Books on stones – TumbleStone

“The Pebbles on the Beach” by Clarence Ellis (1954/1965)

This book was first published in 1954 (this paperback edition appeared in 1965) but in many ways it is the best book I have so far encountered on the topic of beach stones. It is 20 cm by 13 cm and has 163 pages. Published by Faber and Faber of London, it deals with beach pebbles in the UK but most of its content is relevant to many other localities. This is particularly so of the first four chapters about the beach processes that shape pebbles and the different kinds of pebbles.

There are four colour plates of stones with accompanying interpretive diagrams labeling and describing each stone. Many of these stones can be found in New Zealand too.

I bought this book for NZ$26 (including postage) through Amazon, and it came from Langdon e-traders, a UK charity business established in 2014 to employ and support young men and women with disabilities.

“Australian and New Zealand Gemstones: How and Where to Find Them” edited by Bill Myatt (1972)

This large hardcover book was published in 1972 by Paul Hamlyn – it measures only 24cm by 19 cm but its 511 pages makes for a thickness of 5 cm. It had a nice sized font which makes easy reading, is well-illustrated and well-written, and is a mine of detailed information written for the interested layperson (only some of which is dated).

Aust NZ Gemstones cover

I obtained my second-hand copy, in excellent condition, from K-books in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, through online retailer Abebooks, for just over NZ$50 (shipping included), with only 2 weeks between ordering and arrival.

The book is made up of four main sections: “General Information” pages 9-59, including fossicking methods, mining law and making jewelry (there is great advice on fossicking in the Australian outback, where safety considerations are significant); “Geology” pages 61-137 (with pages 123-130 being on New Zealand); “Gemstone Identification” pages 139-283 (very readable text on the major types, with only the rare black and white photo but with a 32 colour plate section showing many rock types in their natural form); “Gemstone Localities” pages 286-503 including 35 high quality colour map guides to main gem-bearing areas. New Zealand localities are discussed in pages 430-448 and 497-503, sections written by A. Niethe (“New Zealand Gemstones”), W.F. Heinz (“Gold”) and M. Jepsen (“Thermal Regions”). There are entries on the following areas: Coromandel Peninsula, East Coast, Northland, Canterbury, Dunedin, Greymouth, Invercargill, Nelson, and Oamaru. Detailed comments are made of where certain types of rocks have been found, as well as on very practical topics such as road conditions and accommodation in these areas. Of course, most of this information is now out-of-date, written over 40 years ago, but it provides great starting-points for the contemporary rockhound as well as much interesting historical material.

The publisher aimed to produce “a comprehensive book on Australian and New Zealand Gemstones, suitable for the ordinary reader”, with the Localities section presented as “the most detailed account ever attempted”. Lapidary, Gem and Mineral Clubs contributed significantly to the book, as did academic and technical experts on geology and minerals – the result was outstanding and much of its value has not been lost over the decades.

Front of dustjacket and front foldover

Contents, first 2 sections

Contents, last 2 sections

Page 168 and part of page 169 – Beginning of entry on “Chalcedony” in “Gemstone Identification” section

Colour plate: “Spotted jasper found near Coober Pedy, South Australia; Inset: An old house on the Coober Pedy Opal Field”

Colour plate: “Agate Creek, Canterbury NZ; Insets: Polished Canterbury agates, and Canterbury agate seen in section”

Part of page 430 and page 431 – Start of New Zealand entry in “Gemstone Localities” section

Map showing main gem-bearing areas of the Coromandel Peninsula, NZ

Map showing main gem-bearing areas of Nelson, NZ

“A Photographic Guide to Rocks and Minerals of New Zealand” (2011)

This book, published in 2011, has been written by three employees of GNS Science, Nick Mortimer (a geologist), Hamish Campbell (a palaeontologist) and Margaret Low (a science photographer). GNS Science is a Crown Research Institute, New Zealand’s “leading provider of Earth, geoscience and isotope research and consultancy services”. According to the GNS Science website, the Institute’s role is “to understand natural Earth system processes and resources, and to translate these into economic, environmental and social benefits” for the nation.

This book measures 19 cm by 10 cm, has quite a small font size, and consists of 143 pages, in what is referred to on the back cover as a “compact field-guide format”, able to be carried in a knapsack or even back pocket. It sells for NZ$25.99 on the GNS publications web-page but can be purchased in many other places online and off.

The first 21 pages contains an overview of minerals and rocks. This is followed by a large section of 112 pages of descriptions and photographs of different minerals and rocks to be found in New Zealand. The photographs are numerous and excellent. The text is to the point, readable, and often refers to places in New Zealand where various minerals and rocks are to be found.

“Gemstones” by Jocelyn Thornton (1985)

“Although New Zealand lacks the commonly accepted ‘precious gems’ (diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald), many local stones deserve our recognition” (from the Introduction to “Gemstones”).

This booklet, originally published in 1985 in the Mobil New Zealand Nature Series, is long out-of-print but now available online as a pdf file. The pdf file is 36 pages long (each of its pages consist of two of the original booklet pages when its comes to numbering – the original booklet numbered each side of each sheet, making 74 pages). It is a great source of information on the range of precious and semi-precious gemstones to be found in New Zealand – from greenstone to agate to jasper to petrified wood, and many more. It contains some great photos of the many different types of stones, supplemented with notes on where these specimens have been found (see below for the entry on “Carnelian”). Reference is often made to places such as Birdlings Flat, Rangitata River, Orepuki, Kakanui, Mt Somers, the Coromandel Peninsula, and Takaka.

Joyce Thornton also wrote the entry on “Gemstones” for Te Ara, the Online NZ Encyclopedia. This entry has some excellent photos of different types of stones, such as “Silicified Wood and Plant Material“. “Chert, Flint and Jasper“, and “Greywacke Pebbles with Quartz Veins“. In 2004, she received the NZ Order of Merit for services to Earth Sciences.

Source: https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/5124/silicified-wood-and-plant-material

Source: https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/5123/chert-flint-and-jasper

Source: https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/5121/greywacke-pebbles-with-quartz-veins

“The New Zealand Rockhound” by Natalie Fernandez (1981)

This is the second significant New Zealand book published on rock tumbling (after the Coopers’ book), though its scope is broader, “rockhounding” in New Zealand in general. I ordered this book through Amazon and they sourced it from Bookhaven, a second hand bookstore in Wellington.

fernandez cover13042016

“The New Zealand Rockhound” by Natalie Fernandez was published in 1981 by Boughtwood Printing and Publishing House, Auckland. The book measures 14 cm by 21.5 cm and has 191 pages. Beach stones, my prime interest, are only one form of rocks – they are very useful for stone polishers because they are already relatively smooth and rounded, already the subject of hundreds of years of “tumble polishing” in rivers and ocean. Rockhounds need to be able to identify rough and dirty rocks in the field – all I have to do is wet a beach stone and decide if I like the result.

“The New Zealand Rockhound” covers rockhounding in New Zealand in general. Chapter Six, “The art of the lapidary”, starts off with five pages on rock tumbling before going on to discuss cutting and grinding and other means of working with rocks and stones. Chapter Four on “Rocks and minerals” provides an introduction to the topic in the context of New Zealand’s geology, and Chapter Five, “Locations”, provides an annotated list of NZ places to find interesting rocks.

Fernandez’s book also has a delightful frontispiece of stamps with rocks and fossils on them:

fernandez stamps13042016

“New Zealand Gemstones” by Lyn and Ray Cooper (1966)

On the way home from our South Island holiday, once the seed had been planted that we would start polishing stones, in Wellington I visited three second hand bookstores in search of books on rocks and rock tumbling. I found this book at that time, probably the first New Zealand book on rock tumbling.

“New Zealand Gemstones” by Lyn and Ray Cooper was published in 1966 by A.H. and A.W. Reed, Wellington. It is a hardback book, 22 cms by 14 cms, 125 pages long and cost me $20 at ArtyBees secondhand bookstore.

The key chapter for me at this early stage was Chapter Three, “How to tumble-polish”. It is now a bit out-dated in parts, as new technology has since changed some aspects of rock tumbling, but it provided me with the basic ideas about what tumble polishing involves and what its key principles are.

Chapter Two was the next most interesting, “Where to find the stones”, the location of interesting stones in New Zealand based on the authors’ own expeditions to different places. Again, some of this information is now out-dated and is at least partly constrained by the authors’ experiences (there are some parts of the country they have not been to), but provides an invaluable starting point. (Their comments led me to take a trip to the Coromandel Peninisula beaches not long afterwards.) Chapter Six, “What to do with stones”, was on a topic that I realised I would need to pay some attention to sooner or later.