Crystals are the flowers of the Mineral Kingdom THE MINERAL NEWSLETTER VOLUME 51 NO. 3 APRIL 2010 Also find information Gems of Peru on our Club Website: http://www.novamineralclub.org For our next meeting program, Mr. Lee and faceted beads, pendants and Horowitz (biography on page 9) will bead pendants as well as sterling silver describe the unique gems of Peru , fo- with Peruvian gemstones and alpaca NVMC Schedule: cusing on Peruvian blue opal, pink opal, jewelry. 24 Apr. Field Trip to Vul- chrysocolla, opaline, azurite- Our meeting will be at Long Branch Na- can Manassas Quarry malachite, banded rhodocrosite, ortiz ture Center in Arlington, starting at 24-25 Apr. Sterling Hill Su- rhodocrosite, bubblegum pink rho- 7:45pm. per Diggg donite. He will also touch on more un- Following past practice the NVMC will usual stones such as leopard stone be hosting our speaker, Lee Horowitz, 26 Apr. General meeting (breccia), blue aragonite, varascite, on April 26 the at the usual restaurant, of the NVMC at 7:45pm blue chalcedony, angelite the Olive Garden in Bailey's Cross- 24 May General meeting of (anhydrite), blue abalone shell, roads. The usual plan is to begin/meet the NVMC at 7:45pm spondyllus shell and mother of pearl, at 6 pm at the Olive Garden. Please 28 June General meeting of pink manganocalcite, banded calcite, contact Wayne (d8olite @ fastmail.fm) the NVMC at 7:45pm - this banded fluorite, etc. or Sue (r1haskins @ verizon.net) if you is the last meeting before The lecture will emphasize the distinc- anticipate coming so we can make res- the summer break. tions between natural blue opal—which ervation. Of course, the more the mer- is colored by copper—and simulated or rier, and the whole club is welcome, so treated materials. Similar distrinctions please share this information. between naural and treated or simu- WHERE: Olive Garden, Inside this issue: lated chrysocolla and turquoise also Bailley's Crossroads will be highlighted. A range of samples 3548 S. Jefferson Street March Minutes 2 will illustrate crucial differences, afford- Falls Church, VA The Prez Says ing invaluable first-hand experience It is across from Skyline Towers & Tar- with rough natural materials, cut get on King Street. An eye for Diamonds 3-4 cabuchons, faceted cabuchons, beads EFMLS meeting 5 Vulcan Quarry Field Trip 24 April Our membership 6 The Gem and Mineral Society of the Va. Pen- been there, I don't need to tell you what's (a map) insula (GMSVP) is hosting a field trip to the there, how to get there or other site specific Vulcan Quarry in Manassas, VA, on Saturday, details. Word Find April 24th and we would like to extend an 7 Please let Ted Carver, your inexplicably Meteorite Men invitation to your club to join us. We under- wonderful trip coordinator, know whether April Agenda (N/A) stand some of you were just there several you will be interested in attending. If so, the weeks ago, but for those who weren't able to sign-up deadline is Wednesday, April attend we thought this would be a Sterling Hill Weekend 8 21st. Forward the thoroughly magnificent nice opportunity for your members. Ted the contact info at jtcarve @ msn.com. Other Clubs have expressed an interest in Pumice Candy 9 Don't hesitate to contact Ted, the miracu- attending as well. Horowitz Biography lously fantastic, with any questions you may Well’s Moving Sale The normal protocol for this location is arriv- have. We hope to have a safe and fun out- ing by 7:30 a.m. on April 24th at the office ing. We hope to see you there! for check-in and safety meeting. Then be out Club information 10 The Gem and Mineral Society of the Va. Pen- by noon. As many times as your clubs have insula (GMSVP) Humans, generally. Page 2 THE MINERAL NEWSLETTER Sheryl Sims…won Fifth Place Award for Original Educational Articles: Rock, Stock and "Berylling" in March Meeting Minutes Over My Head; and Seventh Place Award for Original Non-Technical Articles: The National Gem Collection By Wayne Sukow and Sheryl Sims, Acting Secretary George Rheimherr… EFMLS (BEAC) won 2nd Place 22 March 2010 Award for Original Non-Technical Article: Lunar Rocks from Soviet Space Program; and Honorable President, Barry Remer called the meeting to order Mention-Written Feature: Lincoln Penny and Lunar at 7:50 p.m. Thirty-four members and guests were in Rocks attendance. Guests introduced themselves and were recognized by the members. Among the welcomed Wayne Sukow… EFMLS (BEAC) Award for "The Prez newcomers were Mike Pabst and Carolyn Evers. Says 'U' per or Yuper Agates" Mary Bateman, EFMLS Immediate Past President, Congratulations to all. presented several Eastern Federation Bulletin Edi- President Remer announced that following the ad- tors Advisory Council (BEAC) awards that were journment of the meeting refreshments would be made at the 2010 EFMLS Annual meeting earlier this available for 15 minutes while members did more month. Those receiving awards were: bidding and then the first NVMC auction of 2010 Matt Charsky…EFMLS 2010 Citation Award for his would begin. The meeting was adjourned. Refresh- overall contributions over the years ments were provided by Karen Lewis and Lois Dowell. Thanks you, the peanut butter cookies were Kathy Hrechka…The EFMLS (BEAC) Trophy for excellent. Original Educational Article: Adventure to NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas The auction commenced with “Colonel” Matt Char- sky as the solo auctioneer and Dave Hennessey, Jim Robert Winsor…won 1st Place Award for Newsletter Kostka and Jeff Gueber as spotters. The bidding was Editor, 2nd Place for Original Educational Article: spirited with mostly double digit winning bids on the Growing Crystals; and 7th Place for Written Fea- numerous excellent mineral specimens. The auction ture: Field Trip to JMU" ended at 9:50 pm. Thank you to those who partici- pated in the cleanup of the room. The Prez Says By Barry Remer Next, Sue Marcus, our VP contacted several of us by As a member of NVMC since 1986 it is my pleasure to email that she wanted a speaker for our meeting this guide our club and help it become a part of our edu- month. Sue was contacted by Wayne, our previ- cational commitment furthering our hobby. ous (and long serving) Past President with the name of a possible speaker. Thus we will have a speaker for Part of what I see happening is on the part of Rick our meeting on April 26. Reiber, our Treasurer. With the cooperation of three club members and Rick contacted me this past week ad informed me he Robert Winsor, our Bulletin Editor, you will see this solved the problem of getting the minutes for the club. article and be stimulated to come to the meeting. His solution was to purchase a recorder for the club Bring a friend and introduce them to our hobby. that will make a record of our meeting. As he explains it to this non-techie the recorder can then transcribe Warm regards, the copy and make it available to Kathy, our Secretary and Robert as well making it easy to keep track of the Barry meeting The Northern Virginia Mineral Club April 2010 THE MINERAL NEWSLETTER Page 3 AN EYE FOR DIAMONDS by Sheryl Sims any of us remember the colorful song of our youth pertaining to rainbows: Red and yellow, and pink and green, orange and purple, and M blue—well, the same color reference may be made for diamonds. They come in all colors! The color, along with clarity, cut, and number of carats, determines their value. This was further explained by visiting scientist to the Smithsonian Institution, Eloise Gaillou, Ph D. Dr. Gail- lou is a French scientist from the Universite de Nantes. (photo by Sheryl Sims) National Museum of Natural History (photos by Sheryl Sims) display a so-called “graining,” she stated, and this is due to At the April 7, 2010 club meeting of the Mineralogical Soci- plastic deformation. ety of the District of Columbia, Dr. Gaillou gave a brief lec- ture on, “The Beauty of Defects: Color in Diamonds”. Be- Diamonds can be found in almost every color of the rain- cause diamonds are indeed a girl’s (or a guy’s) best friend, bow: steel gray, white, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, I attended that meeting and learned more than I ever hoped pink to purple, brown, and black. to know about diamonds. As in my case, one need not have What causes coloration in diamonds? Colored diamonds a background in geology or mineralogy to appreciate the contain impurities and structural defects. These defects beauty and value of diamonds. One only needs eyes to see cause the coloration. However, pure diamonds are trans- their beauty, and the desire and money, to possess them. parent and colorless. They are classified into two main Webster’s II New College Dictionary defines a diamond as: types and several subtypes. This is done based on how the “a very hard, highly refractive colorless or white crystalline impurities in them affect light absorption and on the type of allotrope of carbon, used when pure as a gemstone and impurities found. otherwise chiefly in abrasives.” While they are defined as Type I diamond[s] [have] nitrogen atoms as the main impu- being colorless, diamonds actually range from one end of rity, commonly at a concentration of 0.1%. If the nitrogen the spectrum to another in terms of atoms are in pairs they do not color and rarity. They are made up of affect the diamond's color; these carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and boron.