The first Feldspar, seen below, is a very popular healy-feelie stone found in California with a close cousin from China. The stones from both locations have the same name. Now, contrary to very popular beliefs, it is not a black stone with Andalusite crystals embedded in it. That is how some web sellers offering this particular stone describes it. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
So the question becomes -- what kind of Feldspar is it? Like Unakite, this stone is a composite that features lightly-colored 'calligraphic-like' feldspar crystals called 'phenocrysts' enclosed by a dark matrix of Basalt called the groundmass. Since the helter-skelter arrangement of the crystals rightfully reminds one of Chinese calligraphy, this rock was named "Chinese Writing Stone" in 1980. How these Feldspar crystals got mis-identified as Andalusite in unknown.
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The second Feldspar type stone was originally said to contain four types of Feldspars. In actuallity, only one of its constituent minerals – anorthoclase – is a Feldspar. The other three minerals are two amphiboles (riebeckite and arfvedsonite) and a pyroxene (aegirine).
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Feldspar is a rather expansive group of stones having many members that could one day qualify for ornamental uses as an increasingly eco-minded public begins to discover and delight in the dirt-cheap (pun intended) glories of the earth’s crust. But our Nebula Stone, shown above, is more of a hanger-on than a full fledged membern of the Feldspar grouping, unlike the fully accepted Feldspar gemstones called Sunstone, Moonstone and Andesine or more lapidary type stones like Labradorite, Amazonite and Larvikite, to name a few.
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Thanks to Colored Stone Magazine for info and pictures.
So the question becomes -- what kind of Feldspar is it? Like Unakite, this stone is a composite that features lightly-colored 'calligraphic-like' feldspar crystals called 'phenocrysts' enclosed by a dark matrix of Basalt called the groundmass. Since the helter-skelter arrangement of the crystals rightfully reminds one of Chinese calligraphy, this rock was named "Chinese Writing Stone" in 1980. How these Feldspar crystals got mis-identified as Andalusite in unknown.
.
.
The second Feldspar type stone was originally said to contain four types of Feldspars. In actuallity, only one of its constituent minerals – anorthoclase – is a Feldspar. The other three minerals are two amphiboles (riebeckite and arfvedsonite) and a pyroxene (aegirine).
.
Feldspar is a rather expansive group of stones having many members that could one day qualify for ornamental uses as an increasingly eco-minded public begins to discover and delight in the dirt-cheap (pun intended) glories of the earth’s crust. But our Nebula Stone, shown above, is more of a hanger-on than a full fledged membern of the Feldspar grouping, unlike the fully accepted Feldspar gemstones called Sunstone, Moonstone and Andesine or more lapidary type stones like Labradorite, Amazonite and Larvikite, to name a few.
.
Thanks to Colored Stone Magazine for info and pictures.
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