Munjina and Noreena Jasper Minerals for Gemstone Jewelry Design
I recently bought what was described as a Munjina Jasper. After some discussion on our forum, it was thought that in fact it was not Munjina Jasper, but Noreena Jasper.
I did a Google search and they sure do look a lot alike. Come to find out that another member, ImageOne (Ron), cleared up the confusion. He shared a discussion between himself and Glen Archer who is the owner of the Noreena claim. It is within a hundred miles of the Munjina claim.
They are both found in the same geologic rock formation in Australia, and both are silicified mudstone with high iron content. That explained the similar characteristics. It was also shared that the Munjina sometimes has a black color and that Noreena usually has white or cream in the same type of location.
I experienced the same cracking while working with this as others have. I did experience a lot of difficulties with breaking where the red bandings are.
Here are some pics of what I received. It was the largest of the two pieces that I actually paid for. The seller sent a bonus piece for free. Turns out it is the smaller of the two that offers a lot nicer cabbing material. Since it is smaller the bandings and colors are tighter and can all be included on a standard sized cab. Where as the largest of the two. The one I actually paid for, only allows for portions of the pattern to appear on a cab. I was really pleased with the appearance of the smaller piece.
Here you can see how wonderful the pattern is on these slabs from the smaller piece with tighter banding and colors. Then finally, a finished cab. One thing that the smaller piece of rough with the tighter banding offered is the ability to place a neat red border around the perimeter of every cab. It’s just the way a lot of the patterns on the slabs work out. It’s a real bonus, and it had it’s way of compensating for the break points in the red banding.
This is really a neat mineral. Fun to cab and great appearance. I have heard some share that they had some difficulties with polishing. This took an excellent polish !
Feel free to contact me for details on having cabs made from this. As always, there are no additional shop costs for special requests.
Thanks for stopping by and reading through this blog entry. Hope you enjoyed !
