![]() Jasper varies a lot in appearance, however, and the variety in your own backyard may not be what you’re looking for. Jasper, like agate, can be found in most places that formerly had volcanic activity. Most other jasper group stones aren’t fake, they occur in large enough deposits that it’s not profitable to create fakes. Testing is usually easy, most will burn readily if you apply a hot nail or needle to the stone. They’re not always clearly labeled, but if the price is too good to be true then… well, you’re probably not getting a good deal. Imperial Jasper is a pricey stone, so there are quite a few artificial substitutes out there. Related: How Much Is Jasper Worth? (And Where To Sell It) Buyer Beware: Fake Jaspers ![]() It’s no wonder that the stuff is a favorite of collectors There’s an endless variety of jasper out there, and each stone produces its own unique pattern. Bumblebee Jasper also falls into this category, it’s actually a calcite mineral colored with pyrite, arsenic, and sulfur. One of the most famous is Dalmation Jasper, which is a microcrystalline silica stone instead of a cryptocrystalline stone. There are also quite a few stones called jasper in their common name that consist of different minerals than true jasper. Many jasper patterns have distinct names, and other jaspers are called for their place of origin. That’s just a small sample of the offerings out there. It’s not named for its colors(which vary across the spectrum from blue to green to red) but instead for the fact that the deposits are often marine and only accessible at low tide. Ocean Jasper is an orbicular jasper that occurs in Madagascar. These often form the illusion of rolling hills, mountains, and other idyllic landscapes. ![]() Landscape Jasper are Earth-toned jaspers which display a “landscape” when cut. The most common forms are cemented with grey chalcedony between red and yellow jasper but there is a multitude of different colors available. In the modern market there are a lot of composites under the same name, be sure of what you’re buying! Brecciated Jasperīrecciated jasper nodules are broken up internally and cemented with chalcedony. Imperial Jasper is a green form of jasper that is considered one of the rarest. Some of the commonly used names for jasper varieties are: Imperial Jasper Some varieties also have their own names and specific colors. Jaspers, like agates, have a loose classification system based on how their surface patterns emerge. They’re surprisingly common in many parts of the United States. Jasper nodules can often be found in riverbeds anywhere near ancient volcanic activity. Jasper is an igneous rock but it often occurs in larger formations than agate. Jasper’s deep colors and opacity stem from impurities in the silica. The crystals in a cryptocrystalline stone are hard to find even with a microscope. While they’re made of the same stuff as regular quartz crystals, the crystal structure is entirely different. Jaspers exist on a continuum of cryptocrystalline quartz. ![]() Generally, the stone will have some kind of pattern as well, even if it’s within a single hue. A true jasper blocks all light, although some brecciated jaspers will have pockets of chalcedony in them. Jasper is distinct from agate due to its opacity. Jasper is usually characterized by bright colors, including green, red, blue, and many others. Over a period of time, intense heat and high pressure, the association of minerals solidify into the stone that is referred to as bumblebee jasper.Jasper is a form of cryptocrystalline silicon dioxide(SiO₂ or silica) that’s opaque. Porous volcanic rock is filled with deposited calcite, realgar, pyrite and, potentially, sulfur. Given that bumblebee stone forms on an active volcano, the formation process is not that surprising. As of the current date, this is the only location to find bumblebee jasper, though one could conjecture that similar, geologic environments would produce similar stones. It is on the active volcano, Mount Papandayan, in west Java, Indonesia, that bumblebee jasper is collected. The dust created could easily be inhaled or ingested which would pose a serious health risk.īumblebee stone is known to only form in one specific location which wasn’t discovered until the 1990’s. The real danger would be to anyone cutting or polishing the stone or handling raw, unpolished bumblebee jasper. But, the realgar with bumblebee jasper is in a polished state is not be readily absorbed through the skin. Many websites list bumblebee jasper as a toxic mineral as it contains realgar which itself has a high arsenic content. So no, it is not a jasper and it would be more technically correct to just refer to it as bumblebee stone. Tests of the stone using x-ray diffraction analysis show that it is mostly calcite and contains no silica. Jasper by definition is primarily composed of silica.
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