Yearly Illinois Game Con - my haul!

Darth Duck.  Hey, it's funny.

This is the complete Quest for the Rings (overlay, tokens, game board/map, cartridge) for Odyssey 2. Had it before, loved the game, but sold my childhood copy. They wanted $15. I purchased this for just $10.  I can't believe I found it.  I can't believe I purchased for that price.

Four NES carts for $32. I didn't actually have an original Mario/Duck Hunt Cart. I am hoping that the Defender II is actually Stargate. Also curious about about the Super Pitfall since I love Pitfall and Pitfall II for Atari 2600.

Six Calcite and Quarts geoids for just $5.  Trust me that is a good deal.

New copy of Five Nights at Freddie's for $15 for the Switch.  Felt like that was a pretty good deal. 

Rock/Mineral/Crystal mining in Kentucky again

We went Rock/Mineral/Crystal mining a couple times more in Kentucky again.  We found lots of sea fossil again like various plant and shells, but this time we also found coral.  Below are a few pieces that we found.

Yes, we had found some coral before, but this time we found a lot of coral fossils, and some types we don't normally find. These larger ugly red rocks are coral fossilized with calcite, quartz, and iron.  Looks ugly until you shine UV on it.  The Calcite becomes excited and glows neon red.  Another type of coral fossil we had not found in a while is the horned coral.

More and more dice.

 My dice collection has really become quite large now.  It is one of those things I don't have to try that hard to acquire as people like buying me dice.   The interesting thing about collecting dice and collecting crystals is that the two hobbies have collided.  Collided that I need my own storage for dice made out of crystals/rock/minerals.  This weekend I gained 9 more sets.  All because I publicly stated I thought it would be great if more would manufacture dice made from crystals. Of course many told me that was a horrible idea.... but, really nobody in their right mind would actually use them in a game.

The main takeaway though is that the price has really gone down and the manufacturing processes has become more streamline. 

So this weekend I got dice made out of the following:

- 2 sets of Lapis Lazuli

- Rhodolite

- Lepidolite

- Moss Agate (much different than my other Agate dice)

- Strawberry Quartz

- Tiger Eye (my favorite)

- Dragon Blood

- Blood Stone

Ya gotta admit that Dragon Blood and Blood Store are perfect for making dice from.

So what I think I'm going to do is make a video of all my crystal/mineral based dice and post soon.

A table I have compiled.

I compiled a mineral table that is a little different than anything I have found on the web.  

Hopefully someone will find this useful:

http://mrgibson.com/rock_spar_min/Catalog_Note.php?view=0

The table is arranged by Mohl's hardness scale.   Note:  I do realize it is still far from complete and formulas can be made better .

differentiating purple Amethyst and purple Fluorite.

Sometimes rough purple fluorite and quartz Amethyst look a lot a like.  I have pieces that visually, it is very hard tell the difference. In fact, sometimes identifying the mineral and its core is quite challenging and near impossible for some individuals in the market looking to purchase the stones.  Especially if the Fluorite or Quartz Amethyst is not showing the natural cleavage or have not been cut and/or polished into shapes.  For example, both can be the same color with the same variance in lightness/darkness of color. But the two minerals are very different. Fluorite's chemical formula is CaF2, meaning the mineral is composed of Fluorine and Calcium in equal amounts. Quartz's chemical formula is SiO2.

If cut and polished into shapes though, differences may become even harder to tell visually.

Quartz and fluorite also naturally glows under ultraviolet (UV) light. UV light will only show they are real crystals, not specify which type they are.  So, if you’re questioning the authenticity of your crystal, stick it under a blacklight. The electrons in the crystals will naturally react to the UV light, giving off a fluorescent glow. If there’s no glow, the crystal is most likely fake.

Note:  different crystal of the same type will glow at different UV spectrums.  In fact, one crystal may glow one color at one UV spectrum and glow a different color at another.

How do you test Fluorite and Quartz?

In general, both can be tested by checking: 

• luster/shine
• how soluble with water
• hardness

What are the differences?

Is crystal shiny or dull? Raw, untreated Fluorite is dull, but can be polished to a shine. Quartz is a naturally shiny.  But Fluorite can be easily shined.

Does the crystal dissolve in water? Fluorite will dissolve very slowly in water, but it can be submerged for a small amount of time. At room temperatures quartz is practically insoluble in water and the dissolution process in water is extremely slow, so there is no need to worry about quartz crystals being damaged by repeated cleaning.

Does the crystal scratch easily? Fluorite is a soft crystal, so it scratches easily. Quartz is much harder than Fluorite. The surface of real fluorite has a lot of tiny scratches due to its low hardness. It has a hardness rating of 4 on the Mohs hardness scale - Fluorite easily fractures. Amethyst rates a 7 on the Mohs scale and has good toughness.  Amethyst should be able to scratch metals and glass.