• An irregular piece of rough yellow leopardskin jasper with a light tan rock background spotted with orbicular patterns of yellow ringed by a mustard color, and with dark gray border. There are several bold colored veins running diagonally cross the piece, in a gradient of orange to red in contrast to the yellow orbicular pattern.
  • Detail view of the uneven rock surface, showing the radial growth lines of the orbicular patterns. The veins are composed of spherulitic-patterning with white quartzy looking material in the center of layers.
  • A rectangular side of the piece covered in orbicular pattern and colorful veins. The color of the vains and orbicular pattern fades in a gradient from red on the left end to yellow on the right end.
  • A view of the piece angled into the sun. Parallel stripes of color ring one end, and there are large yellow spherulites in the orbicular pattern
  • Another side of the piece showing good orbicular pattern with a color gradient from yellow on the left to red on the right. The orbicular pattern on the right has rings of gray, red, white, and dark gray.
  • A detail image of the orbicular pattern and some veining, showing the veining is composed of spherulites. The radial growth pattern is apparent.
  • Captioned "wet," the piece wet showing a side with vibrant color gradient. The veining at left is bright yellow, and the pattern deepens to red on the right side.
  • Captioned "wet," another side of the piece while wet. It has golden yellow orbicular pattern bordered with orange and red veining. The lines are composed of spherulites, with a light orange color in the center and deeper orange in the outer rings. On the left side large dark spherulites and more irregular, large, and elongated
  • Captioned "wet," a detail view of the orange veining while wet. The lines are composed of spherulites with white spots at the center and deepening colors of orange radiating out. The overall effect is like peach or orange creamsicle color, contraster with the surrounding yellow and gray patterning.
  • Captioned "wet," a detail of well-formed multi-color orbicular pattern. Some have white, yellow, or red-orange spots at the center, with a mustard-gray ring, and then an ring of dark gray.
  • A side of the piece while wet, with orbicular patterns and some veining. Pattern is crisper but a bit haphazard on this face
  • Captioned "wet," the end of the piece while wet. It shows a closer view of the yellow veining from the previous image, with visibly composed of orbicular growth forms. Good color balance with a red vein through it.
  • Scale image of the piece of leopardskin on a measuring mat, showing it is over four by two and a half inches long
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Leopardskin jasper with red-to-yellow gradient

Leopardskin jasper with red-to-yellow gradient

$12.00 USD
$12.00 USD
Sale Sold out
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Locale: Mexico

Approx dimensions: 4 x 2.5 x 2"

Approx weight: 400g

 

Leopardskin jasper is in fact not a true jasper, but a variety of rhyolite. A lot of jaspers are actually rhyolite! Mineralogically jasper is a variety of chalcedony, which is a form of quartz. Rhyolite is in the family tree, an igneous rock composed of quartz and feldspar. 

Leopardskin provides a textbook example of orbicular growth: round 'orb-' or eyeball-like patterns in minerals, often showing multiple rings of color. Alternatively these are called orbicular spherulites; spherulites are minerals composed of dense radial needle-like growth from a point to create a sphere (hence "spher"ulite). Spherulites are typically crystalized feldspar forming within volcanic igneous quartz-based rock. They commonly appear as distinct circles with rings of color as in the case of leopardskin jasper.

This piece has bold orbicular patterns that blend into bands of color. Studied closely, these veins are composed of spherulites. There is a gradient of color in the stripes from golden yellow on one end of the piece to red on the other end, for a lovely sunset effect.

Add the rough piece to your collection, drier terrariums, or use as an accent in a succulent bowl. Chunks of rough like this are commonly sold for lapidary purposes, to be polished into tumbles, slabs, carvings, or jewelry. The rough material is already quite beautiful, but colors deepen if polished; images labeled 'wet' preview what to expect if you do wish to polish.

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