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Dolphin Carving - Unakite
China
ITEM# CARVING-Unakite-0001


This exquisitely-carved unakite jasper dolphin measures approximately 3 1/2 inches long by 1 7/8 inches tall.  These dolphin carvings are some of the nicest carvings I have seen in the marketplace.

Unakite, also called epidote, derives its name from the Greek epidosis, meaning "growing together". It is a combination of red jasper and green epidote solidly bound together. From this we get the meaning that what comes together belongs together.

First discovered in the United States in the Unakas mountains of North Carolina, unakite is an altered granite composed of pink orthoclase feldspar, green epidote, and generally colorless quartz.  It exists in various shades of green and pink and is usually mottled in appearance.  In good quality unakite is considered a semiprecious stone, will take a good polish and is often used in jewelry and other lapidary work such as eggs, spheres and other carvings like animals. It is also referred to as epidotized granite.  In some of the Blue Ridge occurrences an epidotized augen gneiss is present exhibiting foliation structures.

Unakite can be found as pebbles and cobbles from glacial drift in the beach rock on the shores of Lake Superior.  It occurs in Virginia where it is found in the river valleys after having been washed down from the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Unakite is not limited to the United States, but has also been been reported from South Africa, Sierra Leone, Brazil, and China. Some material labeled unakite lacks the quartz and is more properly epidosite.

Jasper, a form of chalcedony, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown, or green in color, and rarely blue.   This mineral breaks with a smooth surface, and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone.  It can be highly polished and is used for vases, seals, and at one time for snuff boxes. When the colors are in stripes or bands, it is called striped or banded jasper. Jaspilite is a banded iron formation rock that often has distinctive bands of jasper. Jasper is basically chert which owes its red color to iron (III) inclusions.  The specific gravity of jasper is typically 2.5 to 2.9.  Jasper, along with bloodstone (heliotrope) is one of the traditional birthstones for March.

Jasper is an opaque rock of virtually any color stemming from the mineral content of the original sediments or ash. Patterns arise during the consolidation process forming flow and depositional patterns in the original silica rich sediment or volcanic ash.  Hydrothermal circulation is generally thought to be required in the formation of jasper.

Jasper can be modified by the diffusion of minerals along discontinuities providing the appearance of vegetative growth, i.e., dendritic. The original materials are often fractured and/or distorted, after deposition, into myriad beautiful patterns which are to be later filled with other colorful minerals. Weathering, with time, will create intensely colored superficial rinds.

The classification and naming of jasper presents a challenge.  Terms attributed to various well-defined materials includes the geographic locality where it is found, sometimes quite restricted such as "Bruneau" (a canyon) and "Lahontan" (a lake), rivers and even individual mountains, many are fanciful such as "Forest Fire" or "Rainbow", while others are descriptive such as "Autumn", "Porcelain" or "Dalmatian". A few are designated by the country of origin such as a Brown Egyptian or Red African leaving tremendous latitude as to what is called what.

Picture jaspers exhibit combinations of patterns (such as banding from flow or depositional patterns (from water or wind), dendritic or color variations) resulting in what appear to be scenes or images, on a cut section.   Diffusion from a center produces a distinctive orbicular appearance, i.e., Leopard Skin Jasper, or linear banding from a fracture as seen in Leisegang Jasper. Healed, fragmented rock produces brecciated (broken) jasper.

The term basanite has occasionally been used to refer to a variety of jasper, for example a black flinty or cherty jasper found in several New England states of the USA. Such varieties of jasper are also informally known as Lydian stone or lydite and have been used as touchstones in testing the purity of precious metal alloys.

Metaphysical properties:  Unakite, also called epidote, derives its name from the Greek epidosis, meaning "growing together".  It is a combination of red jasper and green epidote solidly bound together.  From this we get the meaning that what comes together belongs together.

Unakite (or Epidote) can be used to draw off negative energy and blockage from the Heart Chakra.  Unakite is said to lift your spirits when you are feeling down - this is the gemstone to help you to see the beauty in life.  It is also used to uncover deception.

Used in magic spell casting, unakite will give the user a more confident control of any spell, and the user will find things that have been lost.


SORRY, THIS ITEM IS SOLD.
$
125.00