Cinnabar Identification // Don't Lick This Rock!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- It can certainly be difficult to identify rocks and minerals when you can't use hardness and gravity in the testing, but with the other tests that you can do, you should be able to narrow it down.
Let's look at this specimen that was sent in and examine it.
Thanks for watching!
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#CurrentlyRockhounding #TheFinders #Cinnabar
Did you enjoy this video and find it to be informative? You can help ensure that more videos just like this get made by supporting the project on Patreon. www.patreon.com/currentlyrockhounding
I can imagine those crystals precipitating on the walls of a volcanic vent that's emitting a nice sulfurous mixture of gases. They're really cool specimens, really beautiful deep red crystals amid the other colorful minerals. Thanks for the identification lesson!
I really like rocks like this that tell a story.
I like that you're wearing gloves from the get go. Loved seeing the crystals through the loupe. Did I miss if there was a location given for this material? Good video.
I don't know the exact location of this and the person that sent it also didn't self collect but it would seem from other comments that it's from Washington.
All good to know. I haven't spent much time really digging into this subject much as far as locations go but it's good to keep these places in mind. Thank you.
I see why people would lick this rock, they think it will taste like cinnamon hence the name cinna-bar!
It's like a cube that went "Eehhrnt" like that.
I got fifteen cinnabar mines within sight of my house, the roads are graveled with it out here, im in the heart of cinnabar country, looks like the same stuff to me, there's huge old mines every where around me.
Man if I was down there I would have to visit those.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding if you want cinnabar i have a lot of rock
Before you ID the specimen, choices without a microscopic crystal system ID could have been cinnabar (hexagonal-trigonal) or realgar which has a monoclinic system . Wondering the
source of the sample. Really nice realgar crystals used to be found in the Green River gorge but probably long picked over and probably on private property. Fun informative
video as usual---- also, don't lick the gloves either.
Hi Jered, I'm probably the reason why Karen sent that to you. We did a rock trade, I live in Canada and her parcel never made it to me probably because of the Cinnabar in it. She mentioned that it could be, when she mailed it, but wasn't sure. Thx to you, we now know. I did get her second batch and am really enjoying what she sent me. I love your videos. Very educational and informative, and I also love the locations you go to. Beautiful country! Keep up the great work!! Thx. Ric
First off your channel looks great! I'm just now seeing your videos, for some reason I haven't found them before in my searching.
I wonder if they have some what of detecting it in the box, they must I guess.
I'm glad you got the second box.
I'm looking forward to sitting down and watching your channel some in the morning.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding thx so much for checking out my channel, I’m not sure if you will learn much but you get to see some of Northern Ontario Lake Superior rocks. Lots of colourful stuff here. Karen sent me some thunder eggs. Those are amazing!! Plus she sent some really nice stuff. Thx again, looking forward to more of your videos. Take care
Looks exactly like the material we find down in the Green River Gorge.
You can get feldspar crystals from calcite deposits down there as well
Lots of cool poison stuff down in the gorge lol. Lots of Cinnabar down by Morton too. Good area to poke around.
I would love to find some myself so I will be make note of this.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding Head west young man. Take highway 12 over from your side. Brings you right into a great area for Cinnabar. Great area for rockhounding in general.
@@mauserdave Thank you!
Beautiful rock. I love the color combinations. I agree with Gwynn Farrell...easy to imagine those minerals in a Yellowstone stew pot.
I think that is a good way to imagine it.
🇨🇦 Cinnabar was used to make an orangey red pigment to make paint for illumination in books in the middle ages. Cinnabar at that time was so expensive that it was only used to paint important people like kings or religious icons. Later, meaning pre renaissance, it was manufactured by putting mercury and sulfur into a sealed jug then heated until it exploded inside the jug fusing the mercury and sulfur molecules to make the same pigment. Kind of scary huh? The information this is in the book called On Diverse Arts it is a translation of a medieval treatise. Could the matrix be sulfur bearing rock? I know, I have some of the strangest knowledge of some of the oddest things. If I can remember all of this why can't I remember half of the darn names of rocks 😏😜😁 Oh yeah, I did not know cinnabar could come in crystal form. Thank you for sharing this. If the lady does not want the rocks back and you do not need them can you send them to me c.o.d.and I will make a video of making pigment from them? This would be a great kick off for the TH-cam channel I am hoping to do. 😁
Looks like an interesting book, just ordered it, thanks!
Thank you for the comment. It's always a pleasure to be learning new things like this. There could be small amounts of sulphur with this but the host rock that it's on is not.
@@Festoolification most of it is in modern english but some of it is in old english. It's kind of fun to work it out though because it is spelled phonically and not according to the modern dictionary. My favorite is how to make a cockatrice egg for an ingredient in making for a pigment. It involves two roosters being locked into a dungeon for an extended period of time proving that even back then you shouldn't believe everything you hear. Oh yeah, it also talks about softening quartz by placing it in the abdomen of a goat. 😁 Most of the information is good though and yes it is worth buying.
@@janicescragg2388 damn, fresh out of goats, will have to improvise.
That, is very very cool. Thank you
Crazy material! Reminds me of this great movie theatre by my house that we don't get to go to anymore, Cinnebarre. They serve adult beverages and have decent food.
Perhaps one day the west side will reopen.
Hello CR, I'm always learning from your channel. Very interesting material. The music selection for the slide show is just so nice. How is it that all of the rockhounds have such soothing music for their videos? Thanks for sharing another great video.
Thank you! I use Epidemic Sound for my video, it's free to listen but you gotta pay if you want to use the music in things like videos.
Thanks, have a good one over there.
Even though cinnabar has a delicious sounding name kind of like a cinnamon bun, it is definitely one rock you probably shouldn't put in your mouth.
Only once. Then zonked
Thanks for the visual. Be safe and stay healthy 😷⚒
Thank you.
Very nice Cinnabar it is. It started to look like some poor crocoite crystals, that we have here in Tassie Australia.
I looked up this video because I was hiking near the New Almaden mine and came across a pile of tailings. There was some very interesting-looking rock in them. Red, orange, gray, black, white, and light green.
the rain has exposed alot of cinnabar this year
From wiki. Lick of it will lick your life short....Cinnabar (otherwise known as mercury sulphide) is the single most toxic mineral known to man. ... The problem with Cinnabar, is when oxidized it produces methyl and dimethy mercury, two toxic compounds that cause terminal damage to the nervous system.Oct 5, 2014
We had a Cinnabar mine on the ranch I lived on in eastern Oregon...
Cinnabar Is universal medicine , Can make some pills through this with another ingredients. Result; Every morning take ten pills Inside a year white hair wlii grow black ; decayed teeth will grow again and the body will become sleek, and glistenning. If any old man take this medicine for a long period of time he will develop into a young man The old who takes it constantly will enjoy eternal life and will not die
I am from Sri Lanka , ALCHEMIST / Researcher
FascInating, thankyou. I have found rusty, dusty ,stuff with those little red crystals in it and had no idea that it could pose any kind of hazard because as you said, I thought its only a rock, right? Now I will be more conscious and cautious when touching random pretty sparkly rocks. Cheers
For the most part the vast majority or rocks and minerals are fine to handle, things like this are not common but it is out there.
I sent a bit of this rock in the mail to Rock and Roll in Canada. Before I knew it had mercury. It was denied and sent back. Countries are very particular about mercury. Anyway, lesson learned about customs rules. Pretty sure this was found in Washington State by the friend who gave it to me.
Cinnabar does have a few locations in Washington that it could of come from.
I found stuff that looked like this in Rosamond, CA. I wanted to polish it up but thank goodness I decided not to. Some of it is crumbly and vibrant orange/red-like realgar. Other unidentified specimens I found are a deep wine color with a slight sheen and a less crumbly texture.
forbidden spice
I definitely agree that it looks like Cinnabar. Glad your wearing gloves to handle it, to be on the safe side remember to wash the magnifying glass and table top. Thanks for sharing man.
Do you have Cinnabar down in your next of the woods? Yeah its always good to clean up after this stuff.
That was very helpful, especially to know what to look for with dangerous substances.
I'm glad you liked it!
I could always pull the mercury outta this but im not that crazzy there are some things i just will not work with.
Assuredly cinnabar. I have some very much like that from the Terlingua Mining District, Brewster County, Texas.
Very interesting, thanks for the information and identifying it.
that would be my guess/estimate also, with out sending to a lab to have it positively tested and identified
Subbed great educational content thanks for what your doing for us friend
Thank you for being here.
I like your description of the drunk cube haha
Hahaha thank you!
Thank you for the information on this stone 😊💙, definitely don’t want to lick this rock , 💙😊
I'm glad you liked it.
Thank you 🙏 ❤
I'm glad you liked it.
i found that near the crater of diamonds park on a road cut.
Dangerous stuff. Ware are the lickers lol. Realy cool man
lol i click a random video about cinnabar and its a guy in my hometown. woo spokompton!
I loved the lesson for today
Thank you.
Cinnabar! You are lucky man. I still have no clue if any of my possible specimens are cinnabar. They are packed away at the moment.
Time for some spring cleaning, I love unpacking stuff and seeing what's what.
*sniffs cinnabar* mmmmm! Smells like cinnamon to me!
Heat it with a Mapp gas or propane torch and some mercury should come out
Thanks for the informative vid. Nice work. Havagudun Jared.
Thank you.
I was told you can do a simple flame retort to cinnibar ( in a well ventalated area) and if theres enough of it you should start to see little beads of mercury pop up. True?
I think you're correct, heating it to 600c will make it bead up.
they used basic charcoal fires to render it down around here, ( pope valley /Cobb mt. area ) we were a huge supplier of mercury , they said the fumes would roll off of it and poison the trees all around and create dead zones, melts out at like half the temp of propane ,so you could probably torch some out, propane is like 15000 or so I think , a good hot fire with air flow can hit that also, thats why aluminum cans melt, they just did it in place here and didn't bother moving much ore around. don't lick CA water , lol.
Very informative just found your channel.
Thank you! I have lots and lots to look at. Over 200 videos in fact.
So beautiful my friend!!
Nice video 👍👍
Thank you.
I never put rocks in my mouth
Interesting rock!
It's fun stuff to have in the collection now.
i recently bought "cinnabar" pendants from a local store, theyre bright red and i guess u could say polished? im just finding out its toxic so im not sure if it still applies in its current form? 😭 (since its not really raw) plz help
It you bought jewelry made from cinnabar I would return it.
how much does ore of cinnabar sell for these days?
That depends on many factors.
Not necessary to wear a mask after those went through the mail?
lupa 🔎
Can I send you some rocks? I am in Mexico, I have some black rocks and I want to know if it is titanium or not.
I can assure you it's not titanium.
Well my guess was right.👍. Very toxic can cause major neurological damage and chromosomal damage. DON’T LICK is right.
Just just watch mine video on cinnabar Stone. Very porous material.