(Part 2) Top products from r/rockhounds

I'm not an expert, but I did study jewelry making and gemstones a long time ago.

Gem-quality colored diamonds just aren't that common. If you have colored stones they are probably some other kind of stone. They may also be lab-grown synthetics or paste (glass).

The first thing I'd do is inspect them for size and imperfections. Gem-quality precious stones tend to not be very large, they tend to all be slightly different colored, and they tend to have flaws of some kind - internal spots or fractures, etc.

If you have a bunch of colored stones that are exactly the same size, shape and color - or equally perfectly colorless white stones, with no tiny imperfections in their surface or inside of them, they are quite possibly imitations of some kind or at best low-value semi-precious stones. Inexpensive synthetics can be very sparkly depending on their cut and the material they are made from, so "fire" isn't always an indication of value.

All you need to start with is a good light source and a good hand lens or desktop magnifier. If you wanted to get fancy you could buy a $30 USB microscope to plug into your computer. If you don't start seeing little lines and specks in the stones, or irregularities in the coloration, they are most likely imitations. Your magnifier doesn't HAVE to be very strong, either. 5x-10x ("five to ten power") magnification is perfectly adequate for finding these tiny irregularities, you can find such magnifiers (also called jeweler's loupes) in many hobby shops or online on eBay or Amazon, etc. Check online for buying guides, like this one.

Even if the stones do show these irregularities it's not guaranteed that they are natural, but it's a good first step. Really though, start by arming yourself with knowledge and simple tools. Go to a jewelry store and ask the sales clerk to show you some natural stones with minor imperfections, and to show you how to use a hand lens. Some may balk at the request, but you can always try another store.

Once you've done those things come back here and we can answer any questions that occur to you and suggest what to try next. Nobody was born knowing this stuff, and anyone who buys jewelry should at least know a little of it just to protect themselves.

Also, if you do buy a USB microscope you can take detailed photographs of a small batch of stones, one stone at a time, and then take them to someone for authentication knowing that they can't pull a switch on you by keeping your originals and returning fake or less valuable natural stones. It does happen sometimes, unfortunately.

Take your time, educate yourself, and have fun with it. You DON'T have to spend a lot of money, and even if you do decide to get the stones professionally appraised ask around to find the right person, settle on a price you're comfortable with up front, and just take them a few representative stones at a time.

Find out if there's a rock club in your area, they are also called gem and mineral societies. Sometimes the members will turn out to be mainly interested in agates and other semi-precious stones, but often there will be a few people fairly knowledgeable about precious gemstones as well.

tl;dr

Just sit down and start looking at the stones one at a time with a good handheld magnifier in good light. If the stones look too perfect and perfectly identical they're probably synthetics or fakes. (Though there are some lab-grown stones now with flaws and inclusions too.)

Good luck!

Sounds like fun! I can't tell you much about the camping scene, but I do have some good spots in South-Central Colorado. Granted, there's can still be a lot of snow at altitude in early May, so some of the sites might be iffy at the time of your visit. I'll mark those with a star.

Trout Creek Pass pegmatites, about 20 minutes east of Buena Vista. The Clora May Mine is the easiest to access, with only a ~15 minute hike uphill. It's got some great chunks of pink feldspar, biotite and muscovite mica, and some massive (in the geology sense of the term) quartz/smoky quartz. There's a smaller amount of black tourmaline, although the quality isn't generally great IMHO. But the real prize is the uncommon rare earth minerals such as Aeschynite-(Y), Polycrase-(Y), and Xenotime. They're generally not breathtakingly beautiful, but a fantastic addition to your collection if you're a chemistry buff. Don't try and take them on the plane with you, though -- some are surprisingly radioactive.

Ruby Mountain, ~20 minutes south of BV. It's easy to find, and not bad of a hike up. Halfway up, there's a good outcropping for perlite and obsidian "Apache tears". The top is mostly rhyolite, but there are small (think millimeters, not centimeters) garnets in some pieces. More rarely, there are some funky "flower" shaped formations with tiny crystals of topaz. This site is pretty well picked over and half is on private land, but it's definitely convenient.

The Rock Doc. Awesome rock and mineral store in the same area as the above. You can also pick up supplies, books, and local intel on collecting sites.

Also not a site as such, but the National Mining Hall of Fame in Leadville has a fantastic collection. The Rock Hut mineral store in town has good specimens, but a bit pricey for my taste.

Mount Antero. The aquamarine is legendary, but this is definitely not a casual collecting spot. Inaccessible most of the year, lots of active claims, bad afternoon lightning storms. Wouldn't recommend unless you happen to plan ahead with an experienced local as a guide.

There are a few quarries, mines, and collecting sites around and behind Salida. Midway Springs has some cool Aragonite features -- you can find bright red-and-white chunks that look like miniature caves, including speleothems. There's good Magnetite and Actinolite specimens from the Calumet Mine, but it's not always open to collecting. I've never found anything worth writing home about in this area, but there's many sites I haven't seen.

Browns Canyon. The old fluorite mine on the way down has a bit of botryoidal white/clear fluorite on the dumps, but as above -- nothing to write home about. Cool igneous rocks further down the road, and I've found hydrothermal deposits of the uncommon tennis-ball green Vanadium mineral Volborthite.

There's stuff up towards the ghost town of St Elmo, but it's a bit hard to get to (especially before June/July) and there are active claims.

Go to the Bayou Salado Trading Post in Hartsel. The owners hold claims on nearby land for blue and yellow Barite, and you can dig for a nominal fee of like ~$5. It's very hot in the summer, but the crystals are abundant and just lie scattered in the red mud. They actually get more blue with sunlight exposure, unlike most minerals! There are some bigger clusters buried, if you're willing to dig.

Bonanza is an old mining town (pop. 16) further south in Saguache County. Not a lot to find without local help and 4WD, but I have found tiny crystals of Sylvanite, one of Colorado's famous Telluride minerals.

Westcliffe / Silver Cliff, previously a silver mining region. I've only been down this way once, but there are lots of digsites on public land north of town. My best find from that day was Rhyolite with Liesegang Rings. The Sangre de Cristo Gallery and Rockshop in town had great prices, in my experience.

Pinnacle Mine, across Monarch Pass. It's an active uranium mine and closed to collecting, but I thought I'd mention it because the front gate (covered in "No Trespassing" and "Danger -- Radioactivity" signs) is an awesome place for a selfie.

You might also check your library for copies of Voynick's Colorado Rockhounding, Kapelle's Rockhounding Colorado, and especially Mitchell's Gem Trails of Colorado, as they all have detailed site reports.

Oh, and you might also take a look at the Peak to Peak guide to CO sites, GatorGirl's pages for Colorado and Utah, and the Mindat pages for both states.

I can see this will not end based on what I say, so literature is probably the best way to resolve this. I would read this one. There are basic images of the different varieties. Google images actually does a great job of showing you the different types as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Superior-Agates-Minerals-Identification-Guides/dp/1591932823/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1467952203&sr=8-4&keywords=lake+superior+agate

I have the damn things in my hand, I feel like I have an advantage on ID'ing them. I am going to take more pictures, to make you feel more comfortable so that one day people like me can post in peace. I don't expect an apology from you because I don't think you are the type of person to give one when your wrong. Knowing you're wrong though does ease the pain.

Do carnelian agates form in MN? Who knows, depends on how you define them. They are found in many places around the world, MN is not known to be a hotspot for them. I personally was under the impression they were mostly found in OR. Can you find Red Chalcedony in MN...yes. Could some rock hound from OR have dropped a carnelian agate off in MN? Yes it has probably happened. I would say if you have banded red chalcedony found in glacial till from the lake superior region it's safe to say its a lake superior agate. Going out on a limb with that one. I would even go as far as saying if you have banded chalcedony of many varieties and colors from glacial till from the lake superior region you more than likely have a lake superior agate.

Start with Gem Identification Made Easy, it is a fun read if you like sciencey things, and detailled enough to serve as a reference book as your knowledge grows.
Perhaps a better title would have actually been "...Made as Easy as
Possible If You Have Proper Instruments", but still a great book. The Gemology Online Forums are pretty good, and the Gemology Project wiki they're working on is a great quick reference.

Look for a local rockhound club, many offer lapidary classes. Learning to cut a stone (faceted or cabochon) only takes a few hours, and expands your understanding dramatically. You might also get a chance to try out a few gemological insturments before you buy them.

For opals, you are going to want to go to Virgin Valley which is in the NW corner of Nevada, so definitely more than two hours away, but worth it. The House Range in Utah is Famous for its trilobites, and IIRC that's probably less than two hours from Great Basin. The Battle Mountain area is known for turquoise. Probably want to pick up a guidebook like this one. Have fun, Great Basin is an awesome park!

Rockhounding New England: A Guide To 100 Of The Region's Best Rockhounding Sites (Rockhounding Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762783656/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_6X26wb5VVT2AP

Rockhounding New York: A Guide To The State's Best Rockhounding Sites (Rockhounding Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762779004/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_KY26wbYF584VV

Roadside Geology of New York (Roadside Geology Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0878421807/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_dZ26wbRZZCT7B

The Collector's Guide to the Minerals of New York State (Schiffer Earth Science Monograph) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0764343343/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_DZ26wbH96TSC2

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I've found rockhounding books usually have good intros and brief explanations which is good for beginners.

I picked up the Smithsonian Rock and Gem book a while back, and ended up spending hours and hours looking through it. It has a lot of really great pictures, and tons and tons of useful information. It's perfect for someone who wants to learn more than just the basics, but also isn't a geology major or something.

This is the one, and it's fantastic!

Oh, forgot to mention. It has waaaay more than just minerals commonly used for jewelry. It has all sorts of minerals, their industrial purposes, the history behind their name, etc.

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but Victoria has a lot of basaltic/mid-ocean ridge type bedrock, as well as fairly extensive metamorphic units (think Mt Tolmie, or the banding in Cattle Point rocks). I would guess yours is something basaltic, maybe with low levels of alteration (a green colouring could be from chlorite).

If you're interested, I recommend this guide for any beach stones, particularly in the Victoria area. It's written by a University of Victoria earth science professor, and I believe it's available in the University's bookstore as well as the Royal British Columbia Museum.

https://www.amazon.com/Rockhounding-Pennsylvania-New-Jersey-States/dp/0762780932

These are great to have if you've never done it before and are looking for general areas. They almost always point out public land areas with some fee areas. Plus itll tell you what to look for at each site.

You buy a book like this and learn https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Gem-Trade-Connoisseurs-Gemstones/dp/0972822321/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485439537&sr=1-1&keywords=gem+trade

We generally grade stones by #1 #2 #3 and terminated with #1 being gem quality - completely inclusion free/ no cloudiness / basically glass clear

My daughter and I were looking at this one not more than 15 minutes ago in our garage. I have had it for years and continue to pick it up to sift through. One of the only books I actually keep on my rocks shelves and not in my book shelf.

Not sure how small is "small", but here is a link to an $8 mini submersible pump: 3 watt Mini Pump

...that's 50 gpm (I assume you have a reservoir and way of draining back into it (re-circulation)).