uncommon
calcite
a clear piece doubles print · fizzes hard
The tell
Softer than a knife, and it fizzes hard in vinegar. A steel blade scratches it easily where quartz shrugs the blade off, and quartz never fizzes at all. Turn it in the light and the cleavage glints in little rhombic steps, flat faces meeting at slanted angles.
On the beach it turns up as white or honey-colored crystal filling vugs in limestone and in Keweenaw basalt. Soft, fizzing, glinting in rhombs: three checks, one answer.
What it gets mistaken for
The facts
- also calledfizzes hard · a clear piece doubles the print
- ageage varies
- where it turns upvugs in limestone & Keweenaw basalt
- the field marka knife cuts it easily and it fizzes hard
- on the chartuncommon · 500 stickers ever
Put it on the shelf
Every stone on this chart is drawn and kiss-cut at three inches. The rarer the stone, the fewer exist: only 500 calcite will ever be printed, then the run is retired.
10% of every order goes to northern Michigan animal shelters.