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Pink Soapstone?
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It is surprising but many opal pieces are mistaken for chert because it has VERY similar physical characteristics. Some pieces are next to impossible to determine without magnification. Honestly chert, flint, chalcedony, agate, jasper, and opal are just names determined by the crystalline structure and the type of rock it forms with.SE ARKANSAS
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- Opal is a hydrated silicon dioxide. It is often of a Neogenic origin. In fact it is not a mineral (it is a mineraloid) and it is generally not considered a variety of chert, although some varieties of opal (opal-C and opal-CT) are microcrystalline and contain much less water (sometime none). Often people without petrological training confuse opal with chert due to similar visible and physical characteristics.
SE ARKANSAS
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Cool Ron . If you take the scrap to a cheese grater . Would you get powder.. like you told me when I found my first piece of soapstone?SW Connecticut
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I’ve seen some resin treated gypsum that people use for carving elephants and other tourist items. They call it opal, jade, onyx or whatever else sounds more valuable than resin treated rock.
There are some pink halite (salt) and pink soap stone deposits, but normally you see a lot more variation in the material.Hong Kong, but from Indiana/Florida
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I have seen pink steatiteTN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post
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I have a few steatite specimens but that piece doesn’t look like any soapstone that I personally have lol. I also have some raw common opal that has a similar talc as your piece on one end and morphs into multiple crystalline structures similar to Chert at the other side of the same piece. Opal has many forms and can mix with many different minerals to form all different textures and colors from common trash grade (chalky opaque) to gem quality with sparkling iridescent fire in the same piece but it is all still considered opal. I was not saying that your piece is or isn’t soapstone or opal because that’s impossible without a microscope. I was just implying that different types of common opal can fool many and it could possibly be an opal although you ruled it out in your question of what this material is to begin with. If you purchased it from a reputable rock dealer then I would figure they would know but if it come from some common internet schemer then it’s probably a resin mixture. Good luck.SE ARKANSAS
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Soapstone, or more properly, steatite, is mostly talc. To the best of my limited knowledge, most pink soapstone originates from China.
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Rhode Island
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That raw piece actually reminds me of those Himlayan salt lamps. Have you tried licking it?TN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post
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check this out Ron http://www.galleries.com/scripts/ite...es+Talc+TAL-10TN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post
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