Hiddenite

No, it isn't a member of a cult...it's a gem stone!

On Saturday I joined approximately 20 other people for a trip to a town called Hiddenite, NC. There is a gem mine there open to the public (Google it...you'll find it easily). You do one or more activities to collect stones. The most popular is sitting at a bench and "sluicing". This is putting dirt into a screen and brushing that along with a stream of water. They can pretty much guarantee that you will get gem stones. Another activity is wading in a creek, where water has moved dirt and stones off the mountainside, revealing the gems.

I got a nice little collection of stones while sluicing. Maybe nothing spectacular. I did not step in the creek because I knew the water would be cold and I didn't want to take off my shoes and socks. But from the side of the creek I spotted two interesting stones, and a lady friend went and picked them up for me.

Now I have a little container with various colored stones. I don't really know how to identify what I have, but one thing I would like to do is grind a little material off a small one as a test. Not that I will become a diamond cutter. The only diamond cutting I will do is if I get hired to mow the lawn at the local baseball field.

Including a picture of the variety. I'm hoping the light green one is Hiddenite and that the dark green one is emerald. Don't know what the light blue one is but I kept calling it "bluejeanite" because it was exactly the color of a friend's blue jeans. The penny is just there for a size reference. Maybe some day I will have someone cut and polish these. Or maybe I'll just put them away and never think about them again. A bit blurry as it was taken indoors without enough light.