Zoisite and Hornblende tumblestones

Zoisite and Hornblende tumblestones

Interesting little green and black tumblestones consisting of Zoisite with Hornblende inclusions.

These are often found with Ruby, and are then referred to as Ruby in Zoisite. However, these pieces do not contain any Ruby as far as I can tell, or, at least - no fluorescent Ruby.

Unfortunately, these do suffer from the same fate as 'Ruby in Zoisite', as they are often transported together - Hornblende has a hardness of around 5-6 on the Mohs scale, Zoisite a 6-7, Corundum/Ruby a 9. This means that while they are together, in the bulk bags from the tumblestone wholesalers, they rub together and often end up somewhat unpolished looking.

Tumblestones often make up the bulk of peoples early mineral collections, and are an excellent stepping stone into mineral collection.
Tumbled stones are created by a rock tumbler – a machine which rolls rough rocks in a barrel filled with abrasives over several weeks, mimicking the process which rocks would undergo in a river.

We select a random piece for you from the stock we currently hold. If you’d like to choose one for yourself, please get in touch. Our photographs are intended to give you an idea of the average quality of the pieces.