FB Group Posts: 22, 23 & 24 May 2021 – Kakanui Jaspers, Agates and Quartz

This is the seventh in this Series reproducing my recent regular Posts in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first Post in this Series is here.

Saturday 22 May 2021: Four small tumble-polished jaspers from a beach near Kakanui, collected in February-March this year, just out of the tumbler. 2 to 2.5 cms size. These illustrate just some of the diversity of jaspers from that beach.

The south end of the beach near Kakanui where I found these small jaspers.

Sunday 23 May 2021: Shining the light on (or through) three recently tumble-polished stones from a Kakanui Beach. Two beach agates (chalcedony) and one stained quartz.

Stone 1, beach agate (chalcedony) with cream-coloured markings, 3.5 cms long.

Another side of Stone 1.

Stone 1 held up to a sunny sky.

Stone 2, stained quartz stone, 4.5 cms long. The stone is actually very smooth and polished, not well conveyed in the photos.

Stone 2 with a torch behind it.

Other side of Stone 2.

Other side of Stone 2 with a torch behind it.

Stone 3, beach agate (chalcedony). 5 cms long.

Stone 3 held up to a sunny sky.

Monday 24 May 2021: Gorgeous jasper from a Kakanui beach – 5.5 cms by 4 cms in size. Found at 12.42 pm on 19 February this year (according to the time stamp on a photo I took of it then). The stone looked astounding on the beach. (See Day Three in this Post.) After tumbling, it has taken a very good polish, not shown well in the photos.

One side of the polished stone. It actually looks a lot better than this.

Other side of the polished stone.

Photo of the wet stone when found on the beach.

Photo of the wet stone when found on the beach.

The beach near Kakanui where the stone was found. Looking north towards Oamaru.

I started it in 400 grit and gave it only a week there before putting into polish. The end product has four or five small rough areas, which could have been smoothed away with more tumbling in grit but I wanted to keep its size and character. The close-ups don’t really do it justice. The photos taken on the beach when I found it are stunning and in many ways better represent how the stone looks now.

The next Post in this Series is here.

Author: tumblestoneblog

Retired Academic, male, living in the New Zealand countryside near Whanganui with his wife as well as Jasper the dog, Fluffy the cat, Dancer and Penny, the horses, and a shed half-full of stones. Email john.tumblestone@gmail.com. View all posts by tumblestoneblog