There is a lot of interest in poppy jaspers. I decided to get an idea of the poppy jaspers I have found and identify the Blog Posts with some information on them. This Index of 30 Posts results from that. It doesn’t list all the Posts with poppy jaspers in them but rather includes examples of different types, different beaches where they have been found, and explanations of their character and formation. Poppy jaspers are a kind of orbicular jasper, having red or orange orbs that look like poppy flowers. Orbicular jaspers form due to the presence of minerals which crystallise in concentric layers around a nucleus or central point, giving rise to orb-like structures. They are not common but I have found up to three or four at a time on Gemstone Beach during productive fossicks since 2023. However, I often don’t find one there at all. I have also picked up poppy jaspers further west along the Te Waewae Bay coast, and at Riverton Aparima, and one at Slope Point. All the poppy jaspers I have found have been small, some only the size of my thumbnail. Most of them have not been smooth, usually having scratches or tiny chunks out of them. The orbs themselves can vary in size, structure and colour. Some of the larger orbs have a light- or dark-coloured centre while most of the smaller orbs look like tiny spots. The following list of Posts about poppy jaspers are listed in order of the amount of information provided. Note that similar material is repeated in a number of these Posts.
Poppy jasper.
Very small orbicular jasper.
Another side of tiny jasper.
I started TumbleStone Blog in March 2016. The first time a poppy jasper appears in the Blog is in a Post from July 2020 when one shows up in a batch of Gemstone Beach stones I tumble polished for my sister Helen. It was not labelled a poppy jasper, nor was my Gemstone Beach find that appeared in a Post from February 2021. I did not use the term “poppy jasper” in a Post until June 2021 – it must have been only at this stage that I had identified one with some confidence. I mention in a September 2021 Post that I had previously found small poppy jaspers on Gemstone Beach, but there are only a couple of photos of these in the Blog. It is not until early 2023 that poppy jaspers start showing up reasonably regularly among the Posts on my finds. I was surprised at how many Posts in the Blog actually included poppy jaspers, well over 50. And I seem to be finding more of these stones recently than two years ago.
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SELECTIVE ANNOTATED INDEX OF POPPY JASPERS: THIRTY POSTS
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1) “O” is for “Opaque Orepuki Orbicular Jasper” (4 September 2021) – The first Post that provided some details about poppy jaspers and their formation.
2) March 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 25, A Small White Orbicular Jasper From Gemstone Beach, Friday 28 March – Not strictly speaking a poppy jasper (which has red orbs) but rather a jasper with white orbs. Some information on how orbicular jasper forms is included in this Post, along with photos of a variety of orbicular jaspers. What this stone looked like after tumble polishing is described in Eight Recent Gemstone Beach Finds Polished, Including a Small White Orbicular Jasper and a Piece of Petrified Wood (May 2025).
3) Poppies and Pinks, Rough and Polished: Showing Gemstone Beach Stones to the Tauranga Gem and Mineral Club, 7 September 2025 – I showed Club members rough and polished specimens of 12 different kinds of Gemstone Beach stones. One of these was poppy jaspers, and the Post contains some brief details about them.
4) Scratches and Rough Patches, Beauty and Wonder – Thirty Small Polished Stones from Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay: Part 6, Stones 26 to 30 (21 May 2024) – Stone 29 is a poppy jasper. The Post contains a short paragraph about it.
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5) H is for Hematite Poppy Jasper (September 2025) – Part of an Alphabetical Series in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. This stone is only the size of my small fingernail but the close-up photos reveal a very unusual type of orb. It was found on Gemstone Beach in March 2025.
6) TumbleStone Calendar 2025: July and August (10 November 2024) – Three poppies feature in this Calendar, in January, July and September. After the July one, there is a little information on jaspers.
7) August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 8, A Sense of Wonder: Poppy Jaspers and Exquisite Breccias on Gemstone Beach, Monday 11 August – Features five small poppy jaspers, all slightly different in character – slightly different colours and sizes of orbs.
8) Southern Sojourn 2023(39): Hunting Poppy Jaspers With Chrissy, Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay, Saturday 8 April – The first finds featured here include one poppy jaser found by Chrissy and two found by me.
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9) August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 12, Green is the Colour of Her Kind: Two Te Waewae Bay Fossicks at Papatotara, Friday & Saturday, 15 & 16 August – Includes three small poppy jaspers with different sized orbs.
10) September 2024 Stone Collecting Trip –Part 6, Riverton Aparima, Monday 9 September: Back to the Back Beach – Three poppy jaspers found on a Riverton Aparima beach, one of them by Ray. This is the first time I have seen them here. Photos of two are in the Post.
11) August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 10, Memories: Dropping in at McCracken’s Rest, Wednesday 13 August – The first time I have found poppy jaspers at McCracken’s Rest. Photos of the three I found are in this Post.
12) June-July 2022 Fossicking Trip: 16) Slope Point (7 July 2022) – One of the finds is a small poppy jasper, the only one I have found at Slope Point to date.
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13) August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 11, Puffer Jacket and Woollen Hat and Scarf: A Winter Morning Fossick on Gemstone Beach, Thursday 14 August – Two different poppy jaspers with contrasting sizes of orbs.
14) Early 2024 Fossicking Trip – Part 12, Stones and a White Flower on Gemstone Beach, Tuesday 27 February – This Post shows the finding of a poppy jasper from the first spotting of it on the beach.
15) September 2024 Stone Collecting Trip –Part 7, Second Fossick at Gemstone Beach, Wednesday 11 September: Spotting Garnets and Jaspers – Photos of three poppy jaspers appear near the beginning of this Post. The first one is shown as it first looked a couple of metres away on the beach, sitting amongst other stones.
16) Southern Sojourn 2023(52): Four Jaspers From a Post-Storm Fossick at Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay, Wednesday 26 April – Three poppy jaspers, two of which have very tiny orbs.
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17) Early 2024 Fossicking Trip – Part 28, Rain-Charged Channels on Te Waewae Bay, Monday 18 March – Photos of three different poppy jaspers appear near the beginning of this Post. In two of them, the orbs have worn away less than the other material in the stone.
18) January 2022, Stone of the Day #4 – An Orbicular Hematite Jasper from Gemstone Beach – The second side shown of this stone illustrates the small cracks often seen in poppy jaspers.
19) Southern Sojourn 2023(36): Second Fossick With Nicola and Angie, Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay, Tuesday 4 April – Two small poppy jaspers, the second of which has clumps of tiny orbs.
20) Early 2024 Fossicking Trip – Part 10, Bigger Waves on Te Waewae Bay Beach, Sunday 25 February – A poppy jasper with large orange orbs.
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21) August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 13, Coldest Fossick on Gemstone Beach, Monday 18 August – The first find in this Post is a small poppy jasper where the orbs are widely spaced.
22) August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 7, A Rhodonite Find on Gemstone Beach, Wednesday 6 August – The small poppy jasper here has some green epidote veins.
23) Southern Sojourn 2023(33): Four Hour Fossick, Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay, Friday 31 March – Three poppy jaspers, the first one has a thin white vein and the third one has a cream-coloured vein.
24) August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 5, A Horse on Gemstone Beach, An Aircraft Overhead, Sunday 3 August – The small poppy jasper here has some tiny patches of a white mineral on one side.
25) March 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 15, Colours and Shapes from Gemstone Beach, Saturday 15 March – Half of the small poppy jasper in this Post, near the middle, is plain black.
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26) March 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 10, Cold and Wet at Gemstone Beach, Saturday 8 March – At the end of this Post are two poppy jaspers, the second having poorly defined orbs.
27) March 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 7, Forty-Three Finds and Four Horses on Gemstone Beach, Wednesday 5 March – Includes maybe the largest poppy jasper I have found, about 4 1/2 to 5 cms.
28) Southern Sojourn 2023(34): Arrival of Nicola and Angie, Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay, Monday 3 April (Part 1) – Photos of one of Angie’s poppy jasper finds shows very tiny but well-defined orbs.
29) September 2024 Stone Collecting Trip –Part 20, Coldest Yet on Gemstone Beach, Friday 27 September – The poppy jasper at the start of the Post has orbs that are nearly impossible to see with the naked eye.
30) September 2024 Stone Collecting Trip –Part 16, Back to Gemstone Beach, Sunday 22 September – Three poppy jaspers are included in this Post, one of them found by fellow fossicker Chrissy. Of my two finds, the first is unusual, a bit different from the usual bright red jasper, being darker and more orange. The photo of it shows some orb-like composition.
LATER ADDITIONS
31) August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 22, Trying to Make a Better Mistake, Ward Beach, Thursday 28 August (25 September 2025) – I found a small jasper which upon close examination turned out to have orbs in part of it. This is so far the only poppy jasper I have found at Ward Beach.
