Possible Diamond?

[bjgiff]

I was metal detecting an 1800's camp area and hit an old metal key of sort. When I dug it I came across several small stones. At the time I thought they was agates. They were a bit soapy looking. I have a pile of odds and ends of finds that I have stashed in the area. Old horse shoe nails, pull tabs etc... and left the rest of the stones there. I kept one with me. As I was driving I noticed that the stone is clear and no visible flaws can be seen with the naked eye.

*On my other holes I dug in the area I did not turn up any stones at all. I looked around the area and couldn't find any agates on the surface. The group of stones I found were all together in one hole.

Below are some pics. Is it worth having a jeweler check it out or is it an obvious agate? It will put a deep scratch into glass without flawing the stone at all. I did read some agates are hard enough to do that too.

*The stone in the pics is about 7/16" at the longest points and about 1/4" wide.

 

[tidewalker2]

Looks like a piece of quartz. Where did you find it?

 

[GoGoGopher]

I second the quartz...

HH,

 

[Bell]

You never know, most pawn shops, gold buyers etc will test it for free.

 

[Markdb61]

I agree it looks like quartz but might as well have it tested.

 

[edjcox]

Does not have a crystal shape... Always test these things...

 

[1859large]

Diamonds are fairly rare and very valuable. If you don't live in a known diamond producing region the odds of finding one let alone several of any size big enough to see in hand specimen, the alternative are micro diamonds, more plentiful but hard to see.

Now a simple test for diamond is a scratch test. Diamond will scratch quartz easily, a very hard knife blade will also scratch quartz. Your wife might be able to loan you a diamond to make a comparison.

HH 1859

 

[1859large]

Diamond will scratch glass easily. Quartz is about as hard as glass and will not scratch it so easily.

Got a wife handy, check her diamond and compare how it marks glass.

HH 1859


PS: One thing to remember. Daimonds are scarce and valuable. Do you live in a known diamond producing region? Placer diamonds, diamonds in river sands and gravels do exist but only in the proximity of diamond bearing rock. To find one is rare, two almost entirely unlikely. The diamond mines in Canada which were found in the 1980s where found by sampling glacial sands for micro diamonds and then looking for daimond pipes, very ancient vents that brought up the diamonds from 10s of miles down. These here found by magnetometer surveys, as these vents, (volcanos) are long gone as surface features. These mines are found on the flat nrthern tundra.

I'm a geologist but you can read a lot on the origin of diamonds on the internet.

 

[edjcox]

You live in Arkansas or Upstate New York?

Only two Kimberlite pipe areas in the US I know of...

 

[jajayo]

I have seen other uncut diamonds that look like this, I would go back and get the other stones and have them tested it could have been a cache that someone had collected from a diamond site and the key may have been to a box or a safe which housed more. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they are real and if they are you may have a fortune.

 

[edjcox]

Uaed to find a lot of that stuff along the river in the gravel. Plain glass polishd by water and sand will look like that after years. Doesn't account for the hardness though. Any jewler will have a diamond tester to check them out for you...

 

[gilfordberry]

I agree that they look like uncut diamonds. No way to tell, though, by just looking. Could be zircon, white sapphire, opal, ...???? Need to have it tested.