1/19/2024 0 Comments Oregon green jasper![]() ![]() with black lightning, brecciation, or other patterns. This can be various shades of blue/green, forest green, white, black, gray, brown/rust, etc. Some of the patterned, but greener pieces are kind of a combination, partway between "Thunderstorm" and "Oregon Jade". I don't care, it's a great stone in my book, and my favorite color too: I should note that though "jade" is part of the common name, just about every local will follow that with "but it's not 'real' jade, you know". ![]() I've seen veins, microinclusion sparkles, and larger crystal clusters as shown here (metallic part is about 5/8 inch across). In it's Northern range it somtimes has pyrite or marcasite inclusions. I've found it as far North as near Seaside, OR, and as far South as near Florence. "Oregon Jade" can usually be found as smaller pebbles on the beaches, occasionally larger chunks in Winter. Even some of the kinds of matrix it's found in are hard enough to polish reasonably. This stuff is hard as any agate and polishes very well- at least the good quality pieces do. It is definitely not serpentinite as has been said elsewhere (there may be green serpentinite somewhere else in Oregon, I don't know). I refer to the typically deep, forest green jasper/chert colored by chlorites and found on the Oregon Coast. "Oregon Jade" has been known for quite a while, but not commonly sold. I've heard of it having pinkish tones in some pieces, and recently was told that under black light on some Thundersorm slabs "there were spots that lit up like Vegas" in different colors including green, pink, and blue (but I haven't seen that personally yet, don't have the good UV lights): This is only one variation, it comes in different patterns in a range of muted colors (greys, tans, greens, black, with streaks, speckles, orbs, brecciation, or landscape scenes). Small pieces take a while to tumble smooth but get a mirror shine when done. It's a nice hard glossy material that polishes well. I've seen some that when cut, looked like a still from an old horror movie, or a negative of one. "Thunderstorm" was named for the typical dark, moody scenic patterns including black lightning streaks. "Thunderstorm Jasper" is something that I haven't seen sold except by one person on ebay, but that guy and others have been collecting quite a bit. I'm using the word jasper in the broad common sense, and the word jade as part of a common local name. I'm posting these two stones together because they are really part of a range of variation in one kind of chalcedony/chert type stone found in a relatively small area of the Oregon Coast. I hope this isn't too long a post, I've been wanting to write about this stuff for a long time. ![]()
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