Bumblebee jasper
Lapidary material
Also called Eclipse jasper
Take care.
- Contains arsenic: Wash your hands after handling it, don't make dust, and never heat it.
About it
Not jasper at all, but a soft volcanic deposit of calcite banded yellow and orange by sulfur and arsenic sulfides, from Mount Papandayan in West Java, Indonesia. Cut it wet, wash hands after, and keep it out of drinks.
- Type
- Lapidary material
- Group
- Calcite with sulfur and arsenic sulfides
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 3–5
- Lustre
- vitreous (glassy), dull
- Colours
- yellow, orange, black, grey, white, banded
- Transparency
- opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- uneven fracture
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.