For instance, the Finger Lakes region of central New York is known as "wine country" but one of its unexpected collectibles is the lake beach glass, sometimes still faintly bearing the etched lettering of its origin story, found with particular prevalence along the eastern side of Seneca Lake at Lodi Point Beach State Park.
Why? Old wine bottles: Castaways of vineyards past.
But rarer still are the ancient maritime castaways of ale and rum bottles from the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730), known as "pirate glass," that wash up on the beaches along the Caribbean, North American eastern seaboard, West African, and Indian Ocean shipping lanes and trading ports.
Such Shanghai surprises tantalize collectors but not every dark piece tells the same story. Because, as Captain Jack Sparrow liked to say, "Not all treasure's silver and gold, mate."
THE DARK SIDE
Pirate glass is colloquially described as "black" but the intensity of what is more likely to be blue, brown, green, purple or red glass has been deepened by the addition of cobalt, copper or iron oxides; or during the glass-making process, the addition of iron slag, or coal and wood ash.
Why darken glass? To extend the life of products and their transport because darker glass protects valuable liquids (like alcohol or oil) from degeneration by sunlight.
The same properties added to deepen color also improve the structural integrity of the glass and make it less likely to break during handling and storage.
At sea, water may turn too contaminated to drink, but not ale or rum. Or a seafaring elixir of lime, sugar and rum often kept aboard in dark bottles as a survivalist measure against scurvy.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2023-Ausgabe von Rock&Gem Magazine.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2023-Ausgabe von Rock&Gem Magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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MORGAN HILL POPPY JASPER
In California, there are very few places to collect semi-precious stones. Many locations from the past have been either exhausted of the material or the land has been developed.
THE ACORN
The briolette gemstone has the same design attributes of a regular gemstone, however, the pavilion is elongated and the crown is usually domed. This is perfect for an elegant pendant, earrings or a pendulum.
HOW TO PUT A PROTECTIVE CAP ON A CAB
To protect a specimen cab, often a cap is needed. In my case, I had a slab with the because of the color of the background and the pattern. This background had a more silicified consistency than most sandstones. It had no graininess like most sandstone, so I'm inclined to compare it to a jasper. The pattern was typical of a dendrite.
The Resilient Revival of Anne Brontë & Her Stones
For the first time, the Anne Brontë rock collection underwent complete description and identification, and along with Professor Hazel Hutchison of Leeds University and Dr. Enrique Lozano Diz at ELODIZ (a company specializing in spectroscopy analysis), an analysis of that collaboration, Anne Brontë and Geology: A Study of her Collection of Stones, was published in April 2022 in Volume 47, Issue 2 of the peer-reviewed journal, Brontë Studies & Gazette.\"
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The Case of the Bleeding Glacier
It's a gory sight called Blood Falls. Ever since British geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor first noted it in 1911, it has been a mystery.
Asteroid Samples Are Said to Hold Invaluable Secrets
If Only Scientists Can Pop the Lid!
Paleontologists Embrace a New Method for Seeing Fossils within Rock
Fossil bone can be delicate. Attempts to remove it from a hard rock matrix by picking and scratching or etching with acids can be time-consuming and/or may end up obliterating that which you hope to study.
Need a Map of the Ocean Floor?
Call in the Seals!
A Step Closer to Hydrogen, the "Climate-Friendly Fuel"
As I reported last June, the world is racing to find sustainably renewable, nonpolluting sources of energy to replace our carbon-based reserves of coal, oil and gas.