Neurospicy Witchcraft

OK here is the order I /think/ these should be..

I went back through all the days and re-identified the stones that came out on each day. Some are different from what I originally identified them. I am not 100% certain on every choice, as some ended up being placed there by process of elimination. Moss Agate and Fluorite could possibly be swapped with each other. I almost put down Carnelian and Cherry Quartz the other way round too.

If you would put them in a different order which ones would you swap?

The Stones! The stones!

I'd swap yellow calcite and the citrine. I think the lighter one is the citrine.

I think the fluorite might be the grey agate which would make the grey agate fluorite. That one still looks a lot like an amethyst but sometimes purple fluorite looks like amethyst.

On the other hand - I could see swapping that fluorite one and the moss agate one. I'd probably have to get my hands on these to see if I could figure them out but even then, they may not make sense.

Nothing screams labradorite to me. Maybe the smoky quartz but then nothing else screams smoky quartz and that does look like a smoky that got a bit overirradiated.

I think you've got that carnelian in the right spot. The rose quarz is very pale but I do see that bit of pink in it. Rose quartz can be really pale.

I think the one that bugs / interests me the most is that grey one with the bit of purple in it. The problem with smooth stones is it's hard to do a scratch test and see if that thing will scratch glass - which would put it in the quartz family rather than the fluorite family. (You should be able to scratch fluorite with a knife but that can damage a stone so I don't like to do that.)

This was fun!

Thank you for your input!

Day 7 of December; Black Obsidian!

Psychic protection, cleansing, clearing, magic, safety, power and maintaining.

Hmm, the one with the the color split that you can't figure out might be the smoky quartz. The lighter, brighter yellow the citrine and the lemon sherbert the calcite.

I'm still perplexed over that pink grey purple one.

@neurospicywitchcraft

Tried to get a good photo of these to see if they help a bit. But this is probably why we're having some much trouble.

Technically - there are 4 amethyst in this photo.

On the other hand, there are 4 citrines in this photo.

There are probably 5 imposters in this photo.

Starting at the very top is an over-irradiated smoky quartz which I bought just because it was so overly black. Quartz is fairly common but true smoky quartz is hard to find so these days a lot of the smoky quartz on the market is just regular quartz that's been irradiated to create the effect that takes nature eons to create. And sometimes that quartz gets a bit too much of a good thing and creates a weird shiny black quartz. So, an imposter.

Below it is one I can't identify beyond - well, it's probably a quartz. It's either a very murky amethyst or a weird smoky quartz verging on purple. Or someone started with amethyst and ended up with whatever that is, possibly aiming for citrine.

The three yellow tumbles below it are - heat-treated amethyst sold as citrine. A lot of citrine on the market is heat-treated amethyst just because amethyst is more common. And there are times when I prefer working with it over true citrine because for me, the energy feels smoother.

The point below those is a true citrine in a nice yellow color. True citrine can be expensive (compared to the heat-treated stuff) and these days, dealers will often identify where the mine was to help reassure it's authenticity.

Now generally no one "fakes' amethyst or rose quartz because those are common enough. But cherry quartz and strawberry quartz are usually an "enhanced" stone rather than a natural stone.

Day 21, cloudy quartz maybe?

Hmm, did you find the clear quartz yet? Because this might be it. Clear and cloudy quartz are both basically just quartz with various degrees of imperfections changing the appearance. Based on the list, that's the one it's most likely to be.

Do you have a photo of it next to that really pale pink one that might be rose quartz?

Yeah I think this one is the clear quartz!

I'm gonna evaluate them all together once they are all opened.

Almost thought this was another Amethyst but when photographed it looks more pink.

Eyeballing, it looks more of a purple/grey tone.

Maybe Grey Labradorite?

Rose quartz.

Rose quartz comes in a variety of pink shades, some of which are not as pink as others. I have rose quart in that shade.

Though it could qualify for one of the current most controversial terms in crystals - pink amethyst. (Commence the old rock guys yelling Amethyst is purple! It's in the name.)

Pink amethyst seems to be quartz that sort of verges into the lavender color range and can be sold as "pink amethyst." I have a couple of peices that are definitely amethyst in structure. This looks more rose quartz in structure.

I had thought that the one on the right here was rose quartz.. it's a /very/ pale pink irl.

This entire calendar has been quite confusing, though it has some nice crystals from it. It's been a pot luck of trying to guess which one is which and then opening another door later on and being "oh wait this one now looks more like this crystal than that one did"

This calendar really is confusing. Well, I'm fairly certain that the red one is carnelian.

Does the top one (the greyish one) sort of flash and reflect light if you change the angle? The big thing for labradorite (and related stones) is the flash. A skilled craftsman will cut it to help show off the flash but this looks tumbled which may make it harder to see. (I have a raw moonstone that looks like a basic quartz or calcite unless I get the angle right and see the flash. (moonstone is in the same family as labradorite).

The bottom white/pink one looks like a quartz of some sort. If it's rose quartz, it's very pale. But then I've seen rose quartz be that pale, so it's possible.

That ID chart is, like most ID charts, is overly optomistic and somewhat color enhanced. A rose quartz as pink as the one they show would probably end up in the gem trade rather than the tumbled trade.

But I suspect our main problem here is this a great way someone has discovered to get rid of the less attractive selections in their bulk wholesale delivery. Which from a marketing standpoint is genius. But from a buyer perspective perhaps less than ideal. You'll get some nice stones (I remember the tiger's eye looked very nice) but then some where the color is off just enough that no one would pick them up from a display.

Tumbles and small raw chunks can be like that. They are often leftovers from processing larger stones which are then polished and sold by the pound. Some dealers just hand them out as gifts if you buy something more expensive from them.

When you get to the end, line this up and take a photo. I want to see what they look like.

That is my plan! Ill make sure I get a nice photo of them all together on Xmas day.