soda ash, lime, coal, and salt), a brass or aluminum screw-in base, a tungsten filament, copper and nickel lead-in wires, molybdenum tie and support wires, and an aluminum heat deflector.

Explore Minerals Contributing to the Build Environment

Here are some fun and easy exercises to introduce kids (and yourself ) to the many minerals contributing to our built environment.

Match the Product to the Mineral

An Interactive Display & Quiz

Perfect for a school project…Construct an interactive display showing everyday items at the back and the minerals that went into them at the front. For instance, a soda can at the back and a specimen of bauxite (aluminum ore) at the front, or matches at the back and sulfur at the front. Provide a quiz for kids to fill out to match a mineral to a product.

Spin the Wheel!

For more immediate interactive fun, have a board laid out with squares numbered and stocked with different economic minerals. Kids spin the wheel. They then need to name a product made from a mineral on the number where the wheel lands. If they guess correctly, they keep the mineral. Stick with fairly easy and obvious choices (e.g., a copper nugget matched to plumbing pipes) and have a poster or chart nearby that kids can consult.

The Home Scavenger Hunt

In a school classroom, rock club meeting room, or a home, gather kids around a flipchart, chalkboard, or whiteboard. Encourage them to look around and list everyday things and the rocks and minerals that went into them. If using an old-fashioned chalkboard, you can start with the chalk and the slate of the chalkboard. You might go throughout an entire house, or focus on a particular room.

Here are just a few examples: a brass lamp, windows made of silica, many things made of plastic derived from petrochemicals, fireplace bricks derived from clay (kaolinite), a tin cup, a gold wedding ring, walls made of plasterboard comprised of gypsum, steel nails, and screws in the furniture and paint on the walls containing diatomite as filler.

A Hardware Store Scavenger Hunt

Take a field trip for a scavenger hunt at a hardware store. To get started, here are a few things to seek:

• aluminum and tin siding or roofing (from bauxite or cassiterite)

• bricks and ceramic products (from fired clay, or kaolinite)

• diatomaceous earth for swimming pool filters

• drill bits and saw blades used for cutting tile, concrete, etc. (from diamond)

• electrical wiring, pipes, and plumbing fixtures (from copper)

• glass (from silica sand)

• plaster and drywall (from gypsum)

• rough and crushed rocks and stones for ornamental use (scoria, limestone, marble, etc.)

• sand for mixing with concrete, for sandboxes, etc.

• slabs of various sorts (granite, marble, etc.) for kitchen countertops

• steel and iron nails (made from iron ores like hematite)

Make Your Own Collection

Entire collections can be made of the raw materials of our built environment. Many common minerals are inexpensive and readily available from show dealers. As a start, consider pennies and a copper nugget; nails and hematite; fluorinated toothpaste and a fluorite crystal; laundry detergent and borate minerals; table salt and halite crystals; matches and sulfur.

Learn More!

Several websites provide handy tables linking minerals to everyday objects. Here’s a sampling:

• Minerals Education Coalition

• Women in Mining

• United States Geological Survey (USGS)

• American Geosciences Institute (AGI)

• Gemological Institute of America (GIA)

• National Mining Association

• AFMS Future Rockhounds of America Badge Manual

How Minerals Shape History

As we humans progressed from the Stone Age to the Electronic Age, we’ve seen all sorts of ages in between dominated by a search for earth resources. Consider gold rushes, wars of conquest for mineral-rich colonies, and “titans of industry” (Carnegie, Rockefeller, Peabody, Getty). Our current age is obsessed in a quest for minerals for electric batteries built with lithium, and cobalt. These resources are eagerly being sought to move us from a carbon-emitting petroleum-dependent economy to one based on clean energy.

However, keep in mind that clean electric energy still requires dirty mining. If you think we can get to a so-called no-cost energy future, think again! There will always be a need for mining and minerals, along with a cost to pay. How we ultimately balance such costs is what matters. Think we can live without minerals and all that goes into extracting them? Think again. Think wisely.

What Made It?

Pencils or smartphones are just the beginning. There are thousands of minerals and even more applications of those minerals. Here’s a tiny selected sampling…

This story about the minerals used in everyday life previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Jim Brace-Thompson.

The post Minerals Used in Everyday Life first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

For instance, the Finger Lakes region of central New York is known as “wine country” but one of its unexpected collectibles is the lake beach glass, sometimes still faintly bearing the etched lettering of its origin story, found with particular prevalence along the eastern side of Seneca Lake at Lodi Point Beach State Park.

Why? Old wine bottles: Castaways of vineyards past.

But rarer still are the ancient maritime castaways of ale and rum bottles from the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730), known as “pirate glass,” that wash up on the beaches along the Caribbean, North American eastern seaboard, West African, and Indian Ocean shipping lanes and trading ports.

Such Shanghai surprises tantalize collectors but not every dark piece tells the same story. Because, as Captain Jack Sparrow liked to say, “Not all treasure’s silver and gold, mate.”

Sea Glass Color – The Dark Side

Pirate glass is colloquially described as “black” but the intensity of what is more likely to be blue, brown, green, purple or red glass has been deepened by the addition of cobalt, copper or iron oxides; or during the glass-making process, the addition of iron slag, or coal and wood ash.

Why darken glass? To extend the life of products and their transport because darker glass protects valuable liquids (like alcohol or oil) from degeneration by sunlight.

The same properties added to deepen color also improve the structural integrity of the glass and make it less likely to break during handling and storage.

At sea, water may turn too contaminated to drink, but not ale or rum. Or a seafaring elixir of lime, sugar and rum often kept aboard in dark bottles as a survivalist measure against scurvy.

The strong, dark glass was perfect, beachcombing blogger Kirsti Scott notes, “For pirates on seafaring ships!”

Stones & Scallywags

Black joins gray, orange, teal, turquoise, red and yellow as the seven most difficult sea glass colors to discover. Pirate glass looks black but not all black glass is old enough to truly be “pirate.”

Well after the 17th-century heyday of pirate ships, early 19th-century decorative black glassware, known as Black Amethyst, was produced, as were black glass buttons to accent Victorian French fashion and, in more mundane industrial use, for light bulb insulators produced in plants like the General Electric and Vitrite Company in Ohio.

Slag Glass

Vitrite also happens to be the name of the slag glass often used as a dielectric, or electrical insulator, at the bottom of common light bulbs and consisting mainly of ground glass with “copious amounts of lead and manganese oxides, the latter being responsible for the dark purple color.”

In fact, Black Amethyst has become its own desirable sea glass collectible, with pieces more than 80 years old washing up along the Great Lakes and particularly Lake Erie, where these incandescent light bulb plants operated.

Still, other black beach glass pieces can be found downstream of defunct glassmaking factories, the remnants of bars or nuggets used to colorize clear glass. Also, blue-black glass traces to gin bottles from Holland, and red-black glass to Portugal.

While no less lovely to look at or bring home, these glass pieces lack the unique merits to claim provenance beneath the Jolly Roger.

Ahoy, Pirates

What helps qualify a piece of black sea glass as “pirate glass” is age (glass from the mid-17th century was hand blown) and location (albeit not all seafaring routes had to be Caribbean).

Pirate glass is noteworthy for its size, for the number of bubbles trapped inside its glass, and for its primitive density that (when held up to light) can reveal a “glow” along the edges of its true dark amber, olive green, or purple color. Older pieces may be so dense and opaque that light will not shine through them.

“Pirate ships were no strangers to the shores of the Outer Banks [of the Carolinas], and neither were their rum bottles. After hundreds of years of these bottles being tossed around by the sometimes extremely violent and vicious waters of Hatteras Island, these black chunks occasionally appear on the shore, to a beachcomber’s delight,” collector Kristin Hissong recounted in 2020 for the Island Free Press.

Knowing What to Look For

The trick is knowing what you’re looking for because pirate glass, by virtue of its dark color, blends almost too well into a beach’s natural background and can look a lot like any other average black stone.

“The first time I found a piece of pirate glass,” Kristin says, “I was going back and forth over one little shell bed gathering other treasures. When I first noticed the piece in the sand, I dismissed it as asphalt. It was about four inches long and looked like a black chunk of NC Highway 12.

“I didn’t know sea glass could be so big or so dark. But right before I decided to leave, I thought I might as well pick it up, and to my delight, it was a huge chunk of black sea glass.

“When I held it up to the light, it glowed a deep olive green and the glassmaker’s breath was caught in an air bubble inside the glass,” she noted.

“Ahoy matey, we found Pirate Glass!”

This story about sea glass color previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by L.A Sokolowski.

The post Black Pirate Sea Glass Color first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Memento Mori

A skull is a common motif for the Latin phrase, “Remember you will die” and the ancient practice of reflecting on one’s mortality, going back to the time of Socrates, who is said to have believed the only proper practice of philosophy was “about nothing else but dying and being dead.”

Well, that’s no fun. Even at Halloween. Thank goodness for Canadian actor, comedian, filmmaker, musician and producer, Dan Aykroyd, and world-renowned American portrait and landscape artist, John Alexander. They mastered mixing good taste, good spirits and Herkimer diamonds into a trio of ultra-premium vodkas, in bottles sure to encourage philosophical musings, called Crystal Head.

Clearly Inspired

“The bottle was designed by creative people with the creative spirit in mind, “ says Dana Miller of the New York City-based KLG Public Relations representing Crystal Head Vodka. “Dan and John designed the skull-shaped bottle as a symbol of life, reflecting power and enlightenment. Creativity is at the heart of Crystal Head, with a desire to inspire those who think differently and encourage their creative pursuits.”

Each bottle is the result of using the highest quality ingredients and water from Canada’s eastern province of Newfoundland to produce three additive-free vodka expressions: Original (locally sourced Canadian corn), Aurora (English wheat) and Onyx (Blue Weber Agave sourced from a single farm in Mexico). The origin story starts around 2007 when Aykroyd was bedeviled by an inability to find additive-free vodka spirits to enjoy. So the three-time Ghostbuster decided to make his own.

Filtering the Vodka

After the vodka is distilled four times into a neutral grain spirit and blended with pristine provincial water, the seven-time filtration process includes a final series of three filtrations through layers of the semi-precious crystals found almost exclusively in central New York State: Herkimer diamonds.

The result is a spirit as clear and colorless as the natural gems, with a silky smooth taste and a wraithlike wafting of neutral grain aromas with hints of citrus.

“Aykroyd’s process of distilling quadruple times, and filtering seven times, with the final three through Herkimer crystals, makes this vodka easy drinking. It’s slightly sweet and smooth, and offers a hint of vanilla,” reviewed Jill Weinlein in 2020 for JustLuxe.com.

Three final filtrations through Herks also craft Crystal Head’s Aurora, which uses a different grain to produce drier, bolder vodka with hints of anise and peppercorn, and the bottle’s iridescent metalized finish is described as a “tribute to this natural wonder of the world.”

This stark reminder of mortality has evolved into an artful tribute. Crystal Head Vodka celebrated its 10th anniversary with a John Alexander Artist Series Halloween Limited Edition bottle (since sold out at about $700 for a No.1 bottle).

Legends in the Making

Aykroyd’s collaboration with Alexander (whose works are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Corcoran, and Smithsonian Museums) began with a shared interest in a Mesoamerican legend about 13 crystal skulls before filtering down to natural crystals almost as legendary in their own right.

What is true is that ancient solid crystal skulls exist. Yes, just like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Legend has it that 13 (or 52, as in four sets of 13) of these powerful transmitters of energy are destined to reunite in a circle — a dozen heads, plus one in the center – at a psychically profound cosmic juncture in the human experience.

How Many Skulls?

Surrounding that supernatural speculation, National Geographic science writers Richard A. Lovett and Scot Hoffman add, “There are perhaps a dozen of these rare crystal skulls in private and public collections. Some are crystal clear, others of smoky or rose-colored quartz. Some are actual human size and of very fine detail, while others are smaller and less refined.”

“Thirteen of these polished skulls have been found on our planet,” Aykroyd said in a 2011 interview. “Eight are in the possession of individuals and institutions. Five are missing. Of the eight, each one is unique. Some are green, orange, cloudy and crystal clear.

They are believed to be thousands of years old and appear to have been carved over several hundred years but don’t bear any tool marks. Their very construction defies common logic.”

Attracting Positive Energy

What is clear is that a belief in such crystal figurines to attract positive energy and enlightenment inspired both actor and artist to create Crystal Head as the ultimate vessel for an additive-free, “pure spirit” vodka.

Bruni Glass of Milan, Italy, manufacturers of the bottle, seem to agree. Meanwhile, 300 million years earlier, crystals destined to become ‘spirit stones’ for early North American nations were busy forming.

About Herkimer Diamonds

One of seven rare gems and minerals found in New York State, Herkimer County diamonds, or simply, Herks, belong to the same geologic region of the Mohawk Valley made famous in The Last of the Mohicans. Here ancient dolostone and limestone rock, porous enough to allow mineral – and silicon-bearing fluids to flow through, seeped into a massive network of tectonic fissures and fault lines.

Unlike most quartz found in igneous rock, nascent Herks exhibit an antipathy to attachment, thriving instead in free-floating pockets of liquid inside fault line cavities, or vugs. The results of such disconnection to a host rock are doubly terminated hexagonal quartz crystals, including barbells and scepters.

Herk Facts

Prized for their innate beauty, Herks range from water-clear to smoky black and are purported to have abilities, as holistic tools, to receive and transmit energy. Many people head to this region today to hunt for Herkimer diamonds.

Early Mohawk peoples referred to themselves as Kanyenkehaka, or ‘People of the Crystals,’ says Larry Michon, president of Northern Berkshire Mineral Club (NBMC), and the valley where they lived was called Kayenkehaka or ‘The Place of Crystals.’

The “diamonds” (a 7 on the Mohs scale) were so prevalent that early settlers found them in stream sediments and plowed fields and, according to Schiffer Publishing’s Collectors’ Guide to Herkimer Diamonds (2014), “immediately held them in high esteem.”

Until the 1600s, when European-crafted glass beads usurped the sparkling crystals in New World popularity, they were traded among neighboring villages, used to make tools, and crafted into amulets. Now, Herkimer diamonds can add ‘vodka filtration’ to their resumé.

Cold Comfort 1 ½ oz. Crystal Head Vodka 1 oz. Dark Rum 4 oz. Apple Cider 1 Cinnamon Stick Add Crystal Head Vodka, dark rum and apple cider in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds. Strain into a glass with ice. Garnish with cinnamon stick, finely grated cinnamon and thinly sliced apple.

Through the Glass, Darkly

An appreciation for the power of gemstones to potentially imbue metaphysical properties led Crystal Head Vodka to work with a second stone: onyx.

According to the International Gem Society (IGS), this variety of chalcedony has a mystical association with capturing and containing demons or imps.4Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic also refers to onyx as useful for temporarily containing energy of any kind and the blackness of the stone allows easier access to the subconscious mind.

Sounds like a perfect container for a spooky season’s spirits. Crystal Head describes Onyx, one of the first commercially available agave-based vodkas, and its luxurious glossy black bottle with matching crest debossed cap as, “a celebration of the powerful, warrior crystal.”

“The story behind Crystal Head is one of positive spiritual energy,” Aykroyd has said and, thanks now to Herkimer diamonds, skulls are more than memento mori. They carry good gemstone energy and, like the ancient crystal legend, become “symbols of enlightenment and hope for a better future.” We’ll drink to that.

This story about Herkimer diamonds and Crystal Head vodka appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by L.A. Sokolowski.

The post Herkimer Diamonds & Crystal Head Vodka first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Quartz crystals grow when atoms of silica and oxygen lock together in a regular and repeating pattern as silicon dioxide. When quartz crystallizes, its shape connects to its nourishment, or the physical and chemical conditions surrounding it. “Perfect” or “ideal” quartz has hexagonal (six-sided) crystals with triangular faces forming pyramids on top and bottom. But perfection is the exception.

How Do Types of Quartz Crystals Misgrow?

In nature, growth conditions constantly change and crystals become distorted. One crystal face may grow faster than others. Crystals may split and develop multiple points and faces. A crystal may be twinned or intergrown with others. It may stop growing, dissolve a bit and then resume growth. In short, don’t bet on odds for a perfect crystal in nature! Inclusions in quartz are not uncommon.

1. Gwindel

Also called quendel, gedrehten or twisted quartz, gwindel (pronounced “gvin-dell”) is another collection of many stacked crystals. In the case of gwindels, each crystal seems to have formed at a somewhat curved or bent offset from the others. The result is a slightly curved comb or toothed pattern.

2. Skeletal Quartz

Skeletal quartz (also called window or Fenster quartz) crystallizes in unstable conditions with more saturation than normal. This causes the edges to grow faster than the crystal faces so the edges stick out and the faces are set back like glass in a window frame giving it a layered or ribbed look. (Hence the name skeletal quartz.) There also may be etchings and cavities with clay minerals, gases or water trapped inside.

3. Phantoms

Quartz crystals developing within mineral solutions sometimes stop growing and then grow again later. In between, other minerals may get deposited on a crystal face. These leave spooky zones of different colors within the quartz, including blood red which comes from the iron mineral hematite. Crystals-within-a-crystal are referred to as inclusions or “phantoms.”

4. Faden Quartz

Faden means “thread” and in the case of Faden quartz, the name comes from the ghostly white line running through it. Faden quartz consists of a series of interconnected flat crystals. The white line is made from cracking during quick crystal growth and fluid trapped in the crack.

5. Twins

Twinning is common and comes in many varieties with quartz, including Dauphine law, Brazil law and Japan law. Japan law twins are a collector favorite. They were named after specimens from a classic locality in Kai, Japan.

6. “The Chiseler”

Rather than an even pyramid shape, chisel quartz has flattened crystals with a wide beveled (slanted and angled) face that looks like a chisel.

7. Spirit Quartz

Spirit quartz, also known as cactus quartz, consists of a primary crystal with prism faces covered by a druse of small second-generation crystals, much like the trunk of a cactus is covered by spines. It is said to be able to connect you with the “spirit realm.”

Collect Different Types of Quartz

Don’t fear skeletons and phantoms. Collect them! The weirder, the better! Each tells a story of growth and misgrowth within the quartz crystal family.

This story about spooky types of quartz crystals appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story and photos by Jim Brace-Thompson.

The post 7 Spooky Types of Quartz first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.